We’re on our honeymoon right now and we started off the trip in Italy! Our first stop was Venice and I feel we were spoiled by having that as our first destination. 

Venice is so picturesque. Every street is thematically put together. We stayed in one of the smallest rooms at the San Lio Tourist House. It was a great location in my opinion and Umberto the owner was super nice. Upon checking in on day 1, he already asked us when our departure flight would be so he could help give us instructions on how to get to the airport. For the trip there, we took a taxi to the Piazzale Roma and then walked 30 mins to get to the guest house. For our departure, Umberto let us know we were actually located minutes away from a ferry service that boats us straight to the airport! So convenient! 

In Venice, we left our belongings at the guest house as their rooms weren’t ready yet. Though they moved our bags directly to our room so it was waiting there for us later in the day. 

S and I set off to grab some pasta at Dal Moro! This pasta place had a huge line up but everything was made fresh and there was nowhere to sit. You had to take your to-go containers and eat elsewhere. Venice has laws on not sitting on the many bridges or various public spaces, so we ended up just holding the pasta containers and eating in front of some leather shop. 

The pasta was perfectly al dente. We got the carbonara and the amatriciana! I thought it was decent, especially at the price point. I think at one point, Dal Moro’s pasta was €5. But when we went, it was more like €10 ish. 

After filling our tummies, we headed off to the Piazza San Marco to check out where we’d have to go later since we had tickets for the Doge’s Palace. It’s always a beautiful walk around Venice. There are lots of little alleyways, but they all are well maintained towards the city center. It’s also always a lovely surprise when you turn a corner and there’s a bridge over a canal. So beautiful! 

We took a gelato break and went to Suso. This gelato place was actually steps away from the San Lio Tourist House, and it came highly rated. I got a cookie gelato and S got a tiramisu one. They were both not too sweet—which was great. But melted more quickly than we had anticipated! 

After the gelato, we went back to the Piazza San Marco as our tickets for the Museo Correr became valid. The museum was beautiful but I was getting pretty knocked out by our long travel day. I ended up sitting down and napping on S for like 15 minutes inside the museum 😅

After the museum was our visit to the actual Doge’s Palace. There were lots of areas showing off the congregation rooms for their court system. What was most exciting to me was seeing the Paradiso in several forms—as well as the final actual one that’s on the wall in one of the grand halls. What a gigantic art piece! 

After the palace, we headed to dinner. We want to a place called Trattoria Casa Mia and were the first ones there. I think we eat very early for European standards but to be honest, we were exhausted by the time we got to the restaurant at around 7 PM. 

We ordered a seafood cicchetti platter to start, and also some vegetables. For the main, we had one of their seasonal special pizzas (which I had to go back and snap a picture of so we could remember what was on it since S and I loved it so much) and initially also ordered a pasta. But they forgot and it was for the best because we were stuffed after the pizza! 

Walking back from dinner, we did one more gelato stop at Gelato di Natura. We took the gelato and ate outside on steps leading into the canal. And for a moment I marvelled that we were in Venice eating gelatos by the canal under the night sky. It really was so beautiful in Venice. 

Day two in Venice saw us going bright and early to the Cannaregio district to their Jewish quarters. Before we left though, we grabbed some free coffee and cookies from the San Lio Tourist House. Umberto sets these out every morning before he starts his shift. We grabbed some food along the way in the form of an octopus salad, an arancini, and a slice of pizza.

I had looked up where a good place for a gondola ride was. A lot of people do it near the Grand Canal but it was also the most touristy and congested part. We opted for the Campo di Ghetto Nuovo district for a more chill experience.

All gondola rides have a preset price. It was €90 for a 30 minute ride. Both S and I felt it was worth it — especially since it was our first time. The gondolas fit up to 5 people but of course, we’re only 2. I guess it’s more cost effective if you had more people in your party! 

Our gondoliera was so nice! Her usual gondola actually sank that morning when she went to work. She owns her own gondola so this was heartbreaking for her. But she took her gondola to the boat mechanic’s and then borrowed another gondola for the day so she can start work. She promised us a “super tour!” and we enjoyed her time with us! She told us some tidbits on the districts she rowed us through. I kept thinking that the gondola was going to scrape against tight corners but she manoeuvred the boat skillfully. We got to learn more about how the different canals and bridges operated, as well as how a gondolier can get a license or outright own their business/boat (though there are limited licenses in the city). She worked hard for many years until she was able to buy her own gondola. 

During the ride, she would holler out before turning corners. At first I thought she just shouted out randomly, but later realized it served as a warning to other boats. She also broke out in song towards the end of the ride and that was so nice.

After the gondola ride, we walked around the Jewish district. We found an antique store and I ended up buying a very affordable ring in there! I asked the shopkeeper if the ring was old and he laughed and said it’s probably only 20 or 30 years old. It was €5 though, so what was I expecting? 🤣 

After this, we walked to the Rialto market. We saw lots of fresh seafood which gave me a seafood craving. We ended up buying some super sweet strawberries and some powdered sauce mixes to bring home. 

For lunch we ate at a place that specialized in cicchetti. I was obsessed with cicchetti at this point. Every restaurant was so creative with the toppings that they placed across small sliced pieces of bread. I found these to be the perfect finger foods and a great choice for a snack or for lunch. We ordered a bunch of stuff from Cantina do Spade and enjoyed sitting at a table near their side door during our meal.

After this we went back the tourist house for a nap and to eat our strawberries. We had to then go to the Basilica di Santa Maria Della Salute. This was a long walk under the hot sun and I was getting grumpy. Another element that kills me in Europe is that churches required covered knees and shoulders so I was constantly overheating. I had to get a Gatorade to keep going. 

After 30 minutes of walking, we arrived! The outside was beautiful and the inside was grand as well. Most of all, it was nice and cool inside.

After the basilica, we checked out The Migrant Child mural that was another good amount of walking away. No one was there when we arrived, despite it being the middle of the day. Perhaps it was because it was old news, and it was also starting to fade. Every time the tide came in, the mural gets submerged so only the painted pink flare is struggling to stay afloat. But this was the first Banksy piece I have ever seen in real life and I’m glad we did a quick stop. 

I really needed the washroom at this point and instead of paying €1.50 for a public one, we stopped by a snack bar to have some chichtetti and a drink — and borrow their washroom. It was nice to sit down and people watch for a while. We sat across the Leonardo Da Vinci interactive museum and was tempted to go in, but we ended up trying to hit up another Da Vinci museum further away and missed the last admission.

We took another little break at the tourist house before we headed off to dinner at Restaurant da Poggi. We ordered 2 pastas here and grilled vegetables. I didn’t expect them to make the cacio e pepe in a cheese wheel, but they waved us over to watch as they made our dish. They generously scraped strips of parmigiano reggiano onto our dish! Dinner was yummy (especially the cacio e pepe) and we were stuffed. We walked around Venice at night for a little bit longer but then headed back to our lodging to pack. 

Next morning, we grabbed our free coffee again and took a short walk around the surrounding neighborhood. I knew we were going to miss Venice and all its beauty. Many streets smelled like fresh dough baking in ovens, or pasta being made. I also loved how dogs were allowed pretty much everywhere! So many cuties walking around, accompanying their owners into stores and restaurants. 

To be fair, we saw a lot of the city in 2 days. There were only several corners we didn’t visit. It’s nice that you can walk almost anywhere within 45 minutes or so. Many times while consulting Google maps, we’d overshoot how far we’d have to walk because everything was so close! 

We took the ferry to the airport and said goodbye to the first stop of our honeymoon. 

A note for European airports—most of them only allow you to arrive and check in 3 hours ahead of your trip. So don’t go super early! They can’t even assign you a gate to wait at until roughly 20-40 minutes before boarding or so because their airports are more size constrained. 

Next up, Florence!