Venice: a Disneyland labyrinth

Grand Canal, Venice

I’m convinced Venice must be the tourist capital of the world. It is a labyrinthine city of narrow streets and back alleyways, all twisting and turning around colourful buildings with window shutters and flower pots on balcony rails. And on nearly every single street, there is at least one shop selling souvenirs: glittering Venetian carnival masks, figurines and jewellery made from Murano glass, ‘I Love Venice’ shirts, and – curiously – T shirts with rage faces on them.

In fact, the only Venetians in town seemed to be those behind the stalls and the cash registers. Those narrow streets were crawling with tourists everywhere you looked, wandering aimless and confused and ending up facing a canal rather than another street. Our tour guide had told the ladies to look out for well-dressed and handsome Venetian men but we only saw tourists with sunglasses and money belts and baseball caps.

I guess I was one of these tourists too, but still. A fellow Contiki-er said that Venice felt like Disneyland, catering solely to those who flock there for a day or two to buy, buy, buy.

And I certainly did that. Venice offered some really gorgeous souvenirs that were a step above the thimbles and fridge magnets of previous cities. The only thing stopping me from buying a half-face carnival mask festooned with feathers, colourful paints and glitter was the fact that I knew it would be impossible to transport home.

The weather was apparently one of the hottest days Venice has experienced so far this year, and I could believe it. The heat was stunning; a perfect replica of the scorching Australian summer heat and humidity. Naturally we all ended up with a touch of sunburn (some of us ended up with more than just a touch though) and dripping with sweat. It seems Italy got the summer that Sydney never had.

The day kicked off with a walking tour, where a local guide took us around to see some of the key sights of Venice. These were mostly buildings with unique histories, but we also visited the Rialto bridge and the Grand Canal. The tour started and ended in Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s Square), with the beautiful St Mark’s Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, and the Campanile bell tower. I would have gone inside St Mark’s but I was wearing a summer dress which showed my knees. Apparently this is a bit too risqué for the church.

A small group of us were also taken to see a glass blowing demonstration, where we watched a vase being crafted out of Murano glass. The glass is heated to extremely high temperatures, moulded with metal tools and blown up like a balloon to its final shape. Murano glass is also very tough, which the shopkeeper demonstrated by grabbing a glass vase and throwing it into the ground. We all jumped, expecting it to shatter into a million pieces, but it stayed impressively intact.

After the glass blowing, we visited a shop that made Venetian lace products and had a very popular vending machine full of bottled water for only €1. Then we were free to explore the city for ourselves. I wandered the streets with a fellow Contiki traveler and got quite lost several times. Thankfully there were always signs pointing the way to various landmarks, so we were usually able to re-orient ourselves soon enough.

Our tour guide had marked my map of Venice with two splotches of pink ballpoint pen: one of these splotches sold excellent gelato, and the other sold cheap takeaway Italian pizza. Since I was determined to sample some of the best food on our trip, our mission was to find these two pink splotches and obtain food from them.

And find them we did. First stop was the gelato shop, with the most amazing gelato I have ever tasted, made all the more sweeter by the shockingly hot weather. (I may or may not have gone back for seconds later in the day.) The pizza place, when we managed to find it, sold the largest slices of pizza I have ever seen in my life. I wonder what Venetians would think if they ordered Australian pizza and saw that an entire small pizza here is about the same size as a single Venetian slice?

The pizza and the gelato were great value, but when we next stopped at a café for much-needed iced coffee and tea, the prices shot up alarmingly. The menu we’d looked at claimed that an iced coffee was €3. When we ordered our two drinks, suddenly we were presented with a bill for €19.21. I had to cough up nearly ten euros for my small glass of iced coffee! Never again.

Of course, no visit to Venice is complete without a gondola ride through the canals. One Contikier in our gondola was mildly disappointed that our gondolier wasn’t going to sing, so I pulled out my phone and played music from my collection for all to hear. Others may have enjoyed a gondola ride through Venice, but ours was the only one playing ‘We Are Young’ as we lazily wound our way through the city.

Following the gondola ride was an authentic Italian four course meal: roasted vegetables first, followed by a plate of pasta with spinach and ricotta cannolini, then tender roasted beef with potatoes and salad (which I didn’t get the official Italian name of unfortunately), and a gelatin-based sweet vanilla custard served with a tart berry sauce for dessert. There was also a cheese plate and crusty bread. You wouldn’t think cheese and honey would go together, but it makes for a surprisingly sweet and tasty combination.

Venice was lovely and had its own unique flavour, but I’m not sure if I’d want to go back again. If I did, it would probably be mainly for pizza and gelato, but it’s a long way to go for tasty food.