This is the first time we visited Venice and it knocked us off our feet. Well actually, we were on our feet a lot, because Venice is the ultimate walking city. No cars, right? Just sidewalks and canals.

Venice is simply a bewitching, mysterious and magical city. In the early morning light and at dusk, it flickers in the imagination, not quite real, not of this world.

It seems to be in eternal decay and always on the brink of sinking into the lagoon. The Venetians have a saying: “Sempre crolla, ma non cade” (It is always crumbling, but it never falls). Who builds a city of fantastically extravagant palazzos on foundations of wooden stakes driven into the mud?

Venetians have always lived by their own rules. For centuries, they deliberately kept themselves cut off from the mainland, only in recent times reluctantly agreeing to accept one railway and one motor vehicle bridge.

Although Venice is theoretically part of Italy, many Venetians still see themselves as independent, as the proud republic – La Serenissima – it was for over 1,000 years. Even when Italy came together in 1861, Venice resisted joining until 1866.

We arrived by train from Milan, and a week later departed the same way for Bologna. When we left, I still had a long list of “to do, to see”. Maybe the list was too ambitious, but that’s OK, because there will be a next time.

If you come by train, you walk out of the train station onto a small plaza and there you are, faced with a wall of colourful palazzos and a canal swarming with all kinds of boats. It was a sparkling day, and we just had to gasp at how quickly we were plunged into Venice.

Venice reminds me of Paris, in the sense that the main attraction is the built city itself. Even if you don’t go into any museums, art galleries or wonderful restaurants, just being in the city is an unforgettable experience.

Around every corner, another canal, another church, another spectacular view.

As we explored the city, it felt more and more hidden. The more we saw, the less we understood. We knew we were walking alongside centuries of layered history, but the stories were opaque. Only by studying (for a lifetime), would we ever understand the significance of certain streets, squares and buildings.

On one hand, I found it frustrating. I’m always interested in the history and wanted to know… but being in a city that didn’t easily give up its secrets was a good challenge too. The information is out there, you just have to work a little harder to find it.

With Venice being such a popular city, I knew it would be essential to have reservations well ahead of time.

Two months before leaving, we bought tickets for the opera Madame Butterfly at La Fenice, the Venice opera house. Having read The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt about the 1996 fire that destroyed La Fenice (spoiler: it was arson), we had to go. By the way, they rebuilt La Fenice exactly as it was. Venetians adhere to the principle of “Dov’era, com’era” – where it was, as it was – and that applied to La Fenice reconstruction.

We know close to nothing about opera, so what better way to learn than to attend in the city that invented the art form? It was a modern staging, quite minimal, and it was spectacular. We had the front two seats in second level box. Loved it!

On a blissfully sunny day, we were picked up by a water taxi (sleek motorboat) and took a 35-minute ride to the Venissa restaurant on the island of Mazzorbo for a 9-course lunch with wine.

Venissa has a very romantic history, having been resurrected from an abandoned estate into a small hotel and restaurant built around a vineyard. Here they grow Dorona grapes, “the golden grape of the Doges” to create a white wine that’s like an elixir.

Dorona, once grown throughout the Venetian lagoon became virtually extinct after the 1966 flood which killed most plants on the islands. Only a few vines survived and they became the rootstock of this vineyard. You can watch a beautiful 23-minute documentary about the origins of Venissa and Dorona wine here.

So, it was a chance not only for an extraordinary lunch, but a unique opportunity to taste and then buy a bottle of Dorona (gold leaf label, numbered bottles, limited to about 4,000 a year, watch the video). Had to be done!

The lunch was performance art on a plate, and the wines were extraordinary. I’m glad they gave us a copy of the menu for a keepsake, but I doubt I’ll find any of those wines here.

Well, Venissa was “real” enough, but restaurants of that calibre are a high-wire act. We also wanted another restaurant that was more reasonable, but not a “tourist restaurant”. I had read about Antiche Carampane a few times. All the reviews were good. The restaurant website had a bit of attitude – no tourist menu, no pizza, no Wi-Fi – and their headline, “you do not arrive by chance” was reference to their hard-to-find location.

I also realized that reservations would be tough. It’s a small restaurant with a local and international clientele. I called on the owner of our apartment to ask whether she could secure a reservation. “Sure, I live near the restaurant, I’ll go in and ask.” and two days later we got the confirmation.

The menu, a combination of seafood and inventive pasta dishes was a welcome change from the usual. Wines were reasonable and on this warm September evening, we enjoyed a perfect dinner outside in the narrow laneway.

Venice is full of art, much of it in churches, and mostly paintings and frescos going back to the 1400s featuring religious subject matter or portraits of the artists’ patrons.

Similar to our lack of knowledge about opera, we are not overly familiar with many of the artists of that era (how many Madonna with baby Jesus paintings can you look at?) and knew that we would find an interesting collection of 20^th century American and European art at the Peggy Guggenheim.

We loved it, both the art – lots of Jackson Pollock, Alexander Calder, Picasso, Kandinsky, Mondrian – and the stylish gallery itself.

The gallery, formally called the Palazzo Venier, is known in Venice as the unfinished palazzo. The one-storey building was supposed to be a much more grandiose three storeys when it was started in the 1750s. No one is sure why it was never finished – did the Venier family run out of money? – but for over 150 years it sat empty, slowly decomposing as the weather and water wore it down.

It was only in the early 1900s that it was repaired and inhabited. From 1910 to 1924, it was owned by the exotic Marchesa Luisa Casati, whose flamboyant parties were legendary. You can see her portrait by Augustus John at Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario. (BTW, Venetians love parties, the Carnavale being the most famous of them.)

Peggy Guggenheim purchased Palazzo Venier in 1949 and made it her home and gallery. Her libertine lifestyle had Venetian society talking for decades, but they all enjoyed her parties. Guggenheim died in 1979 and is buried in the garden along with some of her dogs.

There’s a very entertaining book, The Unfinished Palazzo, Life, Love and Art in Venice by Judith Mackrell about the building and its owners.

Venice has always been a tourist magnet. Most visitors stay for a short time, others never left. Famous visitors who became part-time residents include the German composer Richard Wagner, American novelist Henry James, British poet Robert Barrett Browning and most recently Elton John who owns a palazzo on Giudecca island.

In the 1700s, every English gentleman of breeding went on the “grand tour” of Europe with Venice at the top of the itinerary.

Once trains became popular and tour companies got into the act, everyone discovered the city. The more recent phenomena of cheap air travel and cruise ships, together with rental services such as Airbnb have only multiplied the number of tourists.

So, was it crowded when we were there in mid-September? Yes, in the main tourist areas around Piazza San Marco and the Rialto bridge. But in other areas, while there were tourists around, it was much more enjoyable.

There have been protests and much discussion about what to do about over-tourism. No one has an answer that satisfies everyone. Reduce the number of tourists, and you lose jobs.

The main challenge for cities like Venice is how to handle “day trippers” (also known as “piss and an ice cream” tourists), who are there for a few hours, clog up the city and spend very little money. Could the government stop tour companies and cruise lines from stopping in Venice? Perhaps, but no one has done it yet.

The over-tourism controversy obviously didn’t stop us from going. If I had to justify our visit, I’d say that we stayed for a week, contributed plenty to the local economy and left a light footprint. As for the locals being driven out of the city centre because of tourism, that’s been happening for over a century. Accommodation in the central islands of Venice is extremely constrained, which makes it rare and therefore expensive. It’s the same story in every major city around the world – downtown areas with all the services and attractions are highly desirable and priced at a premium.

Try to avoid the peak months of June, July and August.

Arrive there by train or airplane. If you’re touring Italy with a car, think about getting rid of it before you head to Venice. However, you do have the option of taking your car to the parking garages at the end of the bridge to the island, and paying €24 – €29 (U.S. $27.50 – $33.00) per day for parking.

Stay in Venice for at least a week if possible. It will take you that long to figure where you’re going and relax into the pace of the city.

Please don’t stop in Venice for just a few hours. You’re cheating yourself and everyone will resent you.

Keep in mind that everything in Venice is slower. With no cars, it’s also quieter. You’re either walking or taking a vaporetto. Neither take you on a direct route to where you want to go.

Venice is small, 1,800 acres, about twice the size of New York’s Central Park. You can walk everywhere. Bring comfortable shoes. Ladies, leave the heels at home.

Take the vaporettos. The routes are fairly easy to figure out and they’re fun. Buy day passes for the number of days you’re there. Saves you having to buy a ticket each time.

Water taxis are very expensive, like €80 – €100, which is OK if there’s a large group of you, but otherwise, a true luxury.

Gondola rides are about €80 for a half hour. Make sure you’ve agreed on a price before you get in.

Assume you’ll get lost and don’t get annoyed about it. The maze of streets means even locals have to retrace their steps outside of their own neighbourhoods. Because of the narrow “streets” Google Maps doesn’t work as well as usual. Get used to it.

Get a hotel or apartment away from Piazza San Marco. We were in Cannaregio, on the north of the island. Dorsoduro, Castello and the island of Giudecca are also very charming, out of the main tourist crush yet still close to everything.

Also, go to the most popular spots – Piazza San Marco, Rialto Bridge, etc. – either early in the morning or in the evening, before and after the day trippers. You’ll have a better experience and get better photos.

Plan which sites you want to see, and check online to see whether you can buy advance tickets. Where possible, avoid the general line-up. Otherwise, be there 30 minutes before the door opens.

If you go in late fall or winter, be prepared for acqua alta (high water). Bring boots or buy plastic covers there. The recent high water was an extraordinary event. Usually it’s just a few inches.

Be aware that Venice has numerous festivals – Carnevale, the film festival, art biennale, architecture biennale, etc. where the city completely fills up and reservations are hard to find and prices go up. Plan accordingly.

Have an aperitivo in a campi (square) every afternoon. Just relax and people watch. Enjoy the city. There’s nowhere else like it.

Travel Resources

There’s nothing like having WiFi wherever you go. We rented a Teppy portable WiFi and carried it with us everywhere. With a Teppy, you can connect your phones, tablets, laptops and gaming consoles just like you connect to WiFi at home.

Use the apps on your phone including your favorite GPS apps without paying expensive cellular service fees.

It’s also perfect for uploading pictures, sending emails or just web browsing. We also used it for online work on the road including web updates and social media.

Teppy portable WiFi works around the world. Try it on your next trip.

For hotel accommodation, we like Booking.com. Photographs show off the properties, and real reviews help you choose the hotel that’s best for you. You’ll find a great selection, current prices and pages that make booking easy.

Remember, Italy is one of the world’s most popular destinations and can get very busy, so book early to get the best selection and price.

Click here, and you’ll get $25 off your next reservation on Booking.com.

We’ve also rented Airbnb throughout USA and Europe. We wrote an article about renting Airbnb, 12 Tips for a Great Renting Experience to help you make the right decision. If it’s your first time renting Airbnb, click here to get the equivalent of $50 CDN off your first booking.

Along with the websites and other travel planning tools, we still like to have a guide book handy. We’ve tried them all, and these days we prefer Lonely Planet books.

Use our link to get 10% off your total order when you enter EARTHTRIPPERS10 during checkout, where it asks for the Discount Code. Please note, this offer is valid only in USA and Canada.

These days there are many things that can happen when you travel, aside from getting bumped from a flight. That’s why we always get insurance for our trips. It covers damage, loss or theft of our belongings, health issues and if necessary, emergency evacuation. Better safe than sorry.

Whether you’ve just booked your trip or are already underway, you can get covered by World Nomads. It’s one of the most popular insurance companies designed specifically for travellers. See if it’s right for you.

Everything you need to know about renting a car in Italy. Read it before you go. Could save you a fortune.

Venice for 11 days just for photography? How did it go? (Hint: Wasn’t enough time, believe it or not!)

Thoughts before taking an 11-day photo trip to Venice. Would it be worth it? Would I enjoy it? Yes and yes…

Join us in learning about Mariano Fortuny, a true renaissance man of Venice, and make sure you visit his palazzo.

Read about the extraordinary kindness from Italians we experienced every day in Italy.

Take advantage of our Top 5 Tips for visiting the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s in Rome.

This account of Monticchiello, a small Italian hilltop village, will open your eyes to its history and brush with annihilation.

We planned to go to Cinque Terre, but didn’t. Why not?

Portugal, outside of the main cities, is a wonderful country to drive. We rented a car for three weeks and the drives were one of the highlights of the trip. Here’s what you need to know for a great experience renting a car in Portugal.

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