Venice, Italy

You know that universal stereotype of Venice and what it would be like, well it's basically right on the money...

This city is gorgeous. I say it's a photographers dreamland. We spent three days in this lovely city and the beauty never faded. We spent the first day wandering around the city, stumbling upon "points of interest" such as the Rialto bridge and St. Mark's Square.It was lovely to just get lost and reveal in the beauty of it all. We would take breaks along the way to eat or look at the view instead of where we were going. We sat and had a cannoli on some steps leading into a canal. And sat on some other steps leading to the grand canal while eating pizza and calzones.

The next day we arrived in Venice a bit later than expected. We slept in and took our time getting into town. *fun fact* we were camping in Venice about 30 minutes out from the center! A good experience and helped switch things up for us!We had a plan in mind to ride a gondola that day. But the day had other plans for us.The night before, we were recommended to visit the Venetian islands where glass and lace were handmade.Upon arrival in Venice, we walked right into a tour operating booth, and found boats that would take us to all three islands for 20€! Score! So we ended up going on that excursion instead. The gondolas would have to wait..The first Venetian island we visited was Murano. This is where all the glass blowing and artwork is done! We watched a presentation on how they blow glass and then checked out the gallery! One we finished looking at the fancy artwork we wandered the island to see what it looked like! It was cute and quaint; but the glass was definitely the big attraction of the island.

The second island we visited was Torcello. An old fisherman island with two very old churches and a vineyard. This island was very quiet and had an antiquity feel to it. Everything seemed extremely old yet still preserved. It was fun to walk around and wander around a place like this.

Last but not least, Burano. The island infamous for its craft of handmade lace and colorful buildings. This was my personal favorite of the three islands as there was so much to see. And it was very different from the rest of the islands and city. The colorful buildings definitely attracted the eye. There may have been only two to three "normal colored" buildings which I believe we're churches.

The lace was the second draw to the island. Shop after shop offered authentic Venetian lace, all handmade by the elders of Burano. I wanted so badly to get a piece of lace from the island, but nothing felt right.Just as we were leaving the island, I saw an old lady making lace in her home. I walked in and watched her intricate technique of lacemaking. Lucky for me, she had some small lace doilies she was selling for a fair price so I bought a few and left the island very very happy!

Our last day in Venice began like all the others, except pouring rain was added to the mix. At first we were devastated, thinking our chance at a gondola would be out of the question, but as time went on, the rain eased and eventually stopped. We quickly headed into Venice and began our search.It surprisingly took us some time to find a gondola that was available. Once we found one, I had the biggest smile on my face.

This experience was indescribable. We got to see a new side of Venice we couldn't see walking through the broken streets. The waters were calm and the alleys were empty. It felt like we had the whole city to ourselves! Our gondolier sang for us, told us some brief history of what we were rowing by and told us a little about his life growing up in Venice. It was very interesting and a nice surprise. Like many others, I've read reviews online about how the gondolas are not worth the price, but I beg to differ. If you're at all capable of making this happen, I suggest it.