Day 7: Ljubljana, Slovenia to Venice, Italy

Morning arrived, and it is time for us to hit our final country for this Contiki journey: Italy. We had two cities we’d be seeing in Italy, and the first one was Venice!

When we arrived near Venice in the late morning, were escorted to a ferryboat, and we were taken into Venice by boat, since there is a strict ban on cars in Venice and there are actually no roads for the cars. I’m sure you all knew that but I felt the need to write it anyway.

I was SO excited for Venice. It was my first time ever visiting Italy, and I couldn’t think of a better place to start. I was so intrigued by all of the waterways, I couldn’t wait to ride in a gondola, I wanted to shop at Libreria Acqua Alta, and I wanted to see the Bridge of Sighs with my own eyes. From all of this, I had my expectations like as high as they could possibly be. Big, big mistake on my end.

The top of my priority list was to go to Libreria Acqua Alta, which is this, quaint, unique, and beautiful bookstore in Venice. There are books EVERYWHERE. Well to my disappointment, no one in my little group wanted to go, and I didn’t want to wander off alone, so I didn’t go. Right off the bat, I was upset about that. What a way to start the day.

Our tour manager, Rob, had planned a group visit to a glass blowing shop for anyone who was interested in seeing how all of the beautiful glass of Venice was made. We watched the demonstration, and I have to say it was really neat to see. The glass blower did everything so quickly and with such precision. The final product was beautiful, and I was happy I didn’t skip this little excursion. A few people who I grouped off with wanted to shop around after the demonstration, but that fancy glass was a bit over budget for Doug and me, so we walked outside.

While waiting for them to finish shopping, we waited on a cute little bridge overlooking a canal that the Bridge of Sighs was also on. I was standing there enjoying the beauty and snapping a few pictures of course. While standing there, a bird flew so close to my head I actually felt its wings graze over my head. My immediate reaction was to scream, cry, and just fall to the floor. Angelo, a fellow American on the tour with us, watched the whole thing happen. After he made sure I was physically fine, he laughed about it to the point of tears, so we were both crying… just for different reasons. I was teased about it for the rest of the day, but I really am quite terrified of birds. Angelo can now attest to that.

After that traumatizing experience, we decided to head to St. Mark’s Square to climb to the top of the Cathedral tower, which is an active bell tower. Well you know what else is in St. Mark’s Square? Apparently every single pigeon that ever lived. I literally walked around holding my denim jacket above my head the entire time in a constant state of anxiety. These birds have zero fear of the people around, and they fly way too close for comfort. I did not enjoy being in that space AT ALL. Luckily, I made it out of there without getting shit on, but one of my fellow group members, Kevin, was not as lucky as me. He was trooper and just wiped it off, laughed, and moved on.

We took the elevator up to the top of the bell tower, and just our luck, it was time for the bells to ring. I might have permanent damage from how loud those things are. After they rang a few times, we started to get use to it and just were standing around laughing about the situation and enjoying the absolutely stunning view of Venice from above. Standing up there, you can see the entire city, people watch above St. Mark’s Square, and stare at the incredible blue waters of each canal in the city. Beautiful.

Finally…lunch time! This part is short, but very important. We got pasta to go for lunch. Homemade, delicious pasta TO GO. For this we went to Dal Moro’s. You got to choose the type of pasta you wanted and the sauce you wanted. It was like fast food but with pasta, and it was the best thing ever. We had a bit of hard time finding a spot to eat, since it is straight up illegal to loiter in the streets of Venice while eating. Eventually, we found a place and finished up our pasta. I still think about that lunch to this day.

Next on the agenda was a gondola ride. Yay! …. or so I thought. The water traffic in Venice is decently heavy as you can imagine. There are constant ferries coming in, personal boats, and gondolas literally everywhere. The constant movement makes the waterways very rough. We split up into groups of 6, and boarded our gondolas. Although the ride was beautiful there were some very rocky spots, which did not sit well with my pre-existing anxiety and general fear of the ocean. I love the ocean, but I know that we don’t know everything about the ocean and that is absolutely terrifying to me, so I prefer to not dive in. I kept telling myself how often they do these rides, and everything would be fine.

Once I was able to calm down a little bit, I was able to enjoy the sights and the memories I was making with my friends. The gondola driver made a joke in Italian, and not that I speak fluent Italian in any regard, but I understood enough of his sentence to laugh at what he said. After he realized I understood what he said, he kept making comments and funny jokes about the ride and the people in the gondola with us. (Sorry Angelo) The driver’s joking definitely helped me calm down and enjoy the ride, so wherever you are sir, thank you!! (or should I say, mille grazie!)

We passed another gondola that had a few other people from our Contiki aboard. When I looked over I saw Amanda, one of my roommates from night 1, in a bit of a panic. Her gondola driver was DRINKING while driving them around. I assume there’s got to be some kind of law against that, right? Thankfully they weren’t hurt, but still like come on! The gondola drivers kind of reminded me of NYC taxi drivers. Not romantic at all. Oh, and they don’t serenade you in Italian like you see in the movies. Honestly, half of them were wearing sweatpants soooo no romance here.

Our last activity was a food tour throughout the city. In my head, that meant yummy wine and cheese, yummy pasta, and maybe some yummy pastries. I did not take in to account that Venice was an island city, which meant that they ate a lot of fish and there were fish markets around every corner. You know what that means? It smells like fish throughout the city, and for someone who does not like fish (me) or the smell of fish (me) this became an issue really quick on the food tour. I despise fish and won’t eat anything that it touches. I know I’m a pain in the ass. At one point of the tour, the area smelled soooo bad that I actually started gagging and had to sit that restaurant stop out. Lucky for me, my pal, Ben, grabbed an extra glass of champagne and ran it over to me while everyone snacked on their seafood (gag). I was so grateful because in that moment I really needed that champagne.

Once the food tour ended, most of the Contiki members were all back together. Rob took us to Suso to grab some gelato. Ya’ll already know I’m a sucker for some ice cream/gelato. As you could imagine, eating gelato in Italy is like Heaven on Earth.

After we finished up our gelato, we hung around a bar to kill time before having to head back to the ferry and call it a night. This is where I tried my first ever Aperol Spritz. This bright orange beverage that so many people obsessed over intrigued me, so I had to try one for myself. DISGUSTING. I have no idea how that is a popular drink. Never again will that drink ever hit my lips. 0/10 do not recommend.

After a few drinks, we went back to the ferry and were all feeling a little buzzed. I don’t remember fully what was happening on the ferry, but I can tell you I was shoving sour cream and onion Pringles in my mouth basically the entire ride back. Bliss.

We got to the hostel, which is still considered Venice, but is located on the mainland of Italy. Since we all started drinking earlier, we were ready to keep going and went to our rooms to freshen up. The plan was to go out, but the first group of people that tried to find a bar said everything was closed nearby. Bummer. After that I figured it was already kind of late, so might as well just go to bed. Since I was still in my room from when we first arrived, I just changed into my PJs and went to sleep.

The next morning, everyone was buzzing around and gossip was flying. Apparently, a bunch of people decided to drink in the lobby of the hostel, and a few people were messing around and one person on our tour fell and broke his shoulder. Like a total champ, he got on the tour bus with the rest of us and endured the pain the entire ride to Rome. What a way to finish the last few days of the tour, am I right?

Venice, Italy notes:

Where we stayed: A&O Venice Mestre Hostel
Where we ate:
Lunch: Dal Moro’s (Fresh Pasta to go)
Dinner/Drinks: Bar Al Campanile (I think…)
Free Time Add-ons:
Gondola Ride
Traditional Tastes of Venice (food tour)

Continue reading my journey throughout my entire Contiki series!

Contiki Series
Part I: Why Contiki? Day 1 & 2: Vienna, Austria
Part II: Day 2: Auschwitz, Poland
Part III: Day 2 & 3: Krakow, Poland
Part IV: Day 4: Banska Bystrica, Slovakia and Budapest, Hungary
Part V: Day 6: Lake Bled & Ljubljana, Slovenia
Part VI: Day 7: Venice, Italy
Part VII: Day 8 & 9: Rome, Italy