Nomadic Neen Most people picture Venice as a picturesque and romantic city. You imagine dreamy gondola rides, delicious pasta, mesmerizing music, and the beautiful canals that run throughout the city. I mean, that is how I pictured it anyway. I had really high hopes for Venice, only to get there and realize this city was probably something straight out of my nightmares. Venice forced me to face some of my biggest fears and anxiety points.
To give you a little background, let me list a few fun facts about me.
- I hate birds. I know hate is a strong word, but it drives my point home on my feelings towards them. They creep me tf out with those pointy little beaks and the fact that they just crap all over the place. Gross.
- I despise seafood. I think it is the most repulsive food on the planet. It smells awful, people eat it raw, and it just never looks appetizing. HARD PASS.
- I absolutely love the ocean. I respect the ocean and everything about it. So much so that I have learned as much as I possibly can about it. So, I have developed this deep fear of what lives in the ocean and what we don’t know lives in the ocean. I think it is absolutely beautiful BUT I am terrified of going into any body of water (other than a pool obviously), especially if I cannot see what is below me.
Back to my Venice nightmare…
I visited Venice in May 2019 with my Contiki group. I was really excited about this stop just because I imagined it to be this perfect spot as I described above. Everyone always raves about it so much, so I had very high expectations. We arrived early in the morning and had the entire day to do whatever we wanted. At the top of my priority list was going to Libreria Acqua Alta, which is this quaint, unique, and beautiful bookstore in Venice. There are books everywhere in the city, and this particular store is the one I wanted to visit. 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 had planned a group visit to a glass blowing shop for anyone who was interested in seeing how all of the beautiful glass was made. Most of us went, and a few of our fellow Contiki friends wanted to shop there after. While they finished shopping, we waited outside on a cute little bridge overlooking the canal that the Bridge of Sighs was also on, so I was standing there enjoying the beauty and snapping a few pictures of course. While taking in the view, a bird flew so close to my head I actually felt its wings. My immediate reaction was to scream, cry, and just fall to the floor. One of my new Contiki friends, Angelo, watched the whole thing happen. After he made sure I was physically fine, he laughed about it to the point of tears. I was teased about it for the rest of the day, but I wasn’t kidding when I said I didn’t like birds!
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 constant anxiety. These birds have zero fear of people, 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 crapped on, but one of my fellow group members was not so lucky.
Next on the agenda was a gondola ride. Yay! … or so I thought. The water traffic in Venice is heavy all around as you can imagine. There are constant ferries coming in, personal boats, and gondolas everywhere. This makes the waterways very rough. Although the ride was beautiful, there were some very rocky spots, which did not sit well with my anxiety about the ocean. I kept telling myself that they do these rides often and everything would be fine. Once I calmed down a 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, he kept making comments and funny jokes about the ride and the people in the gondola with us. His sense of humor definitely helped me calm down and enjoy the ride, so wherever you are sir, thank you!! (or should I say, mille grazie!)
Our last activity was a food tour throughout the city. In my head, that meant yummy wine, pasta, and maybe some pastries. I did not consider that Venice is in fact an island city, which means that they eat a lot of fish and there are 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 or the smell of fish, this became an issue really quick on the food tour. I always say that I am allergic to fish when I have to share my dietary restrictions. It’s just easier than explaining that I despise fish and won’t eat anything that it touches. I know, I’m a pain in the ass 🙂 . At one point during the tour, the area smelled soooo fishy that I actually started gagging and had to skip out on that restaurant. Lucky for me, my new Contiki friend, Ben, grabbed an extra glass of champagne and ran it over to me while everyone snacked on their seafood tastings (gag). I was so grateful because in that moment I really needed that champagne.
At the end of the day, I could not wait to get back to the hostel. Looking back, I have to admit I really did have a fun time while in Venice even though there were some hiccups. I made some really great memories and left with some funny stories. I promise that, even though I only talked about the negatives here, there are plenty of positives to Venice too, and I’ll cover those one of these days, so stay tuned!
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