Every year for Mother’s day me, my mum, sister and Jasmine go on a trip together. Last year our annual female family weekend took place in Venice. Our decision to go to Venice was merely based on the fact that Valencia and Sevilla were way too expensive during the school holidays.
We booked our flights with Transavia directly to Venice. Our quest to find the perfect hotel took just a bit longer as Venice is extremely expensive especially when you want a swimming pool. Swimming pools are high on Jasmine’s wishlist. In the end we found a perfect hotel on a walking distance from the airport: Hotel Venice resort.
Note to all travellers: Walking during the night on a barely paved road in Italy is pretty dangerous. Italians drive like maniacs.
From the hotel there is a regular bus service into town. We found a lovely restaurant across the street from our hotel where the best food in Venice was served. Not one of those overly crowded tourist spots but a proper Italian restaurant with an excellent authentic menu.
To visit all the sightseeing spots in Venice (And Venice has a lot of them) we bought daily tickets for the boat buses that gets you around Venice for a small fee and is fun to do at the same time.
After careful consideration we decided to go on a gondola ride through the Venetian canals. We just couldn’t leave Venice without it. Gondola rides are one of those things you only do once in your life and never again. In the end we only regret the chances we didn’t take.
Venice stirs something in me. These are the streets where poems were written, where stories were born, where people have loved. Just look up and dream away. And that’s exactly what we did while eating a gelato.
The day after we took a busboat into Lido beach where we celebrated a lovely Italian day in the sun. Il dolce far niente (the sweetness of doing nothing).
Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolates in one go. This was Venice, the magical beauty of a city. Half fairytale and half tourist trap but definitely worth your time.