Europe Travel Diary: Venice

Our Europe Travel Diary is an informal rundown of our day-to-day activities whilst travelling around Europe. This diary entry is based on our three nights in Venice and our day trips to Murano and Burano. If you are after recommendations for Venice instead, we have a Venice Travel Guide coming soon!

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Day 22: Rome to Venice

_25/10/2021

As you’ll know from our Rome travel diary, we ended up getting a seven-hour Flixbus to Venice. We were very thankful that our hostel was only a two-minute walk from the train station so lugged our belongings around the corner and checked in. As our Top 10 Hostels in Europe outline, we thought Anda Hostel was one of the best hostels we visited throughout Europe.

As I am always right, I decided not to listen to Alex when he told me it was too cold to go out in a skirt and vest. Nevertheless, we then took the 10-minute train ride into the islands of Venice in search of dinner. Having arrived in the centre of Venice, I soon realised this was one of the VERY FEW occasions where Alex was right; all the locals were in their full winter gear and I was shivering in my summer outfit, whoops.

As I seriously needed a break from pizza and pasta, we managed to find a cute corner restaurant that offered some vegetables, pork and potatoes. Alex opted for ANOTHER pizza! After our dinner, we went for an evening stroll around Venice to see the city under the street lamps; it really is a stunning location and we were surprised by how peaceful the evenings were.

Once the cold became unbearable (I was trying not to complain in an attempt to not let Alex know he was right), we jumped on the train back to the hostel. Anda had a really nice common area so we plonked ourselves in a corner. We decided to watch a couple of episodes of YOU on the iPad before resting for another big day tomorrow.

Day 23: Venice

_26/10/2021

Unfortunately, our day started off in the worst possible fashion thanks to our roommates. We did put ourselves in a nine-bed dorm so we should’ve expected something sooner or later. Anyway, three of our roomies had to leave early in the morning and proceeded to make as much noise as physically possible when packing; as you can imagine, we were not best pleased. To top it off, this woke up the people adjacent to us who decided they’d also make a lot of noise.

At one point, one of them decided to have to take a phone call at 3am. This woke the beast (aka Alex on the top bunk) again who quite loudly told him to be quiet. Thankfully this meant he spoke quieter so we could go back to sleep; you’d have thought, with hostel etiquette in mind, people would be more considerate of others when taking a phone call at such an ungodly hour.

When we eventually rose, having got the worst night’s sleep yet, we got ready and headed to the train station; our destination was Venice Santa Lucia (Venice Venice). We did, as always, make sure we went past the coffee shop for two cappuccinos, a cream croissant for Alex and a gluten-free croissant for me. Once we arrived in Venice, we sat on the canal and ate our food. Unfortunately, my croissant was filled with marmalade (not even nice marmalade) so I gave it to my food hoover (Alex) who took two bites and agreed it was yuck; that’s when you know it’s bad.

Once fuelled, we took a big wander around Venice through its side streets, over bridges for a nose. We also went into a famous book shop, which was a lot of fun; the cats definitely make the experience! This wander lasted many many hours which brought us to lunch where we both had a diavola pizza.

After some more wandering, we headed in the direction of San Marco to have a coffee in front of Basilica di Santa Maria. Given our awful night’s sleep and how much we had walked, we decided to use the coffee as fuel to get ourselves home. In fairness, it was nearly 4 pm and we’d arrived in Venice at 11 am so that wasn’t bad going; we weren’t tracking our steps at the time but I’m sure they would have been pretty impressive! We got back to the hostel and all but collapsed from exhaustion.

After some well needed chill time, we agreed that we needed to “eat-in” more to save money. Logically, our next decision was to head to a Chinese restaurant around the corner that was recommended to us. Turns out the food was above average but that price was very good. We ended up having shrimp dumplings, spring rolls, prawn curry, special fried rice and a beef dish; all very nice. As a result of Alex’s sweet tooth, we then embarked on what turned out to be a long trek to a random shop that sold nothing but traditional Asian food. To Alex’s displeasure, we didn’t locate any chocolate, just a Mcflurry!

Day 24: Murano & Burano

_27/10/2021

Despite waking up “early”, we had a much better night’s sleep and were in a much happy mood for it. We then headed around the corner to get the train to Venice before catching a ferry to Murano and Burano; two islands nearby that are popular tourist destinations. were incredibly popular with tourists. Our first ferry was to Murano but it took some time to get here due to the numerous stop. We also ended up standing the whole time which, at this point, wasn’t a problem.

We eventually reach the island and stumbled across a glass blowing workshop where we watched craftsmen make delicate yet beautiful glass sculptures. This included unique Christmas ball-balls being made and very clever miniature horses. Despite having to pay, this was definitely worth it and it was fascinating to see the skill involved; we both said we could’ve sat there all day and watched.

Once the viewing has come to an end, we had a look around the gallery before making our way to the Burano ferry. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea which meant we (Alex) ended up in a queue for over an hour. I say Alex because I sat and strolled impatiently. When we eventually managed to squeeze onto the boat, we couldn’t find a conventional seat so Alex perched on a step whilst I stood the whole way; not fun.

As soon as we stepped off onto Burano, we could immediately tell how beautiful the island was. The island is so small that you could walk around in under 30 minutes. Before we could truly take in the scenery, we realised we needed some food where I had an almighty salad and Alex mixed it up by getting some pasta.

Once finished, we took the whole afternoon to take in every bit of the island; its bridges and beautifully painted buildings. Again, I’m definitely not doing the place justice here but hopefully, the pictures will.

As the sun started to go down, we had a long chat about how we could actually live there; maybe one day.

Having eventually finished, we decided to make the slow way back to the hostel for some rest and a big travelling day the following day. Two boats, one train and nearly two hours later, we were back on the mainland. On our way back we popped into the local supermarket so we (Alex) could cook for that evening; we agreed on pesto pasta with some pancetta and cherry tomatoes.

As was seemingly the case with the hostel kitchen past 5 pm every evening, it was very crowded and even grimier which meant that Alex was in charge of cooking; does anyone else find hostel cooking extremely stressful? Alex has to do all of ours even though I predominantly cook at home. Thankfully, Alex made an edible meal and everyone kept themselves to themselves in the kitchen. However, Alex did enjoy spending time listening to other people’s conversations; there are some very weird people that go travelling.

Having let our food digest, we made our way back to our room where we bumped into two English girls who were travelling together. Turns out they are doing exactly the same route as us but backwards so we exchanged tips, advice and stories. It was also quite amusing to witness both of them doing their laundry on the first night, not because they didn’t know what they were doing but because they had to go downstairs three times. This meant making their way through the common area in their pyjamas which had turned into a local nightclub playing the best of Beyoncé and ABBA; very amusing.

Day 25: Venice to Zagreb

_28/10/2021

Unlike our other early morning departures, our bus out of Venice today was at 2pm killing some time having checked out at 10am. Having put our bags in the hostel storage, we ventured around the corner to our resident coffee house for two more cappuccinos and a cream croissant; no GF croissant this time. We then had a travel planning meeting to discuss future destinations and dates before going back to the supermarket to get supplies for lunch. Alex whipped up some leftover pesto pasta for himself whilst I had a GF sandwich.

We then made our way to the bus station to wait for our Flixbus; unfortunately, it was 20 minutes late so we were left to play Candy Crush and argue about who was better. Before the fists came out, our bus turned up and we gladly took our seats.

Venice summary

Whilst we were never going to miss out on Venice on our travels, we’re definitely glad we came. We quickly realised that staying on the mainland was a very good idea, given the hostel’s location, and made life a lot easier; the 10-minute train to the island and a blessing when arriving/leaving as it’s a simple commute. We also realised it would’ve been a lot of stress trying to haul our luggage onto the train and around Venice itself.

Regarding the neighbouring islands, it definitely lived up to and exceeded expectations. We also really enjoyed visiting in October/November as the city wasn’t awash with tourists or smelling like many have reported.

Burano was definitely the highlight of the trip – the buildings and island were so beautiful and really recommended; shame about the long boat journey to get there.

All in all, a very worthwhile stop and one of our top so far.