After the initial shock of the beautiful city of Venice, the first thing you might notice is that the only noise is coming from music and people talking.
There’s no cars. No bikes. No motorcycles. Just boats and gondolas. It’s so picturesque I felt like I was at a theme park, but no. This is a beautiful historical city full of tiny corridors, narrow cobble stone streets, and bridges for days. About 400 if you want to get specific.
That’s because, as I learned today from our lovely tour guide, the city of Venice was built on multiple tiny islands. So small and clumped together that when you’re crossing a bridge, you’re actually walking to a different island.
The walking tour was long and we didn’t even cover the other half of the city. It may have started off small but now, Venice is enormous and it’s a huge tourism hub.
The main attractions seem to be shopping and gondola rides- both of which I did with excitement!
After the informative (yet exhausting) walking tour, came that beautiful gondola ride and I scored the best seat at the very front all by myself. It was so unreal I had to take a second to get quiet and soak it all in. As we went along the canals, which served as their roads, I could see how the brick has evolved over time.
At the top, the red brick was powdered in salt that naturally developed from the Adriatic Sea water, then it turned a deep rusted orange, faded into a vibrant green moss, seamlessly became teal, and ended with an overgrowth of a mussel graveyard.
It was similar to a rock face on the side of a mountain. Looking at the brick was like taking a trip back in time.
It was a busy a fast paced day but the gondola ride definitely made me hit the pause button and take in my surroundings. It was peaceful and centering.Those are the moments that I cherish when I travel.