After about 3 weeks of living in Italy (an hour from Venice, mind you), I finally visited Venice! It was such a magical city! I didn’t get to check everything off my Venice bucket list (yes, I do have an actual list). Instead, we spent most of the day just wandering around. It just gives me an excuse to go back ;).

We parked at the beginning of the Grand Canal and took a vaporetto (aka water bus) ride down the Grand Canal. Joe was a little bored (to be fair, it was also stifling hot outside), but I thought it was a great way to see Venice and get oriented. Plus it was way cheaper than a gondola.

The vaporetto dropped us off at the main square, Piazza San Marco. While there are lots of cool things to do there, it was crazy crowded (not that I would have expected much else since it was a Saturday in July). So we quick grabbed a picture of the Bridge of Sighs and then hightailed it out into Venice’s narrow, windey streets.

One of my favorite things about Venice was just wandering its streets and exploring the local shops. Carnevale masks were everywhere! There were so many unique ones! Of course we had to try a few on ;). We also window shopped at some other cool shops that sold fountain pens, fresh made pasta, chocolates, glass, and many other Venetian things.

Whenever we could, we tried to walk along the waterways (and in the shade)!

After the fact, I learned that this haunting sculpture is actually a call to action to deal with climate change issues Venice is facing.

Here’s a view from the Rialto Bridge.

By far, the best gelato I’ve had was at this little place called Boutique del Gelato. I could have gone back a few times that day 😍.

Just sitting by the water with gelato in hand was the perfect way to end a day in Venice 👌🏼.

Have you been to Venice before? What should I do on my next visit to “The Floating City”?