That’s right, we love Italy. After visiting a few times we would still go back probably yearly to see different cities. We had heard mixed reviews about Venice with some people saying it had a whiff from the canals and some reporting how busy and expensive it was. We of course needed to find out for ourselves and so booked our stay.

It was my husband that had booked our room at Ai Mori d’Oriente and on arrival it was a beautiful, luxurious hotel. We were very happy to find out we had been given a room upgrade ending up in a two storey apartment style room. Little extras such as pillow sweets, weather reports and bottles of water on the bedside made finishing touches that little extra thoughtful for me. The bed was huge and the whole hotel vibe was lush, decorated with rich greens, reds and golds throughout. It was slightly out of the main hub of the city and about 15 minutes walk back from the centre and I would definitely stay here again.

The city of Venice has so much to offer from historical sites, backstreet restaurants and of course the beautiful canals. There is definitely a buzz during the day which was perhaps a bit busy for me but I can hardly complain as it was the peak of the summer holidays. St Marks Square was the busiest and most touristy area we visited and we didn’t stay for long, I would say about 10 minutes just to see it. We had also been told it was the most expensive for food and drink so we didn’t want to get caught up in that. Also, if I were wanting a gondola ride I would perhaps go back a few streets and off of the main stretch to get some better deals with less waiting time.

The food in Venice was definitely beat my estimations. Our favourite meal of the whole holiday was in Verona. We had the special Amerone Risotto and Amerone wine, both recommended to us and an antipasti of duck. Of course there was dessert this being chocolate and peaches. Gorgeous in taste just couldn’t be finished after such good portion sizes! For our other main meals we found restaurants a few streets back from the touristy areas where they were both delicious and slightly cheaper. Pizza was a main choice for Mr LB and different kinds of pasta for myself.

Travel in and around Venice is mainly done on foot. This wasn’t an issue for us at all as the city isn’t huge. The only thing I will remember next time is to take luggage with wheels as I had taken a vintage suitcase and those things are heavy. Venetian streets are narrow and we didn’t find it too far in between locations of what we wanted to see and where we went. Gondolas are also available but these seem to be used mainly as a tourist attraction with the locals using their own boats as personal transport. We got the train to Verona which was very easy (you just have to get the fast train rather than the slow one!) and the bus was available for airport transfers.

There’s no doubt we had a great holiday and would go again. Next time we’ve both agreed to stay in Verona as the sights are equally beautiful but it is a fair bit quieter and a little less touristy. The busiest place in Verona was Juliet’s balcony with a lot of people in a small space. Oh and being a Brit the final thing I have to say is the weather in Italy was absolutely gorgeous!

If you want to catch up with some more of my Italian Travel Dairies check out Our Tuscan Honeymoon and Montalcino posts to see more of the series.

Until next time,

L x