Hi there,
I was in Venice in 2009 and we went by train for the day. I remember that I did not have a pleasant memory because everything smelled bad and was dirty. I also remember that in Piazza San Marco I didn’t even spend 20 minutes because I was disgusted by the pigeons flying overhead.
Also, being in Venice was stressful for me since there was a sea of people everywhere and a lot of noise from boats. Even when we bought souvenirs, the seller was rude. At that time, we still bought them, but now I find someone who treats me like that and I hit them in the face with the souvenirs.
That time it was the typical tourist visit with a gondola ride included.
When we had to change the flight since with the covid we could not go to Budapest, Diego said that Venezia called his attention more than Bari since he had never been. I warned him that Venezia was smelly and dirty.
One thing that shocked me is that they now do paddle boarding on the canals. Imagine falling off your board into that hyper-contaminated water. Venezia the least that inspires me is the desire for a bathing suit and water. Quite the opposite.
That the water was cleaned during the quarantine is a big lie (as those who have already been there can imagine). Venezia’s water won’t be clean even after a hundred years of quarantine. In fact, from the plane you can already see oil and dirt stains in the sea.
Arriving at the airport, you start noticing the rudeness of the people. In Venice it happens like in Costa Rica: since they have always had such an excessive number of tourists it is as if they already hated them. There is no such mentality of treating the visitor well so that they return.
Add to this the horrible experience that I told you about in the previous post.
Our host from Verona told us that in Venice the qualities were very bad, that she organized congresses there and to be able to stay in a half-decent place, you had to go to four-star hotels and up, since it was unthinkable to go to an apartment or a B&B.
In addition to the lack of hospitality, in Venezia the food is generally bad. We ate in three restaurants where the bill did not drop below 40 euros and the food was terrible. They even serve you past-cooked pasta, which for Italians is sacrilege.
So, as we had to start working at 1:00 p.m., the best thing to do was to return to Venezia Mestre and have lunch there. Next to the hotel we had a pizzeria that was glorious.
The only good thing is that there were “few people” to be Venezia in August. At 7 in the morning we were already walking around and we were able to take pictures without people. So, if Diego had to get to know Venezia, this was the best moment (within all the bad).
This time I got to know Murano and Burano.
These two islands are basically the same as Venezia without so much dirt and bad smell. It was a waste of time for me because there is nothing special to see. In addition, the vaporetto is slow and noisy, so you lose more than an hour going from one place to another, and then spend a little time on each island. Being on the vaporetto is exhausting because all the people are stuffed, and the heat is unbearable. Here the covid measures were non-existent.
The only curious thing is that in Burano the houses are painted in many colors.
The gondola ride is 80 euros, and we didn’t do it. It doesn’t motivate me to go through dirty water canals watching garbage float. Also, I find it is for me the worst tourist trap.
Venice is one of those places that you visit because everyone says it’s spectacular, but then when you arrive and if you’re a person with a bit of discretion, you don’t like it. Everything is expensive. Perhaps if the heritage had been more respected and it was not so overexploited, it would be more beautiful for me.
The same people who live there, apart from being rude, are dirty. I got tired of seeing them throw garbage on the floor and in the canals; besides, everything was littered with cigarette butts. In the rest of Italy there is more awareness when it comes to not polluting.
Shopping at the supermarket is another odyssey. They are tiny and there is always a queue. Once you enter, there is little variety of food, everything is very expensive, it’s a miracle that one person fits in the aisles, and you have to wait in line for another hour to pay. I can’t imagine that every time you must go to the market, let alone in high season.
When we left the disastrous Airbnb and stayed at the Venezia Mestre hotel, it was bliss to be able to go shopping in a normal supermarket.
In conclusion, I think that one can easily avoid Venezia. It is one of the places where I say, “I wish I had invested the time and money in a place that deserved it”. Because in addition to the problems it has, they treat tourists badly.
Venezia is also falling apart; Add to that the chaos of visitors, the excessive noise from the boats and the logistical problems for basic things like garbage collection and buying food. Also, the GPS doesn’t work, and the internet comes and goes. I can’t even imagine the life of the locals.
If you want to watch channels, you can go to Chioggia which is further down, surely without so much bad smell, dirt, people, and noise.
Here is the link to my YouTube channel: