Thinking of traveling to Italy this Summer? Here was my experience. I have never travelled alone internationally, so I was excited to go to Italy (a bucket list place for me) and explore on a solo trip. Before I left the U.S., I had gotten 500 euros to cover cab rides/local shopping, etc. However, I was pleasantly surprised to know that most places, including one of my taxis took credit card, so that was convenient.
I started my Italy trip in Venice. My plan was to do a few days in Venice, a few days in Rome, and then head back to Venice for a day before returning home. Overall, for a solo female traveler, it was fairly painless. People were friendly and I felt safe the entire trip. You were supposed to show proof of vaccination upon entering, but when I got to customs, my passport was just stamped and I went on my way. No one asked or checked for my vaccination card for the entire trip, other than when I was at the airport when I was heading back home to the U.S. The majority of people were not wearing masks. To each their own, but since the U.S. currently requires you test negative for COVID within 24 hours of your flight, I did not want to take any chances and chose to wear my mask at all times, except for when I was eating or when I was in my hotel room.
Day 1 was a busy day! I arrived at my hotel around 10:30 a.m. local time. I decided to stay in Venice Mestre, which has a train station that is a 10-minute train ride from the city center of Venice. I was VERY glad I did this (I’ll explain why later in this post). I stayed at Staycity Aparthotels. I chose Staycity because it had a full kitchen (including a dishwasher, which I have never seen in a basic hotel room). My room was not going to be ready until 3:00 p.m. so the front desk took my bags and suggested I take the train into the city, do a loop and before I knew it, it would be 3:00 p.m. I was skeptical that that much time would pass, but I took the suggestion and took the short walk to the train station.
Getting a train ticket was fairly easy (after I watched a person in front of me do it) and a one-way trip was only about 1 euro. I confirmed the platform number with the help desk, went to the platform where my train was to depart, and sat down in an empty seat. A few minutes later, a woman sat next to me and asked me if the train was going to Venice. I told her I hoped so and that it was my first day there. She let me know it was also her first day in Venice, she was also traveling alone, and she was also killing time until her hotel room was ready. We struck up a conversation as we waited for the train and I soon found out her name was Francesa and she was from Chile. The train arrived and we hopped on. We sat next to each other and both looked out the windows taking in what we could see. Once the train arrived at the final destination of Venice St. Lucia, we got off and started walking in what we hoped was the right direction. Luckily, we guessed right and saw this beautiful scene…
We stopped to admire the beauty of the view and then started our self-guided tour of Venice together. One quick sidenote: I loved Venice, but it is a lottttt of walking (I probably walked over 5 miles on day 1, but I don’t know the exact distance because my Apple watch died halfway through the day). It is a lagoon city, which means there are no cars in the city center, so your options are walking or ferry/boat. Which leads me to why I was glad I didn’t stay in the city center…it was very crowded and hard to move around because tourists are constantly abruptly just stopping dead in their tracks to look at something. I saw so many tourists struggling with their suitcases trying to navigate the crowds and/or they were having to lug them up and down lots of steps or bridges. Not ideal, but doable if you do not have a lot of luggage.
Anyways, we continued our walk and stopped at fruit bar. I got a mango daiquiri that was refreshing. We then continued on and decided it was time to get some lunch. We ended up in a square with a church and several restaurants. We looked at the menus of the different restaurants and decided on Osteria da Nico. Warm bread was brought to the table first and I went with a bellini for my drink. I decided to go with the spaghetti carbonara for my entree. I then got a chocolate cake that came with mushroom shaped white chocolate pieces on the side. Everything was very delicious and the presentation was like true art.
It was then time to walk off lunch and go see two of the main Venice attractions…the Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco, better known as St. Mark’s Square in English. Along the way, we stopped at a few shops. I got a very pretty dress at one shop. The Rialto Bridge was very crowded but nice to look at. St. Mark’s Square was buzzing with tourists. St. Mark’s Basilica and Doge’s Palace loomed large. We sat in front of the water to take a breather and watched people get on and off gondolas. At this point the time had in fact passed by fast and it was close to 3:00 p.m. and we were going to head to check into our hotels.
We decided to stop at the gondolier stand to ask the details about doing a gondola ride (which we had planned to do the next day). We got the details and started to make our way back to the train station when one of the gondoliers we had spoken to said he would give us a deal on a longer route if we went with him right then. There’s no time like the present, so we agreed. Our gondolier was named Bruno and I am so glad we said yes to him! Not only did he give us a deal and we got to take a longer route, but he also told us a lot of history along the way and answered any questions we had. He also took pictures of us/with us. He was absolutely wonderful and I highly suggest you go on a gondola ride with him if you’re in Venice (see his photo below). While on the gondola, we saw another Venice attraction…the Bridge of Sighs. Take a look at the videos and photos below to experience the gondola ride like we did!
After the gondola ride, we were exhausted (not just from all the sightseeing, but it was also very hot)! As you can see, we had a full first day. I was very excited to get on the train and check into my hotel. I was too tired to eat dinner and was happy to just get in my room and put my feet up. The bed was very inviting (see below) and I slept like a baby. Come check out the blog tomorrow for how Day 2 went!
