Venezia: My 5 Favorite Things

Honestly, I liked Venice, it was absolutely beautiful. Mostly because I visited with my boyfriend (seen in most pictures here) and it was super romantic. However, today Venice is definitely only occupied by tourists which kind of made me feel like it's just a facade for taking people's money. So because of this, my list is probably different than most about the best things to see in Venice...

1. Fancy Bridge Architecture:

Okay, but like if you look at the photo... that's just impressive. To be honest, this is a tribute to the fact that venice functions as a city without cars, but boats. That's pretty frickin cool, along with the fact that Venice is built on more than 100 small islands in a marshy lagoon in the Adriatic Sea. There are no cars or roadways, just canals and boats.

2. Murano Glass Museum:

To be honest, I thought this was the most interesting part of Venice - and I only stayed on the island for like an hour :( Murano glass is glass made on the Venetian island of Murano, which has specialized in fancy glasswares for centuries. Murano’s glassmakers led Europe for centuries, developing or refining many technologies including crystalline glass, enamelled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Today, the artisans of Murano are still employing these centuries-old techniques, crafting everything from contemporary art glass and glass figurines to Murano glass chandeliers and wine stoppers, as well as tourist souvenirs. Which I totally bought for my mom - you're welcome, and myself - thank you!

3. Canal Grande:

The Grand Canal forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city. Public transport is provided by "vaporetti" or water-busses, private water taxis (talk about $), or gondola (literally $$$$, yea that's right 80 euros for half an hour? no thank you). One end of the canal leads into the lagoon near the Santa Lucia railway station and the other leads into the Saint Mark Basin. In between, it makes a large reverse-S shape through the"sestieri" or central districts of Venice. The only thing you have to worry about though is the stench - it's only about five meters (16.5 ft) deep.

4. Ponte Del'Rialto:

The Ponte di Rialto or "The Rialto Bridge" is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo. I crossed this, as do a lot of tourists, many times over the course of 48 hours because of the fact that Venice is probably the most confusing city ever. As such, it has officially become Ali Heston's #1 bridge in the world. Your welcome Venice.

5. Getting drunk in San Marco's Square:

It was spring break after all! Okay, we visited Piazza San Marco and the Basilica di San Marco twice (the first time sober) and although it was SUPER beautiful, we had to kill like 4-5 hours, and what better way to do so than purchase tiny juicebox-sized cartons of wine and get trashed while taking in culture and beauty? (Sorry for disrespecting your culture italians who read this, but we were American tourists and if that's not an excuse for "una bestemmia" I don't know what is). But, to make up for it anyway, here's what I learned while I was there:

Piazza San Marco is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as "the Piazza". The Piazza and the Basilica form the social, religious and political centre of Venice and are commonly considered together.The Square is dominated at its eastern end by the great church of St Mark. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture. It is adjacent and connected to the Doge's Palace, and was originally the chapel of the Doge, and has only been the city's cathedral since 1807, when it became the seat of the Patriarch of Venice. For its opulent design, gold ground mosaics, and its status as a symbol of Venetian wealth and power, from the 11th century on the building has been known by the nickname "Chiesa d'Oro" or the Church of gold.