This past weekend, I was lucky enough to do a little solo travel trip to the northern part of Italy. I went to visit some family friends in Vicenza (one of my old babysitters, in fact!) and I got to travel to Venezia (Venice) and a small town called Marostica with the family I stayed with.
I left after class on Thursday and got in to Vicenza late Thursday evening. I had planned on traveling on Friday, but there was a transportation strike and very few trains were running; also this way I had the whole day Friday to see a new town!
Friday morning, I walked around Vicenza with Suzie. It's a smaller city halfway between Verona and Venice. It's very cute, and it has one of the oldest theaters in Italy within the city walls.
After a few hours, we had to return back to their house because their four girls were returning from school. After a relaxing hour or two at the house, we piled into their car (an actual car ride!!) and headed for perhaps the dreamiest city in Italy: VENICE!
Suzie and her husband Hugh were nice enough to take me there for an evening, and they also wanted to see it for themselves, and so we decided even thought it'd be dark it would be well worth the drive to see Venice at night and grab a nice dinner somewhere. And yes indeed it was worth it. Venice is beyond gorgeous at night. The type of city you could fall in love with without even trying to.
Grand Canal at night - as per usual, pictures don't do it justice!
A small restaurant with some lovely floral arrangements on the outside
The next day, we went to Marostica - a small town in the foothills of the mountains. On the day we went, it was rainy and dreary, and the town was beautiful but didn't seem all that remarkable. However, every two years in the town center, there's a life-size chess match (a la Harry Potter) with the knights on horses and other players in full costume. Not something that you see every day, and it was cool to walk on the giant chess board!
giant chess board in Marostica
giant chess pieces
We got lunch at a small restaurant in the town square, where I tried pumpkin risotto - which was delicious! While we were waiting for the food, I wandered around the city (it was pretty small) and looked inside some old cathedrals - always a neat experience!
Church of the Madonna Del Carmine or the Carmini
view of Marostica, including the foothills
Honestly, one of the best decisions I've ever made. I'm seriously IN LOVE with Venice - such a beautiful city! I could easily spend five years there and never get bored of just exploring the teeny alley ways and the grandiose canals.
Since I was by myself, I didn't know where exactly I was all the time - and as a result, I have no idea what I was taking pictures of. All I knew was whatever it was happened to be beautiful (as all of Venice is), so instead of more captioning, just enjoy the pictures I took and try to imagine wandering around by yourself in such a magical city.
One bit of advice - if you're in Venice and you are in a group of 4 or less people, don't pay for a gondola - take the water taxi and sit in the back instead. True, it won't be nearly as romantic as a gondola ride, but it is A LOT cheaper - especially for one person, like me!
All in all, the trip to Vicenza and Venezia was one of the best weekends thus far - it was so great to see some familiar faces and to see such a renowned city in the flesh! Such a perfect weekend, and yet there is much more amazing things to come!
(note: blog posted a couple weeks after the weekend actually happened, my apologies!)
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