I wanted to get to Hungary or Slovenia today but after trying to figure out how to get to either using my Rail pass I decided it was too hard from Lucca, so instead booked in 2 nights on the outskirts of Venice (since its super expensive to actually stay on the islands).
I really wasn’t expecting to like Venice after the overcrowded hell hole that was Rome. I had heard it was super packed with tourists and pretty boring. I opted not to buy a map, or research the areas at all but just get lost in its mazes of canals. As soon as I left the station I noticed everyone was immediately going to the Left of the station so I instead went forward to try and avoid the masses. I soon realised Venice is much much bigger than I always imagined!
However after only 10 to 15 minutes of walking I found myself lost in twisting alleys intertwined with canals and bridges and hardly a soul in sight. I was dumbfounded, surprised and happy to see so few people around, especially the annoying bag/toy/water/hat sellers which infect every European city, and particularly on a Saturday. I came across a tonne of warehouse art galleries with some amazing free exhibitions, a small street art scene with an outdoor street art battle in progress and heaps of glassblowing artists (Always fascinated by glass blowing).
I thought I would push my luck as night fell and try find some original live music, something which I have been sorely missing since leaving Melbourne, but instead wandered into the touristy district surrounding the train station which I had heard about. There I found the masses of people, and annoying bag/toy/water/hat sellers in full swing.
