My first trip to Italy came in the form of a two day stop in an 11 day European tour. To this day, that tour remains one of my most fulfilling trips. Since then, I’ve remained friends with many of the people I met on that trip. The beauty of a well orchestrated tour is that it provides you with just enough to know where you’d like to make a future opportunity to immerse yourself in the culture, or where you’d be happy enough to have simply explored the popular sites on your current trip. Venice is one such city where an amuse bouche is more than enough.

A day is all that is needed to enjoy one of Italy’s most beautiful cities. We drove to the infamous sinking city. By coach, we made our way across the Via Liberta bridge and took a ferry to the city. Perhaps most surprising about Venice is the smell. This frequently revered as charming city actually more or less smells like a local sewer. The reason for this is, the city has no well prepared means of sewage work. In addition, the only means to get around in Venice is actually by boat or gondola. This leads to the constant release of diesel in more or less still waters.

That said, the architecture is quite something to behold and the way of life is truly something to marvel at. That said, Italy and it’s many historically preserved cities (Pompeii, Florence, and Rome to name a few) are far more worthy of your tourist dollars.

Once you’ve had Italian pizza- originated in Naples- you would have found yourself wondering, how have we managed to so drastically deviate from such perfection. The taste is unlike any other slice you would have enjoyed anywhere around the world. You can singularly taste every ingredient, from the fresh vine tomatoes to the highly scented basil. Delicious is an understatement.  Another site to enjoy is the glass blowing spectacle of preparing world-renowned colorful and skillfully made pieces. If you have the money, splurge on one of these pieces or pick up a more reasonably priced hand made pendant.

Finally, enjoy a gondola ride through the waters of the city. It is after all what Venice is most famous for and what you came to experience. Having been greeted by the scent, chances are the romantic notions you envisioned would have immediately escaped you, but none-the-less you can’t return to a whole other continent, having not experienced it. Smell aside it truly is romantic.

[wpvideo qbPrbb1Q]Have you been to Venice? What are your thoughts on the sinking city?

All media ©  2014 Donnatilda Tabana