Venice, Italy: 3 days

April 30, 2026

Venice, Italy: 3 days

Venice is my first destination on this trip. My flight was about 8 hours from Philadelphia and I arrived at the Venice Marco Polo Airport around 9 AM on Monday.

During the flight, I watched the film The Big Short. It’s about the housing crisis that led to the 2008 Great Recession and how several groups of people made billions of dollars by shorting the housing market. This made me think of the meaning of money. For me, having enough money gives me freedom and a peace of mind. But to some people, money is a gambling tool.

Immigration at the airport was fast since everything is electronic. I didn’t even get a stamp in my passport. I caught the ATVO bus that costs €12, or about $14, to Mestre Station. I thought the price was too expensive considering it’s only a 20 minute bus ride. However, that’s the cheapest option from my research.

My hostel is Anda Venice Hostel and it’s located close to the Mestre train station and bus stops. Mestre is a district of Venice that’s about 20 minutes away from Venice Island, which most people think of as Venice. Another hostel is on Venice Island, but it has poor reviews even though it’s at a great location. I chose Anda and liked it a lot since it’s a social hostel. This hostel is also the largest hostel I’ve ever stayed at since it’s a building with eight floors. I usually use Booking.com to book my stays and you can book this hostel there and on HostelWorld.com.

The check-in time was at 2 PM and I had arrived around 10 AM. For some reason, I decided my first meal in Italy should be at Asian Halal Food. I had the worst mutton biryani there despite the fact that the place had good reviews. After paying for the meal, the owner wanted me to write a review right in front of him. Due to social pressure, I rated 5 stars. Later, I realized that how the place got so many good reviews. I ended up deleting my review and opted not to write a bad review on Google Maps. But the readers of this blog are now informed.

After check-in, I tried to take a nap in the room but couldn’t really sleep. I ended up eating tonkotsu ramen for dinner at MIC Ramen. This place has one of the best ramens I’ve had in a while. Definitely made up for the crappy lunch I had earlier. I noticed the restaurant charged me a €2 service fee. I thought I might have been scammed, but it turns out that almost all restaurants charge a service fee.

Monday night was karaoke night at the hostel. I watched some people sing, but decided to get some sleep around 11 PM. My sleep wasn’t that good since people were coming in and out of the room in the middle of the night.

The next day, I spent the day at Venice Island and after meeting some people from the hostel, I went to Venice again at night. I walked so much that I had a blister on my left foot when I came back.

Venice is just like what I imagined. Actually, it was even better because there are no cars in the city and I didn’t even see a single bicycle. People walked everywhere, some with their dogs. I had to watch out for dog pee and the occasional dog poop.

The canals were very scenic, just like what I imagined. I heard that they smell, but I didn’t smell anything in particular.

The best way to explore Venice as a tourist is by wandering almost aimlessly. Of course, I visited the city’s main attraction: Piazza San Marco. The Piazza has St Mark's Campanile, Saint Mark's Basilica, and Doge's Palace. To get inside Saint Mark's Basilica I had to buy a ticket, but it was sold out for the day. I had researched Doge’s Palace two weeks ago and the ticket had already sold out then. My advice is to buy these tickets well in advance.

Venice gives a different feeling at night since there are fewer people. With the moon over the buildings, I felt I was in a magical place. However, I didn’t take too many night photos since I was with a group of people from the hostel. I ended up eating a second dinner with two Canadian girls, Sydney and Ariann, before we met up with another group at a bar to watch a soccer game.

Yesterday, despite my blister, I went back to Venice in the afternoon and explored the Dorsoduro area on the southwest side of the island. There are some art galleries and museums there, plus a few churches.

In addition to meeting Sydney and Ariann, I met two other Canadians, Vic and Ethan, and an 18 years old Sam from Finland at the dorm. Vic and Sam shared their love of sports cars. Ethan is 23 years old and started working not too long ago. I got along with them well even though they are all quite young.

Since the Anda Venice Hostel is located very close to the transportation hub, you can take the train or the bus for €1.50 to Venice Island from Mestre. It’s only about 20 minutes each way.

I also tasted the local specialty foods. They included spaghetti al nero di seppia, known in English as spaghetti with squid ink. I also tried the Aperol Spritz, a Venetian wine-based cocktail. Both seemed average to me.

I had spent three days in Venice, which is a good amount of time. I wish I went to Murano Island where there’s a glass museum. Many stores on Venice Island sell the Murano glass sculptures so I guess I didn’t miss out on too much.

Today, I’ll be taking the 12:10 PM bus to Bologna and stay there for two nights.