This was the final leg of our Europe trip. We had been staying for about half a year in the UK and everything seemed to be going well and smoothly so far. There were definitely ups and downs (not going to lie and portray a too perfect life) throughout these six months but undoubtedly we felt happy most of the time and we tried to be optimistic in all circumstances.

With a heavy heart, we left Newcastle to London via the train to kick-start our third vacation in Europe. After travelling to east and west side of Europe, it was time to spend some time in the southern Europe. First we were in some sort of dilemma as we were not sure to choose which countries but after sitting down and discussing the pros and cons of each place (including our remaining budgets), we decided that Italy would be our destination.

After reaching London, we went to deposit our bags and luggage at the nearest locker station that we could find, we went to the Southend Airport after a quick lunch as it was quite far from the city itself and we were not familiar with the area in the first place. So as a precaution, we reached the airport around midnight as the tube service stopped operating until early morning which would be too late for us to catch our flights (eight in the morning).

Day 1

Venice Marco Polo Airport




Much to our dismay, we were horrified to find that the Southend Airport was not opened for 24/7. It was closed at the midnight and reopened in the morning about four in the morning (so much for the thought of saving accommodation money by spending the night at the airport). We were practically freezing the whole night as we did not prepare winter clothing since it was blazing hot in Italy.


After suffering for hours without heater or even cushion seats, the airport finally opened at four in the morning and we rushed inside to get some hot beverages to warm ourselves and of course, to empty our bladders. We made our way to check in and we were slightly worried as we fly via FlyBe and it was mentioned on the site that they were very very strict with the cabin baggage size and weight and unfortunately the luggage bags that we brought from Malaysia were all slightly bigger than the given dimensions.



Thank lord we passed the check and successfully entered the plane without any problems from the staff. It was quite an enjoyable flight as we managed to watch some snowy mountains when we passed by Switzerland while we were on our way to Italy. We reached the Marco Polo Airport at 1150 in the morning and were greeted by the hot and dry weather. After clearing the customs, we exited the airport to find the shuttle bus and made our way to our accommodation.

Ostaria Dai Zemei


Even before going to Italy, we were constantly being reminded to take care of our belongings and be cautious of our surroundings as pickpocket-ing and thefts are rampant in Italy. While we were getting to our accommodations, my bag was constantly being knocked by someone out of no reasons so I was being a little bit suspicious of the crowd around me.

To my utter surprise, I then saw two young ladies trying to snatch my friend's passport out of her bag without her knowledge. I immediately shout at the women and they were caught by surprise. Then, they acted as if they were trying to help my friends to zip her bag and scurried for cover amongst the crowd. After the incident we were being extra cautious of everything which was pretty tiring and hurried our way to out Airbnb.



After taking sometime to calm ourselves down we went out for a quick bites at the famous Ostaria Dai Zemei store. They sold some of the best chicetti in Venice. Basically chicetti was like the Italian version of the tapas that we found in Spain. There were a wide selection of chicetti with different toppings at the restaurant and we ordered a couple of them and all of them tasted divine!

Canale Grand (Grand Canal)


Then we began exploring Venice after leaving the chincetti store. Our first destination was none other than the famous main waterway in Venice, the Grand Canal. The "Canalazzo" which was about 3.8 km long split the city into two. It was also said that Venice looked like a big fish from bird eye's view. The view of the canal was breath-taking and it was busy with public ferries and private boats transporting passengers as well as items.


There were four bridges that crossed the Grand canal, namely the "Ponte della Costituzione" (the Constitution Bridge), “Ponte degli Scalzi ("Barefoot Bridge"), Rialto Bridge and lastly the Accademia Bridge.









Some of the amazing views around the Grand Canal/

Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge)


We were standing on the Rialto Bridge, a stone-arch bridge that was one of the landmarks in Venice which crossed the narrowest point of the Grand Canal in the heart of the city. Unfortunately the weather was too hot to handle and there were about a hundred thousand visitors (exaggeration)  on the bridge with each of them trying very hard to get nice photos of them standing on the bridge against the beautiful backdrop of the busy canal.



There are a lot of cafes on both sides of the walkways of the canal and I believed most of the customers were tourists. Without a shred of doubt, we avoided the restaurants altogether as they would charge us an exorbitant amount of price for the unoriginal local dishes that they would serve.

Gelateria Il Doge


We went this must-try gelateria that was famous in Venice. We were spoilt by various types of flavours. The gelato was authentic and delicious as they were all made from fresh fruits instead of colouring and artificial flavours. The sun was beaming hot and it was perfect to have a cold gelato to cool us down.

Pizza al Volo

Image Source: pinterest.com

Getting ourselves around the main city area proved to be quite a challenge as there were tourists everywhere and we had to pave our way through them in order to get from one place to another. Also, we had to constantly be aware of the strangers walking passed us, fearing they might be another pickpockets or thieves. After wandering through the area. we went to have our dinner at a pizzeria (naturally) simply because we had to try the local pizzas. After all, they were originated from Italy.

Image Source: tripadvisor.com.my

Al Volo Pizzeria's pizza was delicious and each of them came in huge portions. The pizzas were freshly made and cooked on spot and we could get a large slice of pizza as little as 2 Euros. The shop was always busy with customers and they offered a variety of pizza selections. The pizza base was thin and they  were very generous with the toppings. Aside from the tasty pizza, the workers were friendly and polite, making the experience even better. All in all, it was worth every euro that we have spent at the pizzeria for dinner.

Day 2

Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square)


On our day two in Venice, we went to the only square which was called as piazzo in Venice (the rest of the squares were called campo), the St Mark's Square. Considered as one of the finest squares in the world, it was breathtakingly amazing with flocks of pigeons gathering at the square. Having said that, there were these pakistanis/bangladeshis bird feeders who looked genuinely nice handing out feeds to the tourists as if they were giving them for free.


One of my friends initially refused his offer but he was being so forceful and placed the feeds on my friend's hand. Hence my friend gave up and took the feeds to feed the fellow pigeons. Then, out of sudden, the bird-feeder demanded money form my friend and he was being so rude by throwing tantrums and profanities when my friend told him that he was the one who insisted him to take the feeds and ignored the request for money.

Torre dell’Orologio (St Mark’s Clock Tower)
Also known as "the Moor's Clocktower", the stunning building which had a magnificent clock that portrayed not only time, but also phase of the moon and the dominant sign of the zodiac was facing the square. The clock tower had two bronze figures which were originally designed as giants but later given nickname "Moors" due to their dark patina that would hit the bronze bell hourly. Besides that, there was also a winged Lion of Venice which represent the patron saint and symbol of Venice below of the Moors, not to mention the statue of Virgin Mary that stood above the clock face.

Basilica di San Marco (St. Mark’s Basilica)


The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark was the cathedral od the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice. The gigantic building was built with gold ground mosaics and it was literally the symbol of wealth and power of the Venetians. Because of it's opulent designs, the building has also been known as the Chiesa d'Oro (Church of Gold). Undoubtedly, we were awed by the gold decorations in the church and everything seemed so fancy and expensive on the interior of the building!

St. Mark’s Museum

Image Source: italy-museum.com

Located at the Second floor of the church, the St Mark's Museum. We could see the interior of the church in a more detailed manner especially the gold coloured ceilings and domes of the church. Also one of the most famous items in the museum was the original gold horses of St Mark's Basilica as well as the beautiful persian carpets. At the balcony of the museum, we enjoyed the mesmerising view of the St Mark's square which made the museum visit a great deal.

Venchi Gelateria



Honorable mention to this ultra fancy gelateria in Venice. When we first bumped into this shop, I was slightly self-conscious about my attire as the place was literally beaming with gold colour and it looked like a very high class restaurant from the outside. Once I braced myself and told myself that they would only remember me as any other Asians, I entered the shop and was amazed by the interior of the shop. Their gelatos was by far some of the best, if not the best gelato I have ever had in Italy.


We were told that we must try pistachio gelato whenever we were in Italy. True enough, we were not disappointed by Venchi. The ice cream were rich in pistachio flavour and the texture was as smooth as tofu!

Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute





This humongous and beautiful church was located right on the Grand Canal. We did not actually enter the church but by looking at the exterior of the building we were already amazed by the architectures as well as the intricate carvings on the building. It was easy to spot this building from afar and there were surprisingly not many tourists around so we could enjoy the serenity that the place provided.

We stumbled upon a sex store.

As we were exploring the small island, we could see many interesting buildings and items that were sold by the local shops.

Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs)
Da Momo Restaurant








Night time arrived and we, a bunch hungry ghosts were starving had stopped by the Da Momo restaurant which was recommend by our tour guide in the group. The environment of the Da Momo restaurant was ambient and the food was scrumptious. We ordered some of the local dishes included the pizzas, spaghetti and some pastas. The squid ink spaghetti looked intimidated but was somewhat delicious. All of the pizzas were cooked to perfection. Overall the service was good and we headed back to our accommodation to rest soon after dinner as we were completely exhausted from all the walking throughout the day.



Of course the night did not end as we expect as we detoured to the nearby supermarket to purchase some of the local alcohols to satisfy our alcohol quotas. Fortunately, we also bought some supper as we were hungry again while we were drunk. It was a great night as we sang, jumped around and making fools out of ourselves.

Day 3

Mercati di Rialto (Rialto Market)


Time flew when we were happy and enjoying ourselves. In the blink of an eye, it was already the third and final day in Venice. After preparing ourselves, we went out to visit the Rialto Market for breakfast. To be honest I was quite excited as this would be the first morning market I had gone to in Europe. Sadly, the higher the expectations, the bigger the disappointments. Other than fresh raw ingredients like vegetables and fruits, we could not find any ready-made food for breakfast.



We were slightly worried because most of the shops were still closed at the time but luckily we found a small and cute pasta shop that was about to open (thank lord as we had wandered around the area for a good half an hour). There were a variety of pasta selections and after browsing through the menus we made our orders. Truth be told, the pasta was quite delicious as the pasta were cooked to al dente textures and the sauces were very flavourful.

Stazione di Venezia S. Lucia


After finished packing out stuffs, it was time to bade goodbye to Venice. We headed to the train station to the next destination, Cinque Terre! All in all Venice was a really nice place to visit and we were glad that we managed to visit this city before it was fully submerged in the sea, As we all knew, the sea level was rising and Venice was sinking every year which was a tragic news.


Although the trip started with a near-miss unfortunate incident yet it did not deter us from searching for fun and enjoy ourselves in this marvellous city. Our only regret was that we did not have time to visit Murano while we were in Venice as it was so near as our time was very limited. Stick around for the next post about Cinque Terre!

Venice Itinerary