Venice Streets, © SmarterEurope.com

Venice is a very touristy location, that goes without being said. In the morning, trains and buses full of tourists flood into the city, and then around dinner time or shortly after, the city becomes a ghost town except for a select few locations. This is when you should put on your adventurers hat and set out to find the real Venice. It is out there, and the best way to find it is to get lost amongst the maze like streets. We set off from the water taxi location in front of the train station and just rode until we felt like getting off. The plan was to then walk back to our hotel. This should have been an easy task. Instead though, we walked for far longer than necessary and by accident we found many aspects of Venice that are not seen during the daylight hours.

It seems that at night, the streets can become very empty, fast! Walking among the streets at night is very different from during the day. You can actually take the time to look at the road you are walking on, instead of trying to dodge the oncoming tourist traffic. You take note of the signs from 100 years ago instead of taking note of the tourists taking pictures of everything in site.

Venice at Night, © SmarterEurope.com

One street that we walked down turned into a small piazza where a man was playing his acoustic guitar. It filled the piazza with a wonderful sound and made my small group of 3 pause and think about the day. Sounds cheesy, but it was actually a very cool experience.

Then we turned down a row of shops that were surprisingly still open. Apparently this row was for very high end clothing and apparel shops. It was an interesting contrast to the rest of Venice.

Around another corner, and older lady was doing her laundry and hanging it on clothesline high above our heads. Can you imagine living in the heart of Venice? It made us stop once again to contemplate that thought.

Dead end street, © SmarterEurope.com

Finally, we turned again and again into increasingly narrow passageways. Another turn and and even smaller passageway. How small could they get? We eventually had to stop because the road abruptly ended in a creepy, very skinny, alleyway. We all had a good laugh and took this picture to keep this memory forever.

In summary… as many others have wrote before me… Get lost in Venice. Obviously keep safety in mind, but traveling in a group and being aware, it is a very enjoyable experience to set out and not have a destination in mind. By the way, if you find the small alley that I disgusted, send it my way so I can see how it has changed over the years!

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Italy, Things to Do by Adam