A Christmas Weekend in Venice

We had high expectations for Venice, and the island did not disappoint. It was a surreal experience being in a city that “floats” without a single car or bus. But instead, waterbuses and water taxis were used.

Just like a kelong – but bigger, grander, and way cooler.

Was there a stench as often described? Yes, we caught whiffs of funky smells from certain canals, but nothing so strong it makes you want to emit similar-smelling liquids from your mouth. And it didn’t really detract from our experience. But then again, we were there in winter which could have helped with the smell! I can’t be sure what Venice smells like in summer.

Venice was our next stop after Florence.

Where we went

St. Mark’s Balisica

Sadly, the exterior of St. Mark’s Basilica was hidden by scaffolding as it was undergoing renovation from the flood that hit recently. And we could see that the ground around the church was still wet.

We could admire the beautiful interior without any distractions though – It was gold, glittering, and covered in mosaics.

Midnight Christmas mass at Saint Mark’s Basilica

Or rather, we tried going in…

Sadly, because of the tightened measures due to COVID, we were not able to get into Saint Mark’s Basilica for the midnight Christmas mass. There was a crowd of people at the entrance trying to get a glimpse of what was happening inside (which I’ve heard is magical), and I tried peeking in but couldn’t see a thing.

We tried our luck finding another church for the Christmas service and managed to slip into one midway through the mass.

Day Tour to 3 Venetian Islands

As we only had 2 full days in Venice, we decided to book a day tour to tour Murano, Burano and Torcello so we wouldn’t waste too much time figuring out transport. We were also not sure if the transportation schedule would be changed or halted as it was Christmas Eve!

We booked the tour through GetYourGuide. There was a multilingual guide who gave us some info while we were on the waterbus towards the 3 islands, and it was quite funny as you could see people laughing incredulously when she started speaking in the 4th and 5th language! Unfortunately, we couldn’t hear her very well over the wind, but we caught a few phrases here and there.

Murano

There didn’t seem to be much to do on Murano other than admiring the beautiful glass creations.

We were brought to a glass blowing demonstration right after we got off the waterbus. It was pretty cool to see how the glassblower worked a horse by blowing into the heated glass and pulling at it seemingly randomly.

After the workshop, we were free to tour their store to buy some souvenirs and the island. But after we walked out of the shop, we saw more shops selling glassware and nothing much else.

Burano

Hello, colourful houses!

Burano was a postcard-perfect island with the houses mostly of the same height and all painted in vivid colours. It was nice to walk around with photo opportunities at every angle. And we even spotted a line of yellow clothes hanging from a house painted yellow! I can’t help but wonder if that was on purpose?

We wished we had more time to spend on Burano, but with a lunch break during our time allocated there, we had less than an hour to explore the island before it was back up the waterbus.

Torcello

Torcello was so quiet and empty when we arrived. The restaurants were empty and we barely saw anyone else who was not from our waterbus. I’m not sure if it was because of COVID and it was on Christmas Eve, or if it’s always been this way.

The only point of interest seems to be the church. But if you’ve been to St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, or any of the well-known churches or cathedrals in Italy, then the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta will be underwhelming. Especially since it was undergoing renovation while we were there so we couldn’t view the glittering gold areas inside.

After Venice, we went on to Milan to explore the nearby Lake Como.

Ending off the post with food pictures!