Venetian Nights

Go see Venice at night they said. Soak up the romance of an evening in the floating city.

Right.

What started as a very innocent excursion evolved into a nightmare.

Staying in Venice proper can be very expensive so no surprise when I visited while traveling Europe in my early 20s, I stayed in the mainland instead and used transportation to get in and out of the city.

One evening, I thought I’d travel down to the city to see San Marcos lit up at night and watch the sunset from the Grand Canal. To be honest, this part of the night was spectacular. I danced to live music in the square, now with only a spattering of tourists left (compared to the hordes who clog up the area during the day, not to mention the pigeons).

After I had my fill of dancing and wine, I decided to head back to the transportation hub so I started off down the maze of Venice’s streets.

I always hear “You should get lost in Venice” — may I recommend not doing it at night…

With nearly no lamplight, it was impossible to see where I was going and which way to turn. At one point, I walked past an alley 4 times before I realized the cross-street I was looking for was at the other end.

After hours of walking this way and that – blindly feeling my way out of the city, I finally made it! And just in time for the last bus too!

And that’s where my night ended.

I wish.

After riding the bus maybe 15 minutes, I realized that in my excitement to get back to the hotel, I wasn’t paying attention to where we were. I saw what I thought was my stop and got off.

Wrong again!

So now I’m totally lost, in what appears to be a not so great area of town, wandering around past midnight, speak zero Italian, and oh, can’t remember where my hotel is located. With the streets basically empty and equipped with just the name of my hotel, I wandered around just trying to find somewhere open to ask for directions.

I finally came upon a bar and a very sweet guy knew my hotel and offered to walk me. The entire time I was terrified this was just a trick to get my alone (which feels awful saying now that I know he was just trying to help me), but he lead me right to my hotel.

Moral of the story? Always prepare for the worst, don’t be afraid to ask for help, and PLAN YOUR ROUTE AHEAD OF TIME.

// Onward & Upward \\

~ K