36 Hours in Venice Italy

36 Hours in Venice Italy with Adventures by Disney – private gondola ride, walking tour, St. Mark’s Square, Doge’s Palace, Bridge of Sighs, dinner on the water, where to get the best pizza in all of Venice and a private sunset dinner cruise around all the islands. Where to stay, what to do and where to eat in this amazing city! #italy #venice #travel #europe

36 Hours in Venice Italy with Adventures by Disney - private gondola ride, walking tour, St. Mark's Square, Doge's Palace, Bridge of Sighs, dinner on the water, where to get the best pizza in all of Venice and a private sunset dinner cruise around all the islands. Where to stay, what to do and where to eat in this amazing city! #italy #venice #travel #europe
The last stop on our Italian adventure with Adventures by Disney was in Venice. We spent two nights in Venice and LOVED every single minute of it. Gondola rides, St. Mark’s Square, Venetian Mask making class, tour of Doge’s Palace, dinner on the water and a dinner party with a DJ on a pirate ship! We took a water taxi from the hotel straight to the airport. I felt like I was in a James Bond movie! It was so cool!

This was one of our favorite cities on our Italian tour.  I wish we had more time to explore this beautiful town!!!

We took the train from Florence to Venice. Adventures by Disney took care of our luggage for us. They had a guy DRIVE our luggage in a van to Venice so we didn’t have to deal with it on the train. SO fancy!
As soon as we got off the train, we headed straight to the gondolas.

There were four people per gondola and there was a guy singing for us in one of the gondolas.

SO touristy, but SO fun!

We hopped off of our gondolas and started a quick walking tour of Venice.

Did you know that Venice has leaning towers? They just aren’t as famous as the one in Pisa.

Rialto Bridge
Rialto Bridge is the most famous and oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal.

The bridge has been reconstructed and redesigned several times over the years.
The current bridge was finished in 1591.

One of the many winged lion statues around the city.
The winged lion is a symbol of Venice.
This winged lion is at Camp Manin and was completed in 1875.

Piazza San Marco
If you have been to the Italy pavilion at Epcot, you recognize this place!
Piazza San Marco or St. Mark’s Square
It is the main public square in Venice.

St. Mark’s Basilica 
Construction of the church was completed in 1092.

Our walking tour ended with a quick walk thru of the church.
The church is famous for its gold mosaics.

After our walking tour, we hopped on a private boat to head over to our hotel.

We got the BEST views of Piazza San Marco and the city.

Doge’s Palace
We started our second day in Venice with a tour of the Doge’s Palace – the Presidential palace.
Doge’s Palace is located in Piazza San Marco and is now a museum.

The palace is very impressive with TONS of amazing art.
I believe our guide told us that this is the largest room in Europe without any columns to support it.

Bridge of Sighs
The Bridge of Sighs was built in 1614. It links the Doge’s Palace to the prisons.

The name Bridge of Sighs is supposed to refer to the sighs of prisoners who, passing from the courtroom to the cell in which they would serve their sentence, took a last look at freedom as they glimpsed the lagoon and San Giorgio through the small windows. 

Venetian Mask Decoration Workshop
After our tour of the Doge’s Palace, we walked through the city to our Venetian mask making class.

We took the class at Tragicomica.

Their masks are AMAZING!

I loved this kitty one the most!
Navigating the Alleys
The alleys of Venice can be SUPER confusing!
The best way to navigate them is by looking up on the sides of the building.
There are signs pointing you to the main locations in the city.
Just follow the signs and you can easily get around.

Sunset Cruise
Our final night in Italy ended with a sunset dinner cruise on a pirate ship.
I’ve always seen the party boats on the water, but I’ve never been on the party boat until now!
We had drinks, dinner and a DJ playing music.

The best part of the whole boat ride was the VIEWS!

The boat went around all the island of Venice.
I wish we had time to visit the colorful island of Burano during the day!
Next time!

Where We Ate
We had one free night for dinner in Venice.
We opted to eat on our island at Trattoria ai Cacciatori.

We got a table outside and had AMAZING views of the sunset!!!
Look at that!
The food at Trattoria ai Cacciatori was some of the best we ate in all of Italy.
Bruschetta, Carpaccio, pasta, fried scallops and prawns and…..
this crazy delicious lasagna.
OMG! Wishing I had a piece of this pasta right now!
Birraria la Corte
We stopped for lunch at Birraria la Corte after our mask making class.
We each got our own pizza since it was our last day in Italy.
Chicken Legs got prosciutto and mushrooms.

It got spicy salami. YUM!
We sat outside and enjoyed the food, wine and beautiful day.
We stayed at the Hilton Molino Stucky Venice.
It was right on the water!

Our room was very American.

Nice bed.
Nice bathroom and shower!!!

The best part of the hotel was the rooftop bar.
You can watch all the boats and cruise ships sail through the waterway.
I enjoyed a few Bellini’s each night.
Water Taxi to the Airport
There are no cars or bikes in Venice.
The only way to get around is by boat.
That includes getting to the airport!!!

We were picked up at the hotel dock and taken right up to the airport.
I felt like we were in a James Bond movie!!!
We had a guy come and get our luggage and take it to the airport counter for us.
Serious luxury!!!
We had the BEST time on our Adventures by Disney Italian vacation.
I highly recommend traveling with Adventures by Disney.
Everything was first class.
We never transported our luggages, our tour guides were incredible.
We had two tour guides – one from America (Jennae) and one from Italy (Marco).
They really made sure our trip was a success.
This was not a sponsored trip. We paid for the trip and it was worth every penny.
This was truly the trip of a lifetime for us.
We are planning on traveling with Adventures by Disney again in 2019.
I am looking at either Switzerland or Ireland.

Don’t miss our other Italy posts:

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