Venice Girls' Trip April 2025

Sally has been asking to go to Venice for several years. David hasn’t been super keen on it, so we’ve been waiting for the right opportunity for a girls’ weekend before either she outgrew the idea or Venice sunk. David was headed to Mallorca for a weekend cycling trip, and Sally was still on spring break, so off we went!

We arrived Thursday afternoon and the weather was perfect, so we waited the egregiously long time for the water shuttle bus to take us from the airport to the city. We were treated to stunning views as we came across the lagoon then made our way up the Grand Canal. We were staying near the Rialto Bridge so hopped off there and made our way up and down and over and across etc. etc. etc. to our apartment.

Our very gracious host showed us around the apartment (and was very worried about the TV volume, which I assured him we probably would not even turn on!). After he left, we walked about 5 minutes to enjoy an outdoor lunch on the Grand Canal (at Ristorante Riva del Vin). Our table was literally teetering on the edge, such that Sally was somewhat worried she might fall in. A random man walked up, set down the 2 light bulbs he was carrying on the empty table adjacent to us, pulled a balloon out of his pocket it, blew it up, gave it to Sally, took his light bulbs, and walked away. My cynical self was sure he stole something or would want money, but nothing came of it so it indeed seemed a random act of kindness!

After lunch we walked around, explored the tiny “streets” over towards Piazza San Marco, sat on the lagoon’s edge and watched the gondolas bob, then had a quiet dinner at home.

We woke up to sideways rain on Friday, but the show must go on so we made our way over to meet our toru guide for the Murano glass factory. It was only maybe a 20 minute walk, and very charming, but I was literally drenched through from waist down by the time we met the boat. David, our guide, was very nice and zipped us out ot Murano, where we dried off by the glass kiln and drank prosecco (or water, for Sally). He opened the prosecco with a knife and aimed the cork at a specific part of a specific photo of a glass-blowing master hanging from the ceiling. I guess he knew what he was doing because he readily accomplished his goal—I, for example, would not be flagrantly popping corks in a glass factory literally filled with glass chandeliers and statues etc. The tour itself was not so much a tour as a demonstration, but it was very fun to watch the glass-blowing master create first a dolphin, then a swan, and finally blow a baloon. We then spent about 30 minutes exploring their shop (which was more like a museum) where some of the items cost upwards of €50,000. Needless to say, we did not touch anything, let alone purchase a memento!

Our guide dropped us back in Venice and Sally and I stopped at the first restaurant we saw for what turned out to be an absolutely delicious lunch at Cicchetteria Alla Strega Venezia. I had pesto pasta and she a margherita pizza, and we shared. It was heaven.  

After that we fully dried off and rested up for a bit at the apartment then headed over to go up the San Marco Basilica Campanile. With booked tickets (just €2 more pp) we skipped the line and got up quickly (elevator!) to take in the great views of Venice with the Dolomites to the north.

Next we tried to enter Doge’s palace but it was closed because of event - the 80th anniversary of end of WW2 in Italy. Thus, the Piazza San Marco had also transformed from the day prior - flags and festive people everywhere, giving away or selling red roses and flags, and bands and singing.

We headed back towards our apartment, passing a couple taking their wedding photos on Rialto Bridge, then picked up gelato and sangria (FROM THE SAME STAND, how perfect is that) and sat on the canal for maybe an hour, just watching the world go by. At one point we made bird friends with a seagull we named “Marco,” who astonishingly did not challenge Sally for her ice cream cone. Eventually we got some pizza slices and headed home for another quiet evening. We watched The Italian Job, which was really fun because the first 10-15 minutes is all them racing through Venice’s canals, and Sally loved it. 

On Saturday we had nice weather again and first walked over to check out the Madonna de Salute Basilica (more beautiful outside than in). Next we had tickets for the Peggy Guggenheim museum - the perfect size (for me) in her lovely old house on the Grand Canal, containing lots of funny (to us!) modern art and boasting great views from the balcony. They also had braille art, which I’ve not seen before—so for a few paintings there was a relief version of the image, then the description in braille. Brilliant.

After that, we got some pizza (unfortunately not quite as amazing this time) and sat and enjoyed it on the canal, then took a traghetto (ferry gondola) over to the other side, which was somewhat terrifying due to the high volume of large vessel traffic and tilting of the boat from the large man sitting on one side.

We explored the beautiful little streets and many bridges and then went into the Doge’s palace, where we saw insane amounts of gold, the largest oil painting (in the world, I think they said?), and viewed Venice from the Bridge of Sighs on our way in and out of the very depressing (and strangely large) prison.

Not wanting to waste a moment of the beautiful afternoon, we stopped for fancy, overpriced drinks (and “free” bar snacks) on the Piazza San Marco, and enjoyed their 4-piece band playing truly lovely music in tuxedos. It was pretty magical. 

From there we spent a little quiet time in The Reali Garden just around the corner, taking in the wisteria and greenery (of which there is very little in Venice!) until it was time for our gondola tour. Our gondola was shared with a couple from Ohio, and the gondolier didn’t sing or interact with us at all, but it was interesting to go through the tinier canals. Also it’s basically like a Disney ride with boat-to-boat traffic the entire way.

We finished up with dinner on canal (Terrazza Sommariva), just 2 doors down from where we started with lunch on Thursday. Again an amazing meal and wonderful people-watching. 

We had to leave at 3:45 a.m. on Sunday (never again!), and it was rather surreal to walk through a completely deserted Venice under stars/quiet streets! With no option of a taxi (no cars!) and before the boats start running, Sally was a very good sport and it was actually kind of fun…and when we arrived at the bus station there were loads of people - our bus was on time and quick to the airport.

Venice was absolutely charming—its green canals, narrow lanes, 438 bridges, 139 churches, beautiful gondolas and vaporettos, and delicious food at every turn. I would miss green space and breathing room, and might never want to look at glass again, so could never live there (and apparently almost no one does any more!) but it was a perfect mother-daughter weekend.