It’s just a bus, just on the water. As soon as we got off at Santa Lucia station in Venice we took a few minutes to breathe and take in our first view of the city. As soon as you exit the station you are greeted with an amazing panoramic view of the grand canal. We had to figure out how to get to our apartment on the other side of the city. But first, we had to ditch our pants and sweaters for shorts and t-shirts. Milan was a lot colder than Venice in September. It was so nice to see the sunshine.
As we looked to the canal we saw the vaporetto station and all of the people lined up to get on. It looked miserable. As soon as a packed boat pulled up, people flooded out and more people stampeded in. It looked like a floating cattle car so we opted to walk. Our packs were getting really heavy and it was really warm but it was nice to escape the crowds and hit the streets canals.
We did end up taking the vaporetto to get to some of the outer islands. It’s a bit tricky figuring out the directions of the boats and the different lines. We opted for an all day pass and boy did we use the shit outta that thing. It was actually a nice ride once the boats emptied out. We wiggled our way into seats at the back of the boat. You could almost imagine you were on a charter boat with a few friends you just didn’t know yet. We did a circumnavigation of Venice and down the grand canal. The next stop was San Giorgio Maggiore across the lagoon for a quick tour and a ride up to the tower which gives you a great view of the city. After that, we took it all the way out to the outer islands of Burano and Mazzorbo. We skipped Murano and Torcello since we didn’t have that much time. Its a long ride all the way out there but again, not that bad if you’re sitting outside in front or back in nice weather.