We left water-surrounded Florida a week ago only to return to the water on a weekend trip to Venice, Italy.

We took a high-speed train about two hours to get to Venice. We were told once we see water, that’s our stop to get off. Even as a Floridian, I was so amazed at how much water was around us. I didn’t realize Venice was comprised of over 100 islands that you can only get to by crossing foot bridges or taking water taxis. We got 72-hour water taxi passes to go wherever we wanted all weekend.

We stayed in a hostel on an island across the water from the main island. It was my first time staying in a hostel and I would not be disappointed if it were my last. Ten of us girls on the trip were put into one room with only one shower and one toilet. The bunkbeds were so close to each other that we were constantly in each other’s way. Showering was an hours-long feat each night and morning. One bright side was that we all got to know each other very well.

View from our hostel window

Our first day in Venice, my friends and I walked all throughout the main island and were blessed with the most beautiful weather. We started going through the less touristy alleyways.

Venice is so unique because you’re basically walking through a narrow maze with no clue where you’re going and then suddenly it opens up into a huge square. If you keep walking further in the alleys, you’ll come across another square, each complete with its own church, well, statutes, shops, and restaurants. All along the way you’re constantly walking over bridges and getting a glimpse of gondolas gliding through the teal water below.

My only complaint about Venice other than the fact that you get lost every few seconds, is that it is incredibly crowded and touristy. It felt like trying to get through crowds at Disney in the summer. We were very careful to keep an eye and a hand on our bags when we walked through the squares because it would have been easy for someone to pickpocket us and go unnoticed. One of our professors even got pickpocketed while in Venice.

One thing we were told we had to try, was the Spritz drink. It’s made with Aperol, prosecco, and sparkling water garnished with an orange slice and it looks delicious. We all got them at dinner our first night because they were so highly recommended. The unanimous consensus was that it looks waaaaaay better than it tastes. There is no orange flavor at all and it’s just really not good. At least it made for cute pictures!

The following day, everyone in our group did a walking tour through the main island. We learned some interesting facts, but my tour guide was a little difficult to understand so I didn’t get too much out of it. Some of my friends and I went to lunch along the main river in the center of the island after the tour before heading to the beach.

The island the beach is on is called Lido, and in Sarasota, which I call home, Lido Beach is a popular beach near Siesta Key. I was excited to go to the beach in Venice the moment I heard it was called Lido Beach too. We only had a small group of us who wanted to go to the beach because everyone else was exploring other islands, but we had the best time! There were so few people out and the entire island of Lido is a beautiful beach town. I could have stayed there all day and I would have if we didn’t spend most of the day on the walking tour and eating on the main island.

The only experience I’ve had with European beaches was the beach town of Sopot in Poland, which is on the Baltic Sea. At Sopot, the water was freezing and covered in gross seaweed and the sand on the shore wasn’t very nice. I had prepared myself for a similar experience at Lido, but the second we stepped on to the beach, I broke out into a huge smile that stayed plastered on my face until we left. The sand was like powdered sugar and was dark gray in contrast to our bright white Florida sands. The water was just cool enough to feel refreshing on the hot day and it was crystal clear. We could not have had better beach weather.

We got some gelato and took a bunch of pictures before laying down to soak up the sun as it began to set in the sky. I was so happy we went our own way and explored Lido rather than following the rest of the crowd to one of the other islands.

That night, some of us heard about a rooftop party on our island so we decided to go check it out. It was about a 20-minute walk and when we got there, we realized it was on the rooftop of the Hilton and there was a sign saying it was for hotel guests only. We tried our luck anyway, and when we got to the entrance, the woman at the desk said it was 25 euro a person to get in, not including drinks. We started to walk away because that was out of our broke college student price range and they told us we could go in for two minutes to see the party if we wanted. We jumped at the opportunity and quickly saw the party was pretty dead and no one our age was there.

As we turned to leave, the bouncer came over and put a wristband on each of our arms. The hostess made an exception for us and let us in for free! We figured they wanted us to liven up the party a little and get a younger crowd to come. The drinks were still 10 – 20 euro a drink, but we didn’t mind as much since we didn’t have to pay to get in. As the night went on, the party got more lively and we had fun dancing to all the American songs they played. The rooftop was gorgeous and had a stunning pool. We couldn’t believe we were in Venice, Italy, at a rooftop party for free. It didn’t even seem like real life!

On Sunday, we had a few hours of free time before we had to catch the boat to the train to head back to Florence so we did the one thing left on our Venice bucket lists, a gondola ride! We had to split into two gondolas because we had a group of eight and they only seat up to six people. The gondola ride was so relaxing and peaceful. We only wish we had done it earlier in the morning or later in the evening so the sun wouldn’t have been beating down on us so much. Our gondolier was really nice and didn’t mind us moving all around the gondola to get the perfect Instagram photos.

We got back on our boat and took the train back to Florence in the afternoon. I loved our trip to Venice, but if I visited again I would avoid the main island more and stick to Lido and the less populous islands to make the most of my visit.