Venice is a colorful crowded city. If you're planning to visit Venice, I suggest that you stay in hotels, ten minutes a bus ride away from it. They're in Campalto City. We stayed in this one because we found out that the hotels in the city center in Venice are very expensive. We only paid a quarter of the normal price of the hotels in Venice in this one and we got a very tidy, cozy bedroom with a tub and air-conditioning. It's scorching hot in Venice in July so this one's really a great pay. Someone went there and bunked with other people in one of the Bed and Breakfast in the city - for the same price we paid in Hotel Maria in Campalto. We were sure happy we stayed here.
Dead tired from a 12 hour drive from Austria to Venice we spent our first day in Campalto just resting our legs and catching up sleep. We had our breakfast in the hotel which is vegetarian friendly and they also cater to meat lovers. Coffee was bottoms up but we decided not to take advantage of it because we wanted to go back to our room to get more sleep. We were advice to make sure to have lunch before 13:00 though. The stores close from 13:00 and re-opens at 6 pm for siesta - it's an Italian thing they told us sounds more of Spanish. After lunch, we wandered around looking for a resto for dinner. The hotel manager tipped us there's one at the end of the street where the hotel is that serves fresh fish. We headed there but it was close but it's alright we got to see these.
Grasses taller than we are. Sunflower the size of a plate, neither me nor my hub could reach . We ended up eating pizza in one of the local resto in Campalto .
The hotel is a bus ride away from the airport and they have a free parking. We went there by car and we were happy that we chose to stay here because the car parks in Venice would cost 25 euro a day. Buying a bus ticket is also very easy because it's just two stores away from the hotel. The one on the pic is a flower shop and beside that is a cafe where you could buy any sort of tickets from bus tickets to water taxi to museum entrees. We just bought the bus ticket , the sales ladies tell you when the bus leaves as well. The bus from Campalto to Venice looks like this -
It's pretty modern, clean and comfy.
Souvenir shops just next to it.
When you get there - look for that souvenir store above and you could just walk straight ahead or take a water taxi or what they call a water metro. It's just a normal ferry really.
We tried the later and it was okay.
Taking my hub's pic while he was taking mine
It's pretty handy taking the ferry because you can use the same ticket for the whole day. We took the water metro because the water taxi is maybe more romantic but it would cost you 6 times that the first. The thing is - it's pretty limited taking pics of establishments when you're on it but here are a few of the shots I could share. The houses in Venice are freaking awesome - architecture wise. My jaw kept dropping at the details on every window. It's just lovely!
Gondolas parked in front of these houses/ hotels.
We headed straight to St. Mark's Square. It was pretty crowded and the queue in the Saint Mark's Basilica was that of a last full show. We just went around the plain. It's pretty crowded in July.
Getting something to eat in the city center was quite a challenge. The resto where I was facing on the pic below is pretty high end. Water costs a 8 euro a tiny bottle and black coffee costs 12 euro. You could guess how much the food cost right?
We didn't know that the stores on the other side have more to offer in very affordable prices, it was too crowded we thought it was just an auction house or a souvenir house. We went around and seen plenty of churches, museums, art galleries and we every alley we turned is just so full of surprises.
Not to mention every corner has a gelato store!
!
Plus churches here and there, they're everywhere!
You can find this one at the back of the church above.
The next day, we decided to go on foot. We also bought liters of water from the grocery at the back of our hotel and brought along 2 liters with us. Saved us more than half the price of a small mineral water bottle in the city center.
We had more fun because we found out that every alley connects to another place. Small bridges connects every street.
We were told to go through this bridge.
It's to the left from this store.
Walk straight ahead and find this alley to your right. Keep walking straight ahead and the street to your left would lead you to Piazza San Marcos. We decided not to go there anymore we wanted to see the other streets of Venice.
Across from the building behind me on the picture above is a souvenir shop. We bought our souvenirs there because they were cheaper than anywhere else. I bought myself a plated gold gondola magnet for the fridge and my hub bought a gondola boat model that swings on solar power.
Gondola guys on siesta??? We wanted to ride the gondola and found out it was 12 times the price of the water metro plus they are mostly booked so we had to get back hours later for our turn. I bargained hard and got 25 percent off the price off but changed my mind when - while going around - I saw how short the gondola trail was.
This short plus a few minutes in the middle of the water where the water taxi and water metros sail, too. The only reason you're paying for an hour is because they go as a convoy in the alley trail which slows them down. All you get to see are the walls of those buildings on the pics above if you're in the boat so we just texted the guy and said we're calling it off.
It was no regret because then we discovered more surprising alleys like this. The city hall - taken from a top of a bridge.
Yes! I gave in to gelatos several times!
Every time we cross a bridge and the street name changes, we find ourselves lost in "piazzas" or plains .
Never thought I'd bump into something like this here. 
We were just happy we trotted instead because we get to explore Venice more.
We also found budget- friendly stores on the back end of the main streets. It was near where the cruise ships dock and you could actually indulge on a calcione and a vegetarian salad without paying through your nose minus the diesel smell from the water taxi.
We chose the one near where the cruise ship docked. They serve the same food to tourist as the ones in the city centre does. They've just lowered their prices because not many souls get lost in that side of the city. "It's normal for tourist to be in the crowd, one with the crowd" they say. Well, we did also just got lost out there when we made a wrong turn but I'm thankful we did. We didn't only get to eat good and fairly priced food but the service is also superb and their toilets are freaking clean since not much people use 'em.
The only thing that I miss out on while in Venice was to behold it's beauty at night. That's the advantage of staying in the city itself so I read. Would I go back?
Given a chance ... Yes! But some time in autumn and just hope it doesn't flood like it sometimes does then perhaps we could get into the Cathedral and dine high - end without paying that much. A friend tipped us that everything is cheaper in autumn where the city is almost quiet and not even the cruise ship are to be seen in that magical city of Venice.