Venice, Italy | First Days Exploring & Learning to Row a Batellina

We had the same magical experience. I suspect most of the people with a negative view of the city just are making day trips in. -E

Kyde & Eric

Pretty late, but wanted to comment on this anyhow. I adored Venice. It was one of those famous places I thought would have to be a big letdown, but it really wasn't. Without the streets jammed with cars it was so much quieter than I thought it would be. Other than the big tourist plazas there wasn't room for the huge crowds (at least in the area I stayed in and explored) so it felt like a much smaller city that it actually was. I sure got lost a lot though...

Jakob

Interesting question, I just went through and flipped through some of our b-roll footage to see if there was much noise from the water and it's a bit mixed. In areas with boats and stuff it's very obvious where water is but a lot of the back areas are dead silent and the water isn't making any sound at all. There are basically zero handrails or anything around the city (apart from bridges) so as a person who has never traveled with someone that has sight issues I'm not sure how getting around Venice would go. It's a damn maze for sighted people and we were still getting lost after 10 days of exploring, so if you do go and get lost know it's not just you, haha. The people that run the rowing experience are very cool, I'm sure if you message them in advance and explain your situation they would try to sort something for you. You don't really do steering of any sort anywhere it would be dangerous as the instructor is doing that around other boat traffic so I'd bet you'd still have a solid experience. The company's website is: <a href="https://rowvenice.org" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://rowvenice.org</a>

Kyde & Eric

This was so much fun! I've always wanted to go to Venice, and that's just increased in intensity now. Definitely going to need to this autumn for sure, when my funding comes in. Just out of curiosity, since my eyes aren't that great - I understand there's not a great deal of traffic noise, but were you able to hear the water as you walked along the canals? Like, lapping against the...sides or whatever you call them, I should like such a doofus right now xD. Really, thanks for this, it looks like you had a lot of fun and the suggestions scattered throughout are amazing. Definitely took notes so I can look up the rowing experience when I do, though a blind lady steering a boat proooobably isn't the wisest decision ever, lol.