For our last full day in Venice, we did a bit of rearranging with our schedule. With the exception of our tickets to Saint Mark’s Basilica later that afternoon, we had already done everything we bought admissions to. That left us with a very empty itinerary for the rest of the day. While we were resting at the hotel the previous day, we started researching other things to do and came across a Vivaldi concert happening at the San Vidal Church. As there were still tickets available, we bought them for that evening, so at least we had our night planned out.

We started our morning off at Rialto Market. Or more accurately I should say, we tried to start the morning off at Rialto Market. We were waiting for the waterbus to take us over, but it was so packed that each time it only let on a handful of people. I don’t know how many passed by before we gave up and moved over to another port where the route wasn’t as busy. Tourist levels in Venice are just insane. If you actually had somewhere you needed to be at a certain time, I would consider just walking to taking a water taxi to avoid any delays.

Rialto Market was actually quiet that morning so only a few stalls were opened. I ended up grabbing a few souvenir items to bring back. Later we stopped by the most beautiful bookstore in the world, the Libreria Acqua Alta. I had seen photos of it on social media and I knew it was a great spot for photos, especially their staircase made of books and the gondola they have parked outside. While we had to wait about 10 minutes to get to the front of the line, it was well worth it for that free gondola shot. =P

For lunch we stopped by a place that served cichetti, which are tiny, open-faced sandwiches that are eaten as snacks or as tapas. There’s definitely a lot of variety to choose from. I had one that had pesto, cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, another that had artichoke and anchovy, and one that had small, spicy shrimps on top. I would have eaten more if I hadn’t gorged on our buffet breakfast at the hotel earlier that morning, but three pieces were all I could managed for lunch.

We briefly headed back to the library inside Museo Correr which we missed on the first night. It was nice finally seeing the space and the Venetian Bubbles exhibit. By 2pm we were waiting to get inside Saint Mark’s Basilica. It definitely wasn’t as busy as the Duomo and there were hardly line ups getting in. I thought we would spend a good hour inside, but it was so… lacklustre that we were out in under half an hour. I think we were done with cathedrals by that point so we just didn’t care anymore.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel to freshen up before heading out for dinner and the concert. As it was our last night in Italy I wanted to get pasta one last time, but both my friends weren’t interested in another sit down dinner, so they opted for another round of cichetti instead. I ended up by myself at a restaurant close to the concert venue. I was all prepared to people-watch outside on the patio with my glass of prosecco and my seafood pasta, but I kept getting interrupted by pigeons and bees. No matter how much I swatted at them with my fan they just kept coming back. After a bee fully landed in my half eaten pasta, I gave up and asked for the check. 

Luckily I was able to locate my friends nearby and they suggested an even better cichetti place, so I got a second dinner and a gelato as well, at a fraction of the price of my first dinner. =P

Since there was no assigned seating for the concert, we got in line an hour earlier to secure our seats. It was great as we were able to get seated right in the front row. The Vivaldi concert was lovely. It was just over an hour long with a short intermission in between and an encore performance. I feel like the last few times I’ve been on holidays I’ve also gone to classical music concerts. It was definitely a nice way to end our last night in Venice.

There wasn’t much left on the next day as we were traveling back home. We had a bit of a scare heading to the bus terminal as we had split up and we thought we lost someone. Turns out she went the wrong way and took a much longer and physically demanding route to get there. (This was despite us actually walking to and timing the route the previous day lol.) Nevertheless we all made it to the airport in one piece. We did have to split up again as two of us were heading home and the other was spending an additional week in Europe with family. 

Overall it was an amazing trip. I hadn’t traveled with friends in years and we were lucky we all made the effort to make things work, and that everyone could get what they wanted out of the trip. I’m not sure when my next vacation will be as this was by far the costliest vacation I’ve ever taken, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that more travel will be in the works next year!