Do you know where to find the most beautiful, interesting & strange bookstore in the world?
How about the locations for the filming of The Tourist, Cliffhanger, and The Italian Job?
Or where the world’s very first ‘ghetto’ is located?
How about why Venice imported thousands of cats in the 12/1300s?
Of course it would be possible to look up the answers to all of those questions now that I’ve mentioned them, but in the hours you would spend walking around Venice trying to find these spots, you would surely be missing out on nearly 1500 years of history and some of the most interesting secrets of the city that are hiding in every street, tile and fountain.
Venice is such an unusual and fascinating city that you could dedicate your entire life trying to understand both its past and present, and still not learn everything about it.
It is one thing to visit Venice, take a gondola ride and admire its aquatic beauty, and yet another thing entirely to learn why anyone decided to build such a great city on sinking marshland, why there is an absolutely crazy statue face over the door of the church tower, how the dark secrets and lush party scene of the past has influenced the version of Venice we know today, and the harsh realities of a local’s daily life.
Whether you’re spending only a few days in Venice like most tourists, or a few weeks, the absolute best use of your time would be to take an Off-the-beaten-path tour with Igor, the founder of Tour Leader Venice. With his unbelievably high rating on Trip Advisor and hundreds of raving reviews to back him up, I knew the tour would be worth my time. I didn’t realize, however, that the only thing that would impress me more than Igor’s seemingly limitless knowledge of Venice would be his enthusiasm and humor that really make the tour such a fun experience.
I don’t want to give away too many of Igor’s secrets (plus it’s much more exciting to learn these things from a local, trust me), so I’ll leave you with some photos to incite your wanderlust and leave you wondering about the magical stories behind each of these shots.
Also be sure to check out Tour Leader Venice on Instagram for a steady stream of Venetian eye-candy!
