There’s a reason Venice is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.

I mean, yes, you do feel like you’re at Disney, I had to keep repeating to myself this was a real place, not make believe. Because that’s exactly what it feels like.

I know some people hate it simply because there are so many tourists there, and I’m not denying that there are (Saint Mark’s around 11am on a Monday in June gave me serious anxiety) but, if you seek them out, there are such things as quiet streets canals in Venice, where the only sounds are the lapping of the water against the walls of the canals.

No, seriously.

All you have to do is walk a few blocks from the popular piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) or the Rialto bridge and you’ll find yourselves in peaceful serenity. Walk even further out into Dorsudoro or Cannaregio and you’ll forget the anxiety-inducing hoards waiting to see the famed gilded basilica (we opted not to waste our precious time waiting in said line, but if that’s important to you, get there well before it opens).

Or better yet, wake up at 5 am and you only have to share the piazza with a few pigeons and a dude with a drone (ugh, don’t get me started). When returned a few hours later the piazza was already packed with crowds, I couldn’t believe the difference. Indeed, waking up with the sun is one of our favorite travel tricks (not to mention it makes for some pretty awesome photos – click through to see the rest of them!)

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