You Only Lido Once

Over the course of our night on Lido, we became fond of cornily saying "YOLO" (a.k.a. You Only Lido Once). However, in my opinion, Lido is a place you could come back to for a more tranquil place to stay near Venice.

A "lido" is place with an outdoor area/swimming pool or a beach with an area to swim. Lido di Venezia is one of the island near the city of Venice...and it happens to have a beach. The entirety of Lido is 11km long and one side is completely beach. In 1857, Lido's first bathing facility was set up, making it a "lido" and making it a famous beach location.

Some shots from the quaint island of Lido. 

The vaporetto to Lido is a bit more expensive than the ones that you take around the Grand Canal, but the view is definitely worth it, especially at sunset. Approaching Venice from a watery distance is a magical sight.

Being college students traveling together, we attempted to make the weekend as affordable (yet safe) as possible. We ended up staying at the Hotel Reiter, which is definitely no frills, but nice and clean. It's also along Lido's main (and basically only) drag.

Our accommodations for the evening. 

After checking in, we decided to check out the beach. My friend David went swimming, while my friend Sean and I walked around. In the distance we could see a gigantic cruise ship, as well as small airplanes flying dangerously close together (we assumed that they were professionals practicing for something). There were also little huts on the beach. While we could not figure out their purpose for sure, we think that they're storage facilities for people who live in the area. One of them was painted summer camp style, which brought me back to my camp counseling days.

These platforms were actually blocked off to the public, but they still add a certain je ne sais quoi to the stretch of sand. 

We returned to Venice for the evening and ended up grabbing food on the fly. Our main activity for the night was sitting in Piazza San Marco and talking over a bottle of wine. We sat there for hours and listened to the music coming from two different restaurants' bandstands.

The music and the lighting on the grand piazza are what makes Venice my favorite Italian city (although I have yet to see Rome, so I can't say that with one hundred percent certainty)...but it's real life magic.

After buying silly Venezia hats and taking pictures, we walked around some more (another view of the Rialto, another crêpe with gelato) and then returned to Lido.

A picture from the water (I apologize for the incredible slant). 

Goofy pictures in Piazza San Marco. 

Not ready to go to sleep, we ventured over to the beach, following a music trail that steadily got louder as we neared the beach. Turns out that we happened upon an annual graduation/welcome party for a group of students that studies on Lido. We slipped into the crowd and danced to the Killers and Franz Ferdinand (is that what students studying in Italy listen to?), rocking our air guitars all the while. At one point a couple girls came up to us and asked us if we were new students. We admitted that we had just heard the music and decided to join, but they welcomed us all the same.

After about an hour of dancing on the beach, we made our way back to the Hotel Reiter and went to sleep. But I'm pretty sure that it's one of those simple nights that I will never forget.

Our happy traveling crew (David, Sean, and me).