The Hostel

Have you ever stayed in a hostel before?  I hadn't!  I had lots of pre-conceived notions about what a hostel would be like - filled with young people sleeping in dorm style rooms, shared bathrooms, and no real community spaces.  When we were looking for a place to stay in Venice, we left it rather late (three weeks before our trip) and so we had little choices.  We could either stay outside of Venice, or pay $1000 and up a night to stay right in Venice.  Neither of these were a great option for us. 

During my searches, the Generator Hostel kept coming up.  Out of desperation, I started looking at it.  I saw that they had a family room that would accommodate all of us - and for a very reasonable rate. Since the location was great, we decided to book it.

Well, both John and I were very pleasantly surprised by the Generator when we got there! There were a lot of younger people, but there were also some who were a little older (although I'm pretty sure we were the old people!)

The hostel has a very young, and hip vibe to it.  Here's an excerpt from their website:

Gen Venice is a beautiful converted grain house sitting on the waterfront of the Giudecca. The property exudes true Venetian charm and a twist of modernity; with pristine Fantini mosaic flooring, elegant Rubelli textile curtains, a Murano glass clown chandelier hanging gallantly from the ceiling and a homey stone fireplace reminiscent of 16^th century Palladio craftsmanship. You’re just 5 minutes away from Piazza San Marco- bask in a hub of ancient history at the drawing room of Europe. Go rustic with a stylish attic room or go for a shared room with views of the sea.

The location, for us, was perfect!  It sits right across the river from San Marco.  The water bus stop was a 30 second walk from the front door, and 5 minutes later we were right in Venice. It was so easy to just pop back to our room to change clothes or to drop things off.

I didn't get great pics of the inside of the communal areas, so I've grabbed some pics from the Generator Website.

 Our room consisted of two bunk beds and then a single.  We had our own shower and bathroom. The ceilings were very high which gave it the feeling of being in a loft.

The best part?  The view from our window!!