Venice

[Chuffy]

My Italian correspondent suggests avoiding the touristy areas and seeking out the real Venice.

Presumably your London correspondent would suggest avoiding the touristy bits and visiting Peckham instead?

Venice is mind-blowingly fab. My ex spent a term out there and when I went to visit I had an expert art history guide all to myself for a fortnight.

But seriously, don't be afraid to just wander about. The whole place has an incredible atmosphere and the touristy bits atract people because they;re worth visiting, so do them as well.

Oh and look out for gems like Canova's tomb (creepy) and the statue of Colleoni.

And the ice-cream is very good. If you're self-catering, make sure you go to the Rialto market.

Can I come with you?

 

[theclaud]

I'd agree with most of that, except the staying on the Lido bit. Stay in Canareggio - Venice is great to walk around at silly times of night. Take a vaporetto to Burano, and have lunch in Il Gato Nero. If you're self-catering, buy seafood from the market to cook at home - some of it costs a fortune but it's extremely good. Try cannochie, which is the local name for Mantis Shrimp - they're one of the best things ever and relatively cheap. If you buy them you will be accosted by lots of old women with extremely inflexible views on the best way to prepare and cook them. Also eat radicchio, which is more of a vegetable than a salad item in Venice. When tired of looking at Tintorettos, stand at bars eating cicheti (the Venetian equivalent of tapas), and drinking small glasses of wine. Wine is the only thing that is fairly cheap. Off the beaten track you can get wine shops that fill your own bottles with pretty passable plonk for next to nothing. Drink spritz con Aperol before lunch. Don't bother with a gondola trip. Find a good cafe/bar and keep going back to it - my favourite is the Caffe I Frari.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

deffo take a visit to the islands of murano and burano. the ice cream is indeed to die for, and the food costs less the further from piazza san marco you get.

i beg to differ about the gondola trip; it is very pricy (we paid about £90 in 2001), but if you're taking a lady with you, it's a very romantic ride (we were on luna di miele, so i had no excuse not to).

 

[theclaud]

i beg to differ about the gondola trip; it is very pricy (we paid about £90 in 2001), but if you're taking a lady with you, it's a very romantic ride (we were on luna di miele, so i had no excuse not to).

Fairy nuff. But for next-to-nothing you can nip across the canal on those little gondola foot-ferries, which I find rather pleasing as well as useful (there are only three bridge crossings), and which give you the close-to-the-water experience. But then perhaps I'm just unromantic!

 

[Archie_tect]

++1 to all that's been said. The back streets are safe at all hours- streets are clean and well cared for [at least they are now!] + they've cleared all the usual street pedlars out that you get in Florence and Rome so you won't see a single one or any pavement artists or leather/ jewellery sellers. It's wonderful, just wonderful.

Have a great time and send us a postcard...

 

[Cheddar George]

If you are landing at Marco Polo a water taxi is a great way to arrive in Venice and not too pricey if there are enough of you sharing.
Ryan Air land at Treviso which is a bit out of the way but has a nice old Italian walled city centre and is a nice place to spend a night before moving on.
Venice itself has to be experienced and is beyond my powers of description, i have been fortunate as i usually go out of season (work related) and have been lucky with the weather/tides.

 

[Headgardener]

Watch out for dog dirt, it's everywhere. And if you want to eat well but cheaply there's an excellent place about 50 - 100 yards to the right of the station (as you face the station) where the stuff is done fresh before your eyes.

Can't they teach the dogs to crap in the canals. At least then it would get washed out to sea.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Fabulous, breathtaking and memorable are the words that come to mind when we visited Venice. We arrived in the dead of night by waterbus. The view of the lights from the Grand Canal is eternally engraved upon my brain. It was simply superb.

And most definitely eschew the honeytraps of St Mark's Square and lose yourself in the maize of alleyways and paths. There you will find restaurants frequented by locals whose food is sublime and prices cheap. Yes, really.

 

[Lardyboy]

Nothing really to add to everyone else's recommendations except a word of caution. Depending on how late in the year you are going there can be a slight problem with the "air". I've been to Venice three times late in the year and each time there was a distinct whiff where ever you went. And the second time Venice flooded. So be prepared to buy exorbitantly priced wellies!

 

[SavageHoutkop]

How long are you there for? I've done a two day stint (one night) before - we needed to be elsewhere in Italy and did a detour. I loved it. As we only had two days we only did two 'sights' - I'm not much of an art buff so we didn't get distracted by any of the galleries, but we did go to the Doge's Palace and to St Mark's Basilica. Both highly recommended (and full of tourists). You can prebook the tickets to both, which means less of a queue (the Basilica is free, but I'm almost convinced we booked tickets and then didn't use them anyway as it wasn't that busy - the queue wasn't round the block).

If you are staying in the city you at least get it a bit quieter once the day-tripping American tourists have left... Also the day-trippers seem to stick to the Grand Canal. If you wander just off of it, they all vanish.

What we did was on arrival find our hotel, which was wonderfully situated, who gave us a map of the city which was an absolute necessity. It was pretty detailed so you could figure out where all the bridges were and which were dead ends!

I loved just wandering around, it was great. We did walk past a 'bring your own bottle' wine shop (i.e. they sold it out of large barrels into your container) which seemed to be dirt cheap, but we never found it again once we'd procured an empty bottle. The water tasted awful, but it was really hot when we were there, so we bought mineral water in large plastic bottles.

Mr SavageHoutkop has just asked me to point out that you should leave your bike at home...

Oh, and if you're a gadget type, GPS won't help. We found a stranded couple of tourists who were relying on theirs as a map, except it couldn't get a signal as the lanes/canals are narrow and the buildings quite tall...

 

[Downward]

If you are landing at Marco Polo a water taxi is a great way to arrive in Venice and not too pricey if there are enough of you sharing.
Ryan Air land at Treviso which is a bit out of the way but has a nice old Italian walled city centre and is a nice place to spend a night before moving on.
Venice itself has to be experienced and is beyond my powers of description, i have been fortunate as i usually go out of season (work related) and have been lucky with the weather/tides.

We flew to Venice when we were younger, I didn't realise that there were 2 Airports. We stayed at Jesalo and I had directions from MP. Arrived at Treviso ! and spend a fair amount of time getting directions. It was my 1st time driving abroad and I'm sure we bought a map from a petrol station ! Remember going on the Motorway not realising we had to pay.

Anyway we popped over to Venice for the day and decided to go back in the evening for a meal. The ferry was cheap and a lovely journey.
IIRC it cost about 8 years ago something like £4 for half a lager and we had a meal outside.

 

[Chuffy]

Stay in Canareggio Check- Venice is great to walk around at silly times of night. Take a vaporetto to Burano, and have lunch in Il Gato Nero. If you're self-catering, buy seafood from the market to cook at home Check- some of it costs a fortune but it's extremely good. Try cannochie, which is the local name for Mantis Shrimp - they're one of the best things ever and relatively cheap. If you buy them you will be accosted by lots of old women with extremely inflexible views on the best way to prepare and cook them. Also eat radicchio, which is more of a vegetable than a salad item in Venice. When tired of looking at Tintorettos, stand at bars eating cicheti (the Venetian equivalent of tapas), and drinking small glasses of wine. Wine is the only thing that is fairly cheap. Off the beaten track you can get wine shops that fill your own bottles with pretty passable plonk for next to nothing. Drink spritz con Aperol Check before lunch. Don't bother with a gondola trip. Find a good cafe/bar and keep going back to it - my favourite is the Caffe I Frari.

Spritz con aperol - haven't had that since.
Oh and there are some great bakeries and takeaway pizza places tucked away in odd corners and squares.

 

[Archie_tect]

Can't they teach the dogs to crap in the canals. At least then it would get washed out to sea.

It's as clean as a whistle....never saw any at all....possibly a wind up?

 

[theclaud]

Spritz con aperol - haven't had that since.

I just looked up what it's made of - apparently bitter orange, gentian, rhubarb and cinchona bark, among other things. How about that? It sounds like it must be very good for you . I brought a large bottle back, which lasted about three days, and haven't seen it anywhere since either. If I find it anywhere, you'll be the first to know...

 

[Andy in Sig]

It's as clean as a whistle....never saw any at all....possibly a wind up?

Definitely not. Perhaps the authorities have got a grip because somebody has metioned that the leather goods sellers have gone: that being the other irritating thing besides canine products, loads of Africans trying to flog you fake Gucci. I was last there at new year four years ago.