Hopelessly lost in Venice. (Venice)

Member Name: Cat19

Product:	Venice
Date:	12/05/09 (119 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful, historical, flamboyant, fashionable

Disadvantages: EXPENSIVE

Venice has been on my must visit list for some time now. I have always imagined it to be an extremely romantic city and I longed to be whisked off there for a special occasion. After years of hinting, my perseverance finally paid off last month when my husband "surprised" me with a long weekend to celebrate my birthday.

Getting there and around~~~

You can travel to Venice from various UK airports, the flight is just under two hours and good deals will not be hard to find. Normally when I travel I will simply jump into a taxi at the airport however I knew this would not be possible in Venice as cars are not allowed in the central area of the city where most people stay. There are a few alternative options though, the one I took was the water bus, it cost Euro13 and was very straightforward. It is just a few minutes' walk from the airport terminal to the water bus pick up and drop off point. The bus has about half a dozen drop-off points in the city so it is worth investigating which is nearest to your hotel before you get to Venice.

We were staying in San Marco which was the penultimate stop, the journey took about an hour and then we had a five minute walk to our hotel. An hour may seem like a long time but trust me this is a very enjoyable hour. Another option is to take a private taxi boat, this is quite expensive at around Euro80 but is much quicker and the boats go faster so it is quite good fun. We did this on the way back as we had to be at the airport by 5am and it was too early for waterbuses.

Getting around the city is probably best done on foot, we walked virtually everywhere. If you want to get to one of the outer islands like Murano then I recommend the water bus.

Things to do~~~

Normally when I visit a city I have a list of must visit sights and attractions; a museum or two or some other building of historical interest and perhaps a tower or some other kind of vantage point to take in the views across that city. In Venice I required no such itinerary. After checking into our hotel, we just stepped right back out onto the street and started walking. Maps and plans did not seem necessary in this city.

On our first afternoon we explored the neighbourhood we were staying in of San Marco. The square itself is an excellent place to start and then we headed into the maze of streets nearby. It was easy to pass hours just walking and exploring and taking photographs. We soon found ourselves approaching the Rialto bridge, it was quite busy in this area, but we enjoyed the atmosphere and looking at the market stalls.

On our second morning we decided to go to Murano, famous for glassworks. Murano is easily reached by waterbus. We had expected to see glass items being made in workshops, but mainly we just saw shops. Perhaps the workshops are there if you look hard enough. We were happy enough to wander up and down and look in the shops. After Venetian masks, chandeliers are probably the second most popular item for sale in Venice. A typical Venetian chandelier holds lots of coloured fruit shape glass pieces. It is probably one of those things you buy on the spur of the moment and then wonder what on earth you were thinking of when you get home. We did succumb to buying a modern chandelier for our dining room but with not a glass fruit piece in sight.

On our final day we decided to explore the San Polo area, there are less crowds here in fact, no crowds at all as the district is less commercial than other areas we went to. Without the distraction of so many shops, we were able to admire the architecture of the 'ordinary buildings'. Everything looked very old and slightly decrepit but in a very charming way. After we had finished our wanderings in this area we found that we had very conveniently ended up in the north by the bridge which we crossed into Cannaregio and the old Jewish Ghetto.

On this our first trip to Venice, we found we did not have time to explore museums, galleries or churches as we were too caught up with the city itself and wanted to be outside. It means we have a good reason to return and plenty of new things to do next time. We were tempted into a church one evening for a recital of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. We saw a few similar performances being advertised and it seemed a very appropriate thing to do in this romantic and historical city.

A gondola ride may also seem like the thing to do in Venice. Personally I felt the gondolas have priced themselves out of the market. It costs around Euro80, for about half an hour I think which is quite steep for a couple although four people can easily fit into the gondola so maybe not too bad if you have the numbers. Still it seemed a little tacky and too expensive to me and presumably I was not the only one as many gondolas were idle when I was there.

Eating and drinking~~~

Italian is definitely my favourite type of cuisine and I was hoping the weekend would be filled with culinary pleasures. I am not exactly sure what went wrong in this respect but the best meal I had was a slice of takeaway pizza. Even on my birthday, when we had booked one of the top restaurants in Venice (apparently), the food was well below expectations, especially for the price. This restaurant deserves and will be getting a whole review of its own in good time.

If you are interested in good food whilst in Venice I would recommend to really do your research and ask for recommendations, rather than wander around and see what takes your fancy. My other suggestion would be to avoid the restaurants which occupy the prime tourist spots, (e.g. along the canal by Rialto bridge), that have about fifty tables outside and a "tourist menu".

On our first evening, we ended up somewhere like this as we had had left it quite late to eat and found our options a bit limited. We ordered a bowl of pasta each and a bottle of sparkling water. The pasta was served in less than three minutes which rather suggested that it was not cooked to order, it wasn't particularly nice and the bill came to a ridiculous £36. Well Euro36 which is about the same thing these days. Yes overall the dining experience was the biggest disappointment of the trip.

Summary~~~

It is ten years since I first visited Rome and for all that time it has retained the position of being my favourite European city. Finally there is a different city at the top spot and that is this one, my husband and I both fell in love with Venice almost immediately. We will definitely go back for some more wandering of these fascinating streets and next time we will try to get to some of the further out islands too.

The only real downside to the city was the expense. One of the advantages of having lived in London for a long time, is that other cities do not normally seem so expensive in comparison. I didn't find Rome expensive, I didn't even find Tokyo expensive but goodness me Venice hurt in the wallet and you need to be prepared for this. Here's hoping for a better Euro: £ exchange rate before I return.

Summary: My new favourite city.