City of Masks (Venice)

Member Name: pjs21

Product:	Venice
Date:	28/03/02 (800 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful Architecture, Fab Food, Lovely People

Disadvantages: Expensive, Expensive, Expensive

It's been a long time since I've done one of these, but having now moved home, been holiday and set myself with a new computer, I thought it was time?

Hmm, how to start a review of Venice?

I think maybe I should answer the questions I've been asked since I got back to dreary old Twickenham.

Q1. Does it smell?

A1. A little yes. We went in mid-march and the temperature was in the early 70s, whether or not it worsens as it gets hotter in the summer months, only those who have been can answer that. The smell was of slightly stagnant sea water, no worse than walking along the seafront at Southend or Bournemouth. (That is not a jibe at either of those places.)

Q2. What can I buy and is it expensive?

A1. It can be. A cup of coffee will you cost you between 6.20-8.00 euros, that's about £4.00-£5.00. A toasted ham and cheese sandwich will cost you about the same. A litre bottle of water is about 4.00 euros, and a three course meal for two with wine in either a trattoria or ristorante will cost you anything from 95.00 - 160.00 euros including tips. So, it's not particularly cheap to eat you may think. Well, a three course meal with wine in a pizzerie will cost you around 50.00 -65.00 euros. That's about £32.00 to £42.00. So you can eat out for a lot cheaper. However, be warned, it soon adds up. We got breakfast included with the hotel, but would have a mid-morning coffee, a lunch, an afternoon drink and then a meal in a trattoria or ristorante. You can easily find that you spend in excess of £150.00 per day for two people to eat and drink. If there are much cheaper places we couldn't find them, and we did look.

The main goods for sale, other than food, consist of jewellery, designer or named clothing, Venetian masks, glass, leather goods and paintings, I will not include the large felt hats sold in St Marks Square as "goods". Jewellery either comes very ch
eap from markets, or very expensive from designer shops including Cartier. Clothes by Diesel were roughly £10 - £20 cheaper then over here, but that's still about £100 for a pair of jeans.

Mask shops can be found on every street. Venice is famous for it's mask culture and you can buy from any number of traders and shops. From a stall in the market you can pick a highly decorated mask up for around 15 euros, if you go to a proper shop where they are all hand-made and painted, you will pay anything from ?75.00 - ?300.00. That said, if you are into masks, the more expensive ones are so wonderfully lavish and beautiful. Commedia masks, my personal favourites, can be brought for as little as 13-15 euros made in plaster or up to 200 euros if made properly out of leather. We brought home several of the former for my commedia work which can be moulded and duplicated easily!

Murano, the famous glass producing island, is a short boat journey from Venice, and therefore, Murano Glass, or even fake Murano glass, can be purchased from almost every shop and market stall in Venice. It ranges from small to large, simple to intricate, and vulgar to extremely vulgar. (I apologise to anyone who owns and likes a piece of Murano) It's either to your taste or it isn't. What it isn't is cheap. I thought it was expensive in this country, but travel to Venice and you'll find you pay for the privilege of buying it in it's own country. A small piece will set you back between £30 and £60 pounds, and I mean small, fingernail size in some cases. Obviously it goes up to prices which I can't even bring myself to type, it would take too long!

Lace is also for sale from the nearby island of Burano, and again the prices vary from 50.00 euros for a napkin sized piece upwards.

Q3. Is it hideously busy?
A3. This time of year it wasn't too bad. The main Piazza San Marco was very busy, and is definitely the big
gest tourist trap. The Venice Carnavale finishes on Shrove Tuesday, running for ten days up until this. There summer season doesn't start until April, so March was perfect. The weather was good and when you get off the beaten track a bit you get to see a lot more of Venice without a lot of people pushing past you. I've spoken to two people so far who have been there before, one in July and one in November. In July the temperature heads for the 100's and the place is packed. The streets are very narrow so I can imagine how bad the congestion must be. In November the main square tends to flood and a lot of shops may shut. Duckboards are laid so that people can walk around, but it does smell and it's still expensive. They were their words not mine!

Q4. What did you see?
A4. What didn't we? Venice was great for me as I love to just wander around and explore places. We walked on average for around 6 - 7 hours a day, that's a lot of walking! The island itself is divided into smaller sections; San Polo, San Marco, Castello, Dosoduro, Cannaregio and Santa Croce. Despite the amount of walking we did, we unfortunately didn't get to roam around either of the last two places mentioned.

Dosoduro was by far our favourite area. It was tranquil and there were certainly a lot less tourists around. Easy to get to from San Marco across the Accademia Bridge, this is the southern part of the island and home to Venice's renowned art school Accedamia di Belle Arte, which we didn't get to go in. We did however go into the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. A must for lovers of art and sculpture it houses work by Dali, Picasso, Ernst, Moore and many others. I could have ambled around it for hours, but my girlfriend prefers sculpture and once we'd done the beautiful gardens housing them she got a bit bored. We ate wonderful food here for a good price.

Also in Dosoduro is the Salute, meaning health. It is a hug
e church built in honour of Mary for saving them from a great plague in 1630-1631 when 95,000 Venetians died, it's full name is Santa Maria della Salute, and it is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. There are too many buildings to list, but these were the highlights of Dosoduro for me.

San Marco, home to Piazza San Marco and the Basilica were by far the busiest with a constant flow of tourists and school trips. While we admired the square and the cathedral from the outside it was a constant queue to get in and we decided against it. The majority of hotels are in San Marco, as are the restaurants for tourists, cafes and bars. This is the best area to be located in my opinion.
Most interesting restaurant has to go to Le Bistro de Venice. The staff were very friendly and welcoming and the food is very different. It mixes influences from France with traditional Venetian food. This included a starter of a Fish Carpaccio, raw slices of mixed fish, and the Fish Sausage, a light pink sausage made of fish and, wait for it, containing tripe. The main course was lobster cooked and served in a parchment bag, and this was followed by proper Tiramisu, nothing like the imitation tiramisu we get in our pretend Italian restaurants in the UK. This was the most expensive meal we had costing us about £100 for the two of us. We were sat beside four teenagers who were there because they'd been taken by someone, who proceeded to leave them there, they weren't brave enough to try anything other than steamed fish, which they ate quickly, paid for and left.

Favourite restaurant was one I found in a little back street on our last day. It was the Trattoria al Pescoar, we couldn?t find it in any guides, but decided to give it a go. The staff were excellent, the food was beautifully cooked and presented, and the bill for a three course meal plus wine came to 125.00 euros. Starter consisted of Fish soup with Calamari rings, baby
octopus and mixed fish. Possibly the best fish soup I've ever eaten. For a main course we grilled fish, I ate the Sole while my partner had Sea Bass. The fish was brought to the table on a platter where it was filleted and boned before being plated and given to you. This was served with a side plate of chargrilled vegetables. Dessert was in the form of Italian Trifle (I can't remember it's name now!) and we finished with coffee. Good value, good food, good service.

Unfortunately La Fenice opera house is still not open since it burnt down for the second time in 1996 and is surround be scaffolding and wooden panels, so you can't even see the outside. They had expected it to be open in 2000, but work still goes on. Ironically Fenice means Phoenix, I think perhaps they should rename it this time!

San Polo, possible the biggest area, was also the least welcoming and most confusing. Even with a street map we managed to get lost. Be warned, even the most detailed looking street map misses out some of the smaller streets. And what you don't want to see when you?re lost is a sign on a trattoria window reading "No pizza. No Lasagne, No Menu for Tourists", it was only lacking the words "So sod off!" We decided not to go in and ask and finally found our way back to a main street.

Again, lots of places to see, but nothing that really stuck in my mind. We did spend two hours searching the streets for the Goldoni museum. Goldoni is probably Venice's most famous playwright, last year his play The Servant of Two Masters was performed in the West End. He is a writer of Commedia and the museum guide promises a "Theatrical Collection". The entry fee was only about £1.75 each, but the museum is tiny. It contains the following; One room with about 20 marionettes, one room full of seats with a television playing something about the museum and the history of Goldoni, and another room with six
original scripts. All of the information is in Italian without translation. It takes about two minutes to walk around the museum. We both needed the toilet so were able to get use of our entry fee, though it made them the most expensive toilets we'd used. I'm being a bit harsh, but I was sadly disappointed with this.

Between San Marco and San Polo is the Rialto Bridge. This is well worth a visit if you're out there to do some shopping. The bridge itself and the streets on either side our full of market stalls and tiny shops selling everything from tourist souvenirs through to nice leather goods. If it's a leather bag you?re after then this is the place to go to get it cheap. I picked up a hand-made leather satchel from a really nice guy in a shop for only £70.

The final part we visited was Castello. The streets of Castello were everything you wanted them to be. It was like being in a movie set. There is a distinct lack of tourists and you become very aware that all the men hanging out in groups along the street live here. There is washing hanging from lines high above your heads and small shops selling local goods. Although I did spot a Monsters Inc. Easter Egg which upset me slightly.

Q5. What was the hotel like?
A5. It was good. Eventually. We had booked through an internet company with a good reputation, we know five or more other couples who have used them, so we felt fairly safe. When we arrived at Hotel Al? Angello it certainly looked fine. The staff were friendly and the reception was nice. The room however came as a big surprise to us both. After we led along a corridor made up of Plasterboard panels and gaping holes with protruding wires we shown into our room. Well, it's hard to describe the state of it. The walls were all cracked from floor to ceiling, there were marks above and below the air conditioning and lights, there was a large square where the wall had been roughly re-plast
ered and left to dry. The bathroom was grubby, the tiles were stained and cracked, the paintwork on the furniture was mostly on the floor in little flakes, and there was a distinct lack of cleanliness. We carried our suitcases back downstairs, checked out and walked round the corner and thankfully into another hotel. The staff at the Hotel Concordia couldn't have been more helpful. They showed us two rooms before we agreed to stay, they took our bags for us, they sorted us out with a map of the area, a list of restaurants to eat that night if we wished, and a list of organised trips to Murano and Burano, plus Gondola rides. Throughout the week the service was superb and could not be faulted. Breakfast was simple but nice with a selection of meats, cheeses, cereals, rolls, preserves and yoghurts, plus tea, coffee and juices. The room was lovely, though a bit to green and gold for my taste, there was a safe, a mini bar, a nice en-suite bathroom and a nice view down the street outside. As it turned out, this is the only hotel to have views of Piazza San Marco, and therefore is one of the most expensive. A double room with breakfast cost us £117 per night. Thankfully we were only there for 5 nights. And thank god Credit Cards!

Q6. Were the people friendly and do I need to learn Italian.
A6. Yes they were and no you don't. But if you do, they'll be even friendlier. On the whole the people in Venice are naturally charming and polite and the level of customer service you receive puts ours to shame. I went with a few words of Italian up my sleeve, i.e. Good Morning/Good Evening/Good Night, Thank you, Please, My Name Is? etc. By the second day I was able to say "excuse me, do you speak English?" "Can you tell me how much this is?" and "Can I have The Bill Please." By the third day I was able to sit down and order a meal from beginning to end in Italian. And they love it. The only frustrating thing is tha
t when you greet someone in Italian, they answer you in English. I did have two conversations with two men who couldn't speak a word of English. It was lovely to do, and they respect you for trying. So it's well worth learning what you can.

Q7. Did you go on a Gondola?
A7. No. They cost about £60 for a 40 minute ride, more if you let them sing to you. We had other things we wanted to spend the money on.

Q8. What did travel guides did you take.
A7. We arrived in Venice armed with three guides, one phrase book and a street map. The guide books were: Venice & The Veneto, A Rough Guide by Jonathon Buckley, and two by Thomas Cook, Guide to Venice and the very useful, Time for Food, Venice, a guide to restaurants, cafes and bars. We would have been lost without the latter books as they contained some good advise, were small and easy to carry around. The first book is a good book, but is a real slog to get through and it's not something you want to carry around with you as you walk about. The Thomas Cook restaurant book was best value for us, ISBN 1-84157-092-3, £4.99. The phrase book we took was published by the BBC and is called Italian Phrase Book, it cost £2.99 and got us out of a few holes. ISBN 0-563-39994-5.

Q9 How do you get about if there are no cars?
A9. Good question, and it was only when we got there that we realised what a world without cars would be like. The main form of transport is the Vaporetti, waterbus, which is very cheap, and quite slow. A three day ticket costs around £12.00. It sounds alot of money, but you do get good use out of it, and besides a one day travel card could you cost you the same in London. The main bus is the #1, oddly named the accelerato, it is the slowest of them all and takes about an hour from Piazzala Roma, the bus station, to Piazza San Marco.

They also have water taxis which you can hire, but these are not cheap, we used one which I mention below.


Gondola's aren't used as transport any more, they are purely there to take money from the tourists.

There is also the Traghetti, a ferry which will take you from one side to the other, and I think that these only operate alongside the three bridges on the Canal Grande.

You can also get ferries from Venic to Murano and Burano.

But if you're like us, you'll be walking most of the time.

I could rant and rant about how much I loved Venice, even though it's expensive to visit I would still go back. It would be cheaper to live there, and I could happily do so. No cars, good customer services and good food. There is so much to do that 5 days wasn't really enough, I would allow no more then 10 to see as much of Venice as possible, plus the two Islands and the Lido.

My final piece of advise is this. If you have some cash left at the end of your stay and you have to catch the slow waterbus (Vaporetti) back to the bus station to then get a bus to the airport at Marco Polo, do this one thing. We paid 85.00 euros for a water taxi. It took 25 minutes across the lagoon from San Marco direct to Marco Polo Airport. It was a bit extravagant maybe, but it was well worth it, and besides it felt like the right way to leave with the island growing distant behind you. Romantic old fool that I am.


Go there, be romantic, eat good food, and enjoy it as much as I did.

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