Venice (the town)

(kidding.)

My wife stayed in a room in someone's house (kind of a bed and breakfast) both times she was there, and insists this is the way to go. This all depends on how comfortable you are with taking up offers from complete strangers on your arrival at the airport/train/whatever.

She should probably post here, Venice is kind of an obsession of hers.

yeah, get a phrase book. The 'polite' words are always the first ones you should learn though. I did okay with those and a few more, mostly food related, 'I would like' 'those/these' 'that one/this one' and numbers. I bought tons of food with this tiny vocabulary and some rude american pointing. Speak quietly and say thank you a lot.

http://www.smartphrase.com/Italian/it_general_words_phr.shtml

Eat squid cooked in it's own ink, but watch for the gothy black lipstick. We ate in a tiny restaurant built in a grotto. They had stalagmites hanging from the ceiling.

I went in early/ mid January. For some reason the streets were full of confetti.

It's also much colder than you would think. Perhaps you are not as stupid as me, but I thought 'hooray! Italy! Must be warmer than London.' I over looked the fact that Venice has the same latitude as Montreal and the fact the gulf stream helps to warm up Britain a bit. It was when I was shivering on a water bus at three in the morning, saw a bit of ice bob past on the canal, that I looked at the thermometer on the boat. It was -6 degrees C.

Venice is bizarre and beautiful - no matter how many times you have seen it in TV or in movies nothing can really prepare you for the shock of actually being there. Its a fantastically creepy place after around 8pm in the evening too, when you can wander the streets for hours getting lost and never meet a soul - i'm not exaggerating. I think the best thing to do if you are there for a few days is to spend the first day getting lost - which you will do pretty easily!

Vaporetti: I almost never pay for the water bus, attendants NEVER check tickets. To prove this, buy a one-day ticket and just seethe inside as it is not checked. Note: do not make this mistake on the 'night bus' vaporetti, buy a ticket for those. Also check if the city is in it's high water period (Acqua alto = the tide is high, there are planks everywhere and everyone keeps a pair of wellies handy).

I love Venice, it's a city with NO CARS.

And do go around to wine bars and drink wine at the counter and eat Chicacci (sp??), little bite sized appetizers you buy individually.

one of my favourite books ever is venice by jan morris,i read it again whilst i was there recently,i recommend that you read it either just before you go or as soon as you get there...its not a guide book at all,more of an extended essay/love letter to the city,beautifully written and a wealth of information about the city,it really gives you a feel for the place
i'd recommend prioritising getting a copy of it above all else

the only restauarant i've been in in the three or four times i've been there that doesn't have the same menu as everywhere else is called alla zucca,its a really nice little restaurant,they seem to specialize in vegetables but do really good meat dishes as well...venice is not known for its food,and i think they're trying to something a bit different,(there's no fish on the menu,for example)and it really seems to work...
the address is santa croce 1762,ponte del megio
especially recommended if its warm enough to eat outside,although the inside looked nice as well...
both restaurants are reasonably priced (about 8-12 euro for a main course,i think)and well worth a visit...

when i sort out a blog i was going to write about venice and the jan morris book in particular...
if i can think of more advice i'll post it up later...

Go out to the cemetary that's on a nearby island -- MAJORLY cool (no, I am not a goth). Go to as many churches as you can. Go up in the tower on San Marco Plaza (but hopefully not when the bells are about to ring, you will be deafXOR). Walk around nearly at random; you will get LOST but it's fun. See how beautiful everything looks in the October light. Eat as many different flavors of ice cream as you can. Kiss.

Get lost if you can - just see where the tourists are and head the other way. Make sure you have comfy shoes to walk in as you'll be doing a lot of it. Every single building in Venice is worth seeing, apart from a small quarter near the station. Find cafes and bars and little restaurants in the non-tourist parts of the city - they're cheap and delicious, especially if you go for the fish.

By all means have a day or so doing the tourist stuff, as it is a pretty special thing to see St Mark's Square, although the Rialto is overrated.

Do go to the islands, especially (IMHO) Torcello, though it's worth getting a day pass for Murano, Burano and Torcello as they're all unique. Don't go to the Lido (where I'm from, sorta) unless you want to walk down a quiet beach or get away from the crowds. I love it there, but that's because I know it so well.

Alla Madonna gets my recommendation too. Also, for nice pizza in a non-crowded square, track down Alle Due Colonne in S. Polo. Delicious.

Do make sure you know what the weather/flood conditions are going to be like. Get a really good map. The more you discover for yourself, the more you'll enjoy it. It really is the most unique and wonderful place in the world.

Don't forget the opening hours issue: stuff opens at 8 and shops trade until 12.45 or thereabouts, then shut for lunch. They re-open at either 3 or 4pm, depending.

By all means go to Florian etc. at St Mark's but save your pennies by having a drink at the stand-up bar; they really put together a great house cocktail and they'll give you nibbles with it. Whatever you do, don't sit down at one of the tables outside, it's EXTORTIONATE. I think the drinks are about 8 Euros at the bar but they're totally worth it as are STOKED with BOUZE and the snacks on the side numb the wallet pain.

Being in the Lido off-season when all but a few bars, cafés and shops are open and there's a nip in the air is like being in a really glamorous version of a Smiths song (or you're at both ends of the Dirk Bogarde spectrum). Go to one of the cafés near the vaporetto stop and have a hot chocolate corretto (they put a shot of whisky or brandy in it). It's excellent.

And presumably they have Monday closing like the rest of Italy - most shops except department stores and Standa are closed until after lunchtime and a lot of museums/restaurants are closed all day too.

The ombre/pizza slice mealette option fuels the efforts of many budget travellers. My favourite pizza place in CSM has the THINNEST ever crust for its pizza.

Also in many of these bars that do ombre you can bring in jugs and get the house wine that they serve for the ombres for the price of not a lot. We went to dinner at a friend's house right next to the Pescheria and our hosts had gone with about five huge water bottles to Paradiso Perduto, which they brought back full of lots of lovely basic Veneto wine. It's pretty light and nice, whatever colour grape.

also can I just say TRAMISU ICE CREAM.

Oh and the gap in my knowledge on shopping hours is completely down to never being in Italy on a Monday, ever.

"Excuse me" in the context of "could I get past you, please?" is permesso, which will be very useful in a crowded place like VE. Also useful is mi dispiace (do you need pronunciation guidelines? "Mee dis-pee-a-chay" if so), which means "I'm sorry". Per andare al(la)... is "How do I get to the...?". Bus is autobus (pron. "owtobooss"), waterbus is vaporetto. "How much..." is quanto costa..., "give me" is dammi, "What's the time?" is che ore sono.

Hope this is of some use. Drop me an email if you have any other specific requests.

Yeah, what's up with this indeed? Last time I went to Italy they were still using lira, and now that I'm researching prices for a return visit it seems like big stuff (hotel, museum admission) is a bit more expensive than it was (expected that with the weak dollar) but cornetta and such are $$$! or rather EEEE!

No one ever checked my ticket on the water bus either, although I did buy tickets each time. The ride down the Canale Grande is spectac. You want to cry at first. I had some good meals and some bad ones. At one place I just told the waiter to bring me whatever he felt like--this was in an outofthewaysomewhatlesstouristy neighborhood. I got a lot of interesting fish things of all descriptions. Wouldn't say it was good, but it was interesting!

Depending on your budget and your patience, you can stay in the town of Mestre (really a district of Venice on the mainland) and save a bundle. I got a room last night at the Hotel Giovannina on the Via Dante for EUR 32. Not great, but clean and about 5 minutes or less from the Mestre train station where you get a train into Venice for 1 or 2 euros and they run every ten minutes (Santa Lucia Station is the Venice terminal). The trip takes 10 minutes. There are also a passle of busses. But it might be worth it to you to pay more and stay IN Venice. The town of Mestre itself has a nice main square--of course it doesn't compare to anything in Venice.

What does compare to venice if you get claustrophobic and need a (very short) day trip away is Verona. Unbelievably beautiful. Takes about 45 min to an hour from Venice. So worth it. Padova is nice too, but not so pure. Old and new intermingled and spread out a bit, hard to get a grip on. But the Church of St. Anthony in Padova is worth a visit. Really amazing. And Padova is only 20 minutes away or so.

Vicenza is also nice for a few hours, not far, and Palladio's buildings are all over the place.

You really can't go wrong.

Even if you're not going on vacation, it's fun to take a look at. And it's definitely great for daydreaming.

Have a fun time!!!

HOWEVER, if someone has seen this in a language he/she actually speaks, please let me know if the dialogue is so good that the film is rendered worthwhile. I'm all ears!

i can vouch for the goodness of tiramisu gelato, in case anyone's interested.

Ahem...

Pictures of recent flooding: http://m.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/11/venice-under-water/100403/

Was amazing to see fish swimming in St Mark's square a few years ago. The city remains almost totally navigable when flooded. They just roll out tables to walk on.

Venice (the town)

Any recommendations (restaurants, cafes, etc) for Lido di Jesolo?

Our recommendation? Buy from local grocery stores and cook in the flat.

Actually, LDJ was good for street-pizza slices. More than that, oh it was 1983 its possibly changed since.

Street pizza is about 90% of what i eat when i'm in Italy so that's positive. Thanks.

Hello I'm here today
had a nice time. i haven't done any of the above recommendations :D
however likely to go to the caffe rosso for a spritz later at campo santa margherita per tradition

Really enjoyed going to 6342 A Le Tole to eat - I wouldn't recommend going out of the way for it but I like it, it's chaotic but in a good way that you'd enjoy if you are okay with your chair being bumped a couple of times during your meal. There's also a dude singing what seems to be the entire back catalogue of dire straits all night - so you know, only if you enjoy that sort of thing.

My recommendation is aside from booking a table for dinner, don't try and over-plan your day - you'd just stress yourself out - you're on vacation in a place that's got sometime rather beautiful and interesting around each corner or dead ends.

And enjoy watching other people being stressed out (i really enjoy overhearing the arguments as folks get overtired from the walking)

Possibly my favorite city on earth. It shouldn't exist but it does.

One of my vacation experiences was wandering from cicchetti places to minor churches for an entire day. Of course in Venice minor churches may have a Titian or Tintoretto hidden away.

Cannaregio at night off the main drag is so quiet and peaceful. Vino Vero is a sweet little wine bar with great snacks on Fondamenta Misercordia.

I've got tons of other wine bar recommendations if you're interested.