Venice ideas

[Fishboy1947]

Just returned from Venice and thought I’d pass on a couple things that we did.

 

Fondaco dei Tedeschi is a high end 4 story department store at the base of the Rialto Bridge. They offer free views from their rooftop. You have to book timed reservations on their website. We really enjoyed the view, some of our best pictures, and we enjoyed going through the store. A word of advice, you have to take the escalator to the fourth level to get to the roof. Not marked well.

 

We were only in Venice for less than two days, so we didn’t want to make too many time commitments. This made a trip to see glassblowing in Murano questionable. We booked $5 admission tickets with Original Murano Glass Co, payable on arrival. We took a vaporetti to Murano on our own and really enjoyed the brief demonstration. Also enjoyed one of our best lunches in Murano.

 

If you purchase your ACTV vaporetti tickets online in advance, I think 30 days, you save about 10%. Also anyone under 26 can get a 3 day pass for less than a regular 2 day pass.

We were a family of 5 adults. The cost of the bus from the airport to Piazzale Roma was $10 each. For $60 we booked an 8 person van transfer with City Airport Transfer. It was worth the small difference.

 

It was our first real visit to Venice and we took the advice to walk around, sometimes blindly. For our only full day we walked 16,950 steps, probably too much. I was tired for the rest of the 15 days trip when we did 12,000 steps most days.

[Hambagahle]

Could you give the name of the restaurant on Murano please ?  We are planning to spend a couple of nights on Murano next spring.  Our hotel seems to have a decent restaurant but I don't want to eat there all the time!

[princeton123211]

4 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

We are planning to spend a couple of nights on Murano next spring.

Take a water taxi from Murano to the small, and sparsely inhabited, island of Torcello. Lunch outside at Loconda Cipriani was one of the best things we've done in Venice in a long time. They also serve dinner but a late lunch will allow you to enjoy their gorgeous gardens in the daylight. Food and surroundings were superb and none of the crowds of Venice. 

[Hambagahle]

6 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Take a water taxi from Murano to the small, and sparsely inhabited, island of Torcello. Lunch outside at Loconda Cipriani was one of the best things we've done in Venice in a long time. They also serve dinner but a late lunch will allow you to enjoy their gorgeous gardens in the daylight. Food and surroundings were superb and none of the crowds of Venice. 

Makes me smile!   The whole (not even the main) reason we are going to spend two nights in Murano is to go to the Locanda Cipriani for lunch!   I first ate there some 50 years ago and we eat there every time we go to Venice.  I am actually considering staying there for the two nights as well...or maybe making it just one night and going home to Switzerland next day.  We have no wish to go to Venice "proper" - been there many times and seen whatever we have wanted to see.  (Last time it was the Regatta Storico.  If you haven't heard of that - look it up!   It was an amazing sight and we viewed it from a rooftop on the Grand Canal.)   

[Miryam1234]

On 7/5/2023 at 7:46 PM, Fishboy1947 said:

If you purchase your ACTV vaporetti tickets online in advance, I think 30 days, you save about 10%. Also anyone under 26 can get a 3 day pass for less than a regular 2 day pass.

 

Where did you change your booked tickets into actual vaporetto tickets? Was the place easy to find?

[Fishboy1947]

23 minutes ago, Miryam1234 said:

Where did you change your booked tickets into actual vaporetto tickets? Was the place easy to find?

In the airport. Wasn’t even looking for the machine and bumped into it. Entered the code and 5 individual passes came out

[Miryam1234]

1 minute ago, Fishboy1947 said:

In the airport. Wasn’t even looking for the machine and bumped into it. Entered the code and 5 individual passes came out

Thanks! We are 4 adults and I booked private transfer to Piazzale Roma. Was thinking of changing the tickets only after we've settled into our Airbnb, to cover some extra time on our last day. Did you by any chance use the porter services in Venice? If so, what was the price level?

[princeton123211]

6 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

The whole (not even the main) reason we are going to spend two nights in Murano is to go to the Locanda Cipriani for lunch!   I first ate there some 50 years ago and we eat there every time we go to Venice. 

It's such a special place and a (somewhat) hidden gem. I'm sometimes hesitant to recommend it to folks for fear that too many people will find out about it. The distance to Venice proper seems to be the proper deterrent still. 

 

6 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

I am actually considering staying there for the two nights as well...or maybe making it just one night and going home to Switzerland next day.

I did 2 nights there and then 3 nights in the main part of the city once. If I were to do it again I would only do 1 night at Locanda Cipriani-- Torcello is a bit too slow moving for us for 48 hours. 

[cruisemom42]

6 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

We have no wish to go to Venice "proper" - been there many times and seen whatever we have wanted to see.  (Last time it was the Regatta Storico.  If you haven't heard of that - look it up!   It was an amazing sight and we viewed it from a rooftop on the Grand Canal.)   

 

I am in a similar situation -- been many times and ultimately Venice is not a large place like Rome or Paris where there are many hidden gems....  However, as I wanted to take DS there, I arranged our visit to coincide with the Festa della Salute in November -- got to experience the temporary pontoon bridge over the Grand Canal and taste the special dish, castradina.

[cruisemom42]

24 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

It's such a special place and a (somewhat) hidden gem. I'm sometimes hesitant to recommend it to folks for fear that too many people will find out about it. The distance to Venice proper seems to be the proper deterrent still. 

 

I did 2 nights there and then 3 nights in the main part of the city once. If I were to do it again I would only do 1 night at Locanda Cipriani-- Torcello is a bit too slow moving for us for 48 hours. 

 

Many people don't realize that Torcello was where Venetians lived before there was a Venice. It was a thriving place in medieval days. Now it is almost abandoned. It certainly has a very different feeling from any other place in the lagoon. The mosaics in the church there are amazing.

 

For those who don't want to pony up for the Cipriani, there is a less posh but still very enjoyable restaurant called the Osteria al Ponte del Diavolo (literally "the restaurant at the Devil's Bridge). It has a pretty courtyard in back and serves traditional favorites.

 

 

[princeton123211]

4 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

For those who don't want to pony up for the Cipriani, there is a less posh but still very enjoyable restaurant called the Osteria al Ponte del Diavolo (literally "the restaurant at the Devil's Bridge). It has a pretty courtyard in back and serves traditional favorites.

They're both quite good but they're both priced nearly identically to each other. I say this to make that point that Locanda Cipriani is not exorbitantly priced like other restaurants in the Cipriani empire. It's not inexpensive but nothing is above 35 Euro on the menu. Compare that to the 65-75 Euro entrees at Harrys Bar in Venice. 

 

While it's still owned by the family, its run separately from their other business interests (which is also part of what makes it special). 

[Hambagahle]

First time I went there I was in Venice working with a language school that was providing intensive instruction to our students (who would later go to study in Florence).  Can't remember when I heard about the island but possibly from a Hemingway book?  Anyway I went.  Before lunch I walked over to the shore and sat there with my feet in the water, watching the birds bobbing around.  And I was so peaceful.  Then I went to the Locanda.  I explained I was dining alone.  I had a wonderful meal capped off with a crostata di lamponi - raspberry tart.  Since then I have made a point of eating there every time I have been in Venice.  Torcello is world apart.   And those mosaics... not seen anything like those since I was at the Bardo in Tunis.   It is so peaceful on that island.

[princeton123211]

3 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

Can't remember when I heard about the island but possibly from a Hemingway book?  Anyway I went.  Before lunch I walked over to the shore and sat there with my feet in the water, watching the birds bobbing around.  And I was so peaceful.  Then I went to the Locanda.

Hemingway spent quite a bit of time at Locanda Cipriani and was close friends with Giuseppe Cipriani. I believe he did some writing there over a few months at some point-- he came to Torcello to "dry out" after his exploits in Venice proper. 

[Hambagahle]

5 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Hemingway spent quite a bit of time at Locanda Cipriani and was close friends with Giuseppe Cipriani. I believe he did some writing there over a few months at some point-- he came to Torcello to "dry out" after his exploits in Venice proper. 

And that is the way I feel!  When I land on Torcello, walk along the little canal to the Locanda, I enter a different world.  Not one I want to stay in for ever but one I am happy to be in!!

[Got2Cruise]

Thank you @Fishboy1947  I made my reservations for Fondaco dei Tedeschi rooftop! Great tip. It was so easy to do in English.