Venice

[M62Man]

~Anyone have any tips for best way /value to spend your time in this port.

Presumably vapporetto up Grand Canal and a visit to St Marks Square.

What else? - hard work trawling the net backpacker sites!

Is it worth it for a gondolier / where can u get a decent coffe - heard St Marks is a rip off.

Can u get a vaporretto from the quayside up to St Marks?

Any advice welcome!

Thanks.

[The Monocled Mutineer]

The very high prices do not mean that this activity in Venice has a high participation ratio of participants vs total number of visitors.

 

A very good gondola station (not too busy and by a traghetti (spelling?) stop and very handy after a wonderful al fresco luunch on their terrace is the one by the Hotel Gritti Palace.

 

An indulgence that cannot be equalled:

 

Bellini in Harry's Bar

 

Lunch at the Gritti

 

Gondola ride

 

Afternoon Tea in St Marks Square at Florians or Madri, complete with "orchestra" (There is a charge for the music!)

 

Allow £200 per person for this "package" of indulgence.

 

"On the Wings of a Dove"

 

~~~

 

What can one say? The sum of Venice is greater than her parts. (Not that these should be sniffed at!). And talking about so called "smelly Venice" ... what a load of nonsense!

 

As well as procuring a good guide book (Insight are good - don't rely on the ships library - they won't lend it to you till after the call) do have a read of John Julius Norwich's History of Venice. Also his "Venice and her 19th Century visitors" is very good.

 

Other, than a change of clothes for the evening I spend the whole time ashore, wondering around both the touristy bits as well as in the quieter quarters. I do hope you have a midnight sailing as Venice becomes quieter in the evening and again will take on a very different character. (She is packed with what seems to be every other teenager in the world with a rucksack all crowding in and around St.Mark's).

 

If you have never been to Venice before then do hang the expense and have:

 

A Bellini in "Harry's Bar". Very understated, very expensive but facscinating for guessing who people are/what they do! (Lunch here is very expensive, is very good, but I don't like the cramped dining room upstairs with a tiny windows for a view.) Far better is to have ....

 

Lunch on the outdoor terrace of the Hotel Gritti Palace. Right alongside the Grand Canal, with a glorious view and the cacophony of canal traffic. Excellent food and service. The waiters (with all the fine degrees of different pecking order) are all intensly good looking and well-turned out in that wonderful Italian way that only they can pull-off!

 

Afternoon tea (inside) the Cafe Florian in St.Marks Square to witness the glorious interiors.

 

A Gelato and coffee outside Florian (or perhaps the "Austrians" Cafe Madri on the other side of the square (No self-respecting Venetian would be seen there during the 19th Century occupation by the Austrians, when Napoleon struck a deal with the Austrian emperor following his defeat of the Serene Republic in 1797). Yes, you will pay some outrageous price for your repast and there will be a charge for the orchestra ... but what fun ... and we are only on this planet once!

 

HAVE A WONDERFUL CRUISE!

 

Derek “The Monocled Mutineer” Kane

 

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[M62Man]

Thanks for the feedback - will do our best to enjoy and contribute euros!