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Published: March 13th 2007
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Oct. 28 - 31, 2006
We weren’t sure whether we would go to Venice. Neither one of us had a burning desire to go but we felt like maybe we should check it out before we left Italy. If we had decided to move west from Italy we probably would have skipped it but once we decided to move east a visit to Venice made sense. While in Florence during our second visit we had free internet in our hotel room and so we started to research how to get there and where to stay. This was when we realized that Venice is not an inexpensive city. Because we couldn’t find a reasonable place to stay we decided to head to Cinque Terre and delay our decision making a few days.
While in Cinque Terre Amy had the brilliant idea that we should head north to Milan and see Da Vinci’s The Last Supper before heading east to Venice. After about an hour on the internet we realized that you need to get tickets to see The Last Supper about 3 months before you want to visit, although the ticket vendors thought they would be able to squeeze us
in early December. Thanks Dan Brown. We’d have liked to see the famous painting, but considering we’d be dodging amateur Da Vinci Code sleuths trying to uncover lost secrets of history.
Our plan that we had concocted mid-October was to work our way by train east until we got to our final destination, Turkey. We weren’t sure exactly where this would take us: Hungary, Romania, Croatia? What we did know, however, was that our first stop was going to be Ljubjlana, Slovenia. So when we started our research into getting from Cinque Terre to Ljubjlana we realized we could either break up the journey in Venice or take a longer train that went through Venice but did not stop. We decided that we should stay in Venice even though Venice made that very difficult. Amy is pretty good at working the internet to find good, affordable accommodation. Our hotel in Paris was near the Louvre and cost us 50 Euros per night but Venice was not as easy. There were only a couple of hotels that we could find for cheaper than 80 Euros and they were so far outside Venice they might as well have been in Florence.
Raising our budget to 100 Euros meant our choices increased by a couple of hotels and we jumped at the Holiday Inn in Quarto d’Altino. Staying there meant that every day we would have to take the train 30 minutes into Venice but as our alternative was a couple of hotels in Venice in the 400 Euro price range so you can see why Holiday Inn looked so appealing. Plus, what’s more relaxing than staying at an American chain?
The hotel itself was great. It was basically exactly like any Holiday Inn you’d find in America which means that for us it was D - E - L - U - X - E. And we haven’t even been roughing it like real backpackers do. You don’t realize how big American hotel rooms are but let us tell you they are. We had internet in our room (24 hours for slightly more than you would pay for an hour in an internet café in Venice), we had a nice, comfy bed, a shower AND a bathtub. Now for the downside - its 30 minutes by train to Venice and the train runs once or twice an hour with periodic
breaks of 2 hours. You really have to plan when to get in and out of Venice. Oh yeah, and the train is completely overcrowded most of the time due to the infrequency with which it runs. Plus, forget about coming back to your hotel room and going out for a dinner nearby if you’re looking for something more deluxe than pizza. We had great pizza at Stop Pizza nearby, very mediocre pizza at the hotel and a very forgettable meal at the closest sitdown restaurant which was over 2 kilometers from the hotel.
But it’s Venice and you probably want to hear about the city. From what we had read and our own lack of excitement, we were not expecting to like Venice. Amy expected a large sewer with pigeons everywhere so you can imagine our amazement when we actually liked it. We spent 1.5 days walking around the city. We didn’t go to any museums and we only looked at churches from the outside. The main sights (Bridge and San Marco Plaza) are flooded with tourists. The streets on the path to these sights are also flooded with tourists. But we were amazed at the number of
small streets, alleys and paths that had very few people on them. The canals really are amazing and beautiful, the architecture is very pretty and the buildings have striking colors like the rest of Italy. And a big advantage to having your city located on canals and narrow streets is that we didn’t see a single car, motorcycle or bike while we were there. Which makes you wonder how people move.
Having said all that there was a lot not to like about Venice too. We have read that Venice gets between 15-25 million visitors each year and during very busy seasons can have 150,000 tourists in a day. We were not in Venice at its busiest and the main tourist sites and paths leading there were packed with people. There are only about 60,000 people that live in Venice anymore. Most of the citizens have had to move to the surrounding islands and commute in for work. So pretty much everyone you see in Venice is another tourist. What this means is that most of the shops sell the same thing - tacky Venice souvenirs, murano glass ________. We’ve seen A LOT of tacky gifts in Italy (and
perhaps we’ve indulged in a few for family and friends because who doesn’t need a pinup priest calendar) but these souvenirs may take the cake. The food is super expensive and doesn’t appear to be very good (most restaurants appeared to specialize in such unknown delicacies as spaghetti with tomato sauce). We were thus forced to dine at a couple of unknown local restaurants, Burger King and McDonald’s. And we already mentioned the exorbitant rate of the hotels. Many of the squares, other than San Marco Square, are almost completely empty. San Marco is packed with tourists, pigeons and sometimes at high tide, water. It was Amy’s vision of hell with pigeons flying this way and that way almost touching her and people all over feeding the pigeons and letting them perch on them. It is a beautiful square but not one where we had any interest in spending any massive amount of time due to the crowds and pigeons.
We had heard that the gondolas were expensive and that we should stick to the ferries instead. We walked around the city the first day because we prefer to walk in order to better explore. The second day we
planned on taking the ferry because how can you come to Venice and not get on the water. We’ll tell you how. The ferry is 5 Euros per person. Which got us thinking. What can the gondoliers be charging. So we asked a couple of them in different parts of the cities - one in the very crowded area of the Grand Canal right outside the train station and one far away from the crowds in a small canal. They quoted the same price - 80 Euros ($100) for 40 minutes. So that is how you come to Venice and avoid the water.
We’re happy we went to Venice and we would recommend that anyone coming to Italy make time for Venice. It is an absolutely beautiful city - stunning just to walk around - but we think one full day in Venice is enough time to appreciate the beauty before the crowds and prices bring you down.
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Mandi
non-member comment
I am SO with you, Amy
Pigeons (aka rats with wings) are horrible creatures and I totally understand that a square filled with them would be your version of hell... WHO would let a pigeon perch on them?! That said, I am thrilled y'all ended up liking Venice... :^)