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Otels hope you enjoy the following Travel Ideas
from travel writer
Douglas Lucius
Best wishes on your next trip!
Venice (Venezia):
the City of Canals
By Douglas Lucius
Copyright © Otels, 2006
 Venice
was built upon more than a hundred islands, making it the city of
canals. One travels around town on a vaporetto, or public
water-bus. The most popular route takes you past elegant and colorful
houses, palaces and markets lining the Grand Canal. But the
essence of the town is not the canals themselves, but rather the lack
of vehicular traffic within the town. The city is so quiet one can
hear distinct footsteps or even coughs blocks away. It is an
otherworldly experience to meander the winding streets and bridges of
Venice’s serene neighborhoods.
Recall that 500 years ago, this powerful city was also the splendid
home to one of the wealthiest and most important kingdoms of the
Middle Ages and Renaissance. She was known across the Mediterranean as
"La Serenissima" Republic of Venice. The city became rich in
culture as well, with its own style of art and architecture.
Today Venice is so well known to the rest of the world that a lopsided
situation has developed: the tourist population is several times the
local population. As the New York Times reported in October
2006, the population of the historic center of Venice has fallen from
a peak of 171,000 residents in 1951 to fewer than 62,000 today. At the
same time, 15 million tourists visited Venice over that prior year.
"On some days they easily outnumber residents, and during the
pre-Lenten Carnevale tourists can number 150,000 a day." Still, the
onslaught of ever-present polyglot crowds rarely seems to overwhelm
the devoted individual tourist.
Getting There
(for more detailed info on
getting to Venice,
click here)
One has many options when traveling to Venice. There are dozens
of trains every day between Rome, Bologna, Florence, Milan, Turin and
Venice’s Santa Lucia station. Some are express trains; others
will take you to towns such as Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Bergamo, and
Ferrara. The trip to Milan takes 3-4 hours.
(Those traveling north from Venice to Innsbruck, Munich or other
points in Germany should take a train to Verona, and then transfer.
Trains north are often listed as “Brenner,” after the border town.
Trains for Trieste head east.)
The principal expressway serving Venice is the A4 running from
Turin and Milan in the west past Venice and on to Trieste in the east.
Coming from Rome or Florence, one would take the A1 to Bologna,
switch to the A13, and switch again to the A4 on the north side
of Padua. The main exit is Mestre, where there is a large parking lot
and a short rail link to Venice’s train station, Santa Lucia. The
closest one can park a car is in lots just a little to the south of
Santa Lucia.
You can fly to Aeroporto Marco Polo, which lies on the mainland
northeast of Mestre. Walk outside the arrivals hall and take a water
taxi to your hotel: it should cost 40 to 50 Euros.
Large cruise ships dock to the east of Piazza San Marco, and behind
the train station.
Getting Around
 For
short trips, enjoy a walk around town. For longer distances, the
vaporetto – the water bus – is the only economical way
to get around. Take advantage of the 24-hour ticket which costs 12
Euros; the one-hour ticket at 5-Euros is another option. The boats are
rather slow: allow about 40 minutes from the rail station to San
Marco, with many stops and much noise. (Signs say you have to purchase
baggage tickets if you carry more than one bag, but no one seems to
worry about it.) The 1 and the 82 lines are the ones tourists normally
take. If arriving by train, make certain to get on a boat going to the
left as one faces the canal.
One can also hire boat taxis for cruises or simply to carry a
lot of luggage, with the price depending upon many factors. It quickly
runs into the dozens of Euros.
The typical gondola seen in so many photos is a
unique experience providing passage on minor as well as major canals.
They cost about 70 Euros for a 1-hour cruise, more for a singing one.
I have never taken a gondola ride, and yet I enjoy Venice just fine.
Tourist
Attractions
 Piazza
San Marco is Venice’s long-time political, religious and
commercial center. The town’s top attractions face this plaza: the
Basilica San Marco with its unusual domes, relief facades, gilded
horses, and splendid interior mosaics; the Palazzo Ducale to
the right of the church (i.e. closer to the river) with its stupendous
arcades, balconies, hallways, halls, paintings and sculptures; and the
vast square itself. There is an elevator to the top of the
Campanile (bell tower) facing the palace, and it provides a
great bird's eye view; but the view from San Giorgio (see
below) is even better. Note the lines to get inside the Basilica are
endless. Avoid the bars and restaurants along Piazza San Marco: the
budget for your entire trip might disappear in one of those places.
Galleria dell’Accademia is the other must-see of Venice. It
houses the treasures of Venice’s distinctive Renaissance. Works by
three members of the Bellini family, Titian, Veronese, Canoleto, and
many others are on display. (If you are in a hurry, visit the first
room upstairs and then turn to your left and see the next two rooms,
including the large hall where most of the masterpieces stand.) The
Museum building itself is in a certain state of disrepair, but current
repairs should fix that by 2009.
For those who have perhaps tired of Renaissance art on a long trip
through Italy, Venice offers the liveliest modern art scene in
Italy. The Collezione Pinault has just opened in the Palazzo
Grassi (at the San Samuele pier on the Grand Canal, opposite Ca’
Rezzonico, west of Campo S. Stefano.) This gallery is one of the
liveliest and most contemporary art venues anywhere in the world,
displaying a fraction of the enormous collection of a wealthy
Frenchman (Monsieur Pinault). The works on display alternate every
four to six months. The upcoming Picasso show there will also include
works by other artists. For more modern art, the Guggenheim
hosts many unusual exhibits in addition to its celebrated Biennale;
it is located in Dorsoduro, between the Academia and Salute
vaporetto stops.
There are many churches to see in Venice, and many of them are
wonderful. I will just mention two personal favorites. First, Santa
Maria della Salute (at the Salute vaporetto stop, at Dorsoduro’s
eastern tip) is a soothing white edifice with a tremendous dome and
contains one of Tintoretto’s great works.
Second, and my favorite attraction in Venice, is the tower in San
Giorgio’s church. San Giorgio is a small island facing San Marco
and separate from the many islands that constitute Venice proper
today. Enter the church near the vaporetto pier and head to the back,
veering left. The 3-Euro ride for the lift is under-touristed, yet
nonetheless provides the most splendid views of the city. Under the
right conditions, one might be able to see the mountains far to the
north.
Finally,
for something otherworldly and a little bit spooky, a trip across
the lagoon to Torcello, a remote island cleared long ago by a
malaria epidemic. There is an old church and a few restaurants; and it
is a wonderfully relaxing way to spend a half-day or day.
Hotels in Venice (Venezia)
Hotels in Venice are quite expensive due to the space pressure,
but the city makes them all worth its price of admission. There
are hundreds of hotels in attractive areas around Venice, and here are
a few recommendations in four popular neighborhoods:
West and North of Piazza San Marco:
(distinguished neighborhood near the center of town)
The 5-star
Hotel Bauer sits a little west of Piazza San
Marco (San Marco 1459.) It rooms, lobby and restaurant is luxurious
but not overdone. The terrace restaurant and bar on the Grand Canal is
quite nice. Low-season rooms start at $450.
 The
Albergo Cavaletto & Doge Oresolo is a Best Western just a
block off the northwest corner of Piazza San Marco. It is a reasonably
priced 4-star hotel with great views onto a large canal and gondola
park. The rooms are large and elegant.
My favorite 3-star here was the
Hotel Bel Sito & Berlino on the
Campo S. Maria del Giglio. The staff are welcoming, the rooms
attractively furnished with antiques, the indoor / outdoor restaurant
/ café is quite charming; and the location about halfway between Campo di
Santo Stefano and Piazza San Marco is great. The rates are competitive
with other three stars with less to offer.
La Fenice et Des Artistes is a subdued, quiet and pleasant
3-star hotel with a garden a few blocks northwest of Piazza San Marco
and not that far from the Rialto. Prices are among the more reasonable
in its class.
Dorsoduro: (quiet and relaxed
neighborhood between the Academia and San Salute, far from the crowds
but easily accessible to the town center):
Hotel American-Dinesen is one of the better deals amongst the
3-stars in Venice. Not far from the Academia (and Academia pier), it
opens onto a peaceful picturesque canal. Rooms and the lounge are
suitably elegant, staff friendly, atmosphere cheerful, and there is a
small garden and terrace in the back. It is a bit pricey for a 3-star,
but still a very good deal.
The Locando Ca’ del Brocchi is a luxurious bread and breakfast
/ guest house on a charming street about halfway between the Grand
Canal and the Canale della Giudecca. It would rate a 4-star if it were
a full hotel. Prices are not much worse than elsewhere in Venice. The
room rates are a good deal lower than the American.
You might want to look before leaping into the 3-star Ca’ San Vio
on the Calle delle Mende. It is in a quiet location, but very
difficult to find. The rooms are well furnished but tiny.
While one of the cheaper hotels in this area, it is not a particularly
good value.
Railway Station (lively neighborhood,
perhaps not the ideal place in which to savor Venice’s charms,
but it has its own character. The prices are lower than elsewhere in
the city. It is appealing in its own way, has lots of restaurants
nearby, and is certainly practical if you have luggage.)
Castello Ouest (east of Piazza San Marco)
There are many hotels here but note this area is quite crowded with
tourists and at times unkempt.
Restaurants &
Refreshments
If Venice has hundreds of hotels, it must have thousands of
restaurants, and it is impossible to identify the best restaurants or
the best deals. Just a couple suggestions:
· The
Ristorante S. Stefano on the Campo S. Stefano has many good dishes.
The mussels are exceptional.
· Da
Ivo at 1809 San Marco in San Polo, near the Rialto vaparetto stop, is
small, intimate, and delightful. Trattoria Da Fiore, also in San Polo,
serves incredible fish.
· The
Al Covo serves great fish, and is in the area where Cannaregio turns
into Castello Ouest.
· The
winding wide streets near the Campo S. Margherita (west side of
Dorsoduro) have a lot of outdoor restaurants in the summer that make
for a pleasant and relaxed environment.
· The
De Prisis restaurant in the Hotel Bauer (mentioned in Hotels section
above), just west of Piazza San Marco, is said to be one of the best
in town, and offers a great setting. The prices will be very high.
We welcome your comments or suggestions about the above
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