Venice

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Limpin' Jez McKenzie
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Venice

Postby Limpin' Jez McKenzie » 09 Feb 2016, 13:40

I'm off to Venice next week during half term - what are your top tips? I'll have an eight year-old with me, so late night drinking is out. Staying in Castello district but quite close to St Mark's Square.
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Polishgirl
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Re: Venice

Postby Polishgirl » 09 Feb 2016, 15:00

Glass blowing? I was just a freshfaced teenager when I went, but we did go on a glass factory tour and it was quite interesting......

I also nearly got pickpocketed, and bought my mum a charming glass box with a pierrot on the lid. I thought it was the most exquisite and beautiful thing: she's still got it, and now I just cringe when I see it......
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Re: Venice

Postby Neil Jung » 09 Feb 2016, 18:48

There are no CD shops at all, but if you want to buy a mask it is definitely the place to be. The hot chocolate is good.
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Limpin' Jez McKenzie
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Re: Venice

Postby Limpin' Jez McKenzie » 09 Feb 2016, 18:55

Neil Jung wrote:There are no CD shops at all,.


Bleedin' 'ell.
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Re: Venice

Postby yomptepi » 09 Feb 2016, 19:25

We are going in September, ( celebrating our 30th anniversary)but we are staying in Verona, and commuting in to Venice, as suggested nearly everyone we asked. Hoping to see a lot of the local country side including Padua and some vinyards. I love Italy. I cannot wait for that expensive Espresso in St Marks square...
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Re: Venice

Postby naughty boy » 10 Feb 2016, 05:09

yomptepi wrote:We are going in September, ( celebrating our 30th anniversary)but we are staying in Verona, and commuting in to Venice, as suggested nearly everyone we asked. Hoping to see a lot of the local country side including Padua and some vinyards. I love Italy. I cannot wait for that expensive Espresso in St Marks square...


Verona is beautiful. I love it. The last time I was there (2008, I think), I was surprised to see so many kebab joints. But I suppose that's the way all over Europe these days, and there are still some fantastic restaurants there. You should go to the opera if you have a chance, the outdoor amphitheatre is ancient, and the bars and restaurants stay open late after performances. There's a magical atmosphere in the streets at those times.

And Venice is amazing. There's nowhere else quite like it. It kills me. You really need to go out of season, and even then it's mobbed. To have a drink late at night in St Marks Square is an unforgettable experience, with the small lights glowing in all the little windows around you, and the little band all in white suits with the fella singing 'As Time Goes By'. Strictly for the tourists, but still - it has moved me to tears.

If you get a chance, see Parma. It's not far, and it's one of the great Italian cities. The architecture is breathtaking, the food (after Bologna, probably) is the best in the country.

There's a nice series on BBC Four right now called Italy Unpacked - I'd recommend it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pn297
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Re: Venice

Postby KeithPratt » 10 Feb 2016, 13:30

If at all possible, try to speak or at least attempt a few words of Veneto. It goes a LONG WAY. Incidentally, the word "ciao" is venetian in origin, coming from Ciao Vostro, I am your slave.

http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/venetian.php

Be warned as well that the sort of food quality you might expect from an Italian city is quite hard to find in Venice. Do some research about potential restaurants because there's a lot of shite unfortunately.

But yeah, what a place.

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Re: Venice

Postby naughty boy » 10 Feb 2016, 15:04

Toby wrote:Be warned as well that the sort of food quality you might expect from an Italian city is quite hard to find in Venice. Do some research about potential restaurants because there's a lot of shite unfortunately.


Very true. I visited a few trattoria and they looked fine, they were busy, and they displayed good Trip Advisor ratings. But they were poor without exception.

It's actually difficult to find even good pizza there, for some reason. But anywhere else in the region - no problem.
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Re: Venice

Postby dgs » 11 Feb 2016, 20:13

yomptepi wrote:We are going in September, ( celebrating our 30th anniversary)but we are staying in Verona, and commuting in to Venice, as suggested nearly everyone we asked. Hoping to see a lot of the local country side including Padua and some vinyards. I love Italy. I cannot wait for that expensive Espresso in St Marks square...


Verona is beautiful and great for a couple (one really) days to see it buy that is quite a commute into Venice Mikel.

Possibly too late but I'd have suggested staying in/on the mainland part of Venice, purely as a base and getting either the local train in or the more fabulous water taxi from the airport. Be warned navigating through venice back to the train station is a B'stard and also be warned if you want to have a 30th champagne in harrys bar, then wear trousers and a collar as anything else, as my dad and i found out, is against the dress code.

Also, opera in Verona is a must do, very long and boring but it does come with beer and as objectionable as it may sound. the horse meat salad is tres bon!
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Re: Venice

Postby Six String » 15 Feb 2016, 21:50

Toby wrote:If at all possible, try to speak or at least attempt a few words of Veneto. It goes a LONG WAY. Incidentally, the word "ciao" is venetian in origin, coming from Ciao Vostro, I am your slave.

http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/venetian.php

Be warned as well that the sort of food quality you might expect from an Italian city is quite hard to find in Venice. Do some research about potential restaurants because there's a lot of shite unfortunately.

But yeah, what a place.


Agree, especially about the restaurants. I had one of my best and worst meals in Italy in Venice and they cost about the same across the board. You need to know more than avoiding places woth tourista menus and just about any that have a guy outside trying to draw you inside.
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Limpin' Jez McKenzie
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Re: Venice

Postby Limpin' Jez McKenzie » 16 Feb 2016, 14:23

What a brilliant place.
I kept thinking "swim as far as you can, swim as far as you can".

Limpin' Jez McKenzie
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Re: Venice

Postby Limpin' Jez McKenzie » 22 Feb 2016, 13:48

Well we had an ace time. It was fantastic wandering around the narrow streets and crossing the little bridges, particularly at nighttime. It wasn't crowded, but then this is out of season and after carnevale - the longest wait we had was about ten minutes to go up the campanile. We had some beautifully sunny days, and it was lovely on the water then.
I kept thinking "swim as far as you can, swim as far as you can".


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