Sunshine and Ombra: Light and Shade in a Weekend in Venice
Of all the places to escape for the weekend, there is one civilized city that is a cast iron, grade ‘A’, 24 carat solid gold banker to take you away from it all. No traffic jams or wardens. No supermarkets. No stress.
Venice.
Call it Italy’s Disneyland if you will, but if you’ve never been then you’ll never know. And when is best? Well, what time’s the next flight?
OK. WE’RE HERE.
Piazza San Marco (tick)
Rialto Bridge (tick)
Doge’s Palace (tick)
Seen a Gondola (tick)
Now what?
Get lost, that’s what. In case you hadn’t noticed, Venice is completely surrounded by water, the lagoon, which means that no matter how far off the beaten track you wander, how dark it may get, or how lost you may feel, at one point you’re going to reach the water’s edge. Then you just follow it round to the nearest Vaporetto (waterbus) stop or streetside map. In fact you’ll spend most of your time beside water, beside canals, crossing little bridges, finding unexpected boats gliding by. “Unexpected” because at night Venice is silent, there’s no traffic, and around every corner there’s always something new – or rather something very, very old. Even more remarkable, it’s not just a single island, but a series of smaller islets interconnected by bridges, footpaths, canals and so on, a vast jigsaw of a place. And it’s safe, the only real crime being pickpockets in the crowded tourist streets leading off Piazza San Marco in peak season – but that’s the same as any city.
The main drag is the Grand Canal and for the first time visitor there is no grander view than from the top of the Rialto Bridge looking down at the bustling waters, at the gondolas, the water taxis, the delivery boats. It’s pure Canaletto. Only when the McDonald’s barge putters by do you remember that this is a living, breathing city occupied by real people. And a lot of tourists. The sights are splendid and can be found in all their glory here.
When to go? Out of season, for definite although, like Florence, this is an increasingly narrow timeframe. Late autumn is good and midwinter too.
In late autumn the summer hordes have gone and Venice tends to flood – a feature of the city fascinating for the occasional visitor as boardwalks spring up in the middle of the night to cross squares and take you into shops and – rather worryingly – hotels which are under six inches of water, but it’s no fun for the residents, obviously, and attacking the root cause has taken an age.
January and early February are cold, occasionally freezing, but all the more enjoyable – Venice when it’s quiet is when it’s best.
High summer should be avoided like the plague, you will flee the smell and suffocating coach parties should you make the mistake of going on a July/August weekend, even if you can find someplace to stay.
However two ‘busy’ times to go are the opening week of the Art Biennale when the art world descends and takes over everything from the Giardini (gardens with dedicated pavilions), the Arsenale (former shipyard given over to modern art) and just about every available space for exhibition.
The opening weekend of the Venice Carnival in February can be good too. There may be German hen parties dressed as Pink Pigs nowadays but you’ll still catch fleeting costumes from a bygone era when Casanova, in his finery, was in pursuit of his next conquest. You don’t have to dress up, but you can buy a mask.
How to get there. Marco Polo Airport is 13km from Venice itself and served by British Airways, BMI and Easyjet all year round. Prices vary wildly but can be very cheap midweek. By far the best way in from the airport is by water taxi, the only time I’d recommend them. It will cost about €100 and for a few fleeting moments (about 20 minutes actually) you’re James Bond speeding to save the world. Otherwise, avoid them at all costs – they are waaay too expensive and entirely unnecessary – and get the public Alilaguna waterbus in which is cheaper, (€10), slower (an hour) but beautiful in its own way.
The other air route is via Treviso, some 35km away, where Ryanair will drop you, but if you’ve just paid £20 or less to fly from Stansted or Liverpool you shouldn’t really care where you land. ATVO Coaches can cost as little as €5 and take an hour to get to downtown Venice.
STAY WHERE?
The top end hotels, Danieli, Gritti Palace, Cipriani, are to die for. Even for one night, all three are worth the expense. The Danielli and Gritti Palace both sit on the Grand Canal exuding an irreplaceable charm from an age gone by. The Danielli’s grand lobby and suites were created for “travelling nobility” in a magnificent restored palazzo and are worth going to see themselves – and while you’re there pop up to the roof for a drink, La Terrazza is actually a restaurant but on a quiet day there’s no greater view to go with your CampariSoda. The Gritti Palace is 16th Century sensory overload, from its painted grand piano in the lobby to the endless array of beautiful furnishings and décor, it’s also one of the most picturesque places in the world to have a drink or even lunch, on the canal. The Cipriani requires a fast launch – their own, free, from Piazza San Marco – to speed you out to La Giudecca for the best view of the city.
Back on planet earth, there are plenty of low to mid range hotels where you get a bed and a bathroom for the night. I have frequently turned up without a reservation, checked in an internet café a site such as Late Rooms and booked at discounted rates for that night. Venice is a tourist economy. It is never full, but it can be expensive.
A favourite is the small hotel, Locanda ai Santi Apostoli, where after you’ve negotiated the heavy gate off Strada Nuova, a tiny lift will take you to a converted top couple of storeys on the Grand Canal on a bend just north of the Rialto Bridge with sweeping views to the left and right and the bustling markets opposite.
Room 9 is one of two rooms overlooking the canal, which you will never want to leave while Claudio, the owner, and his staff will make you welcome. You can come and go, rather grandly, direct from the canal too, they have a door and jetty which, for a 5am departure through the mist of a deserted Grand Canal sure beats a minicab to any airport I know!
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL, 1,2,3…
(1) Public Transport
There are all manner of struggles to keep Venice afloat (ha!) by suggestions to limit day trippers, ban leisure craft, and tax everything that moves, but through it all gaily sails the Vaporetto – the floating Venetian omnibus - which costs little to board and will take you around Venice as if you owned the place. It is a joy just to be on the No 1 as it zigzags up the Grand Canal stopping everywhere on both sides. The 82 does too. For those in a hurry the express No 2 takes vaguely the same route with fewer stops. But don’t try to board the No 3, which is now for residents only.
There are easy to understand timetables and route maps at all the bright yellow stops, passes galore for 1/3/7 days, cheap returns and routes to take you everywhere you might want to go. Don’t even think about getting a private water taxi. If in doubt call HelloVenezia, +39 041 2424 and ask – in English – what the best deal is for the number of days you’re staying.
To cross the Grand Canal, (there are only four bridges - one brand new), find a traghetto, at one of seven signposted jetties, old gondolas stripped of all their money making glitter with two oarsmen, to take you from one side to the other. To accommodate the maximum number of passengers, the locals stand on these precarious vessels, (I’m sure they could quite easily sit), thus forcing terrified tourists to stand too. 50c worth of wobbly fun.
The other gondolas, the ones you’ll be endlessly photographing because they’re beautiful and hand made (which cost about €20,000 to build) aren’t public transport. A short ride will probably cost you €80, up to an hour can be €120. Or more.
(2) The Rialto Markets
In midwinter, I walked through the fish market at 7am when the stallholders were setting up, their breath clearly visible in the sharp clear morning air. Over the PA system, a light operetta was being played to the evident enjoyment of all - everyone was singing along with it. Thinking I had stumbled into a Venetian remake of La Dolce Vita I went back the next morning to check – they were singing again. Quite magical.
The fish and vegetable markets are side by side and display basically what you should be having for lunch that day. It’s where the chefs buy.
Granseole (crabs from the lagoon), available twice a year (Oct/Nov and spring) and if you’ve seen a basket of the little crawlers that morning, they’ll likely be on your menu later as moleche. Delicious, but a personal favourite is the white cannochie, the mantis shrimp, which is seasonal too.
In the vegetable market, from early spring, locally grown purple artichokes - castraure - are everywhere. They’re addictive at lunch on their own or in pizza.
(3) The Peggy Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museums now straddle the world outwards from New York’s Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece via Germany and Bilbao to – coming soon – Abu Dhabi (the biggest). In the midst of all this art globalization Venice has quietly kept the charming Peggy Guggenheim Foundation to itself. It has its own stop on the Grand Canal, has one singularly rude sculpture at the entrance, and pays homage to its eponymous founder Peggy, whose house this was, the late wife of Max Ernst and enfant terrible way before Damian Hirst. Venice can be prone to cultural overload and hyperventilation caused by visiting too many churches. The Peggy Guggenheim is a peaceful and cultural antidote to it all. A highly personal collection of modern 20th century art.
LET’S DO LUNCH
Cheap
Venice is about walking, walking, walking and the best stop’n’eat snacks are the little Tramezzini, tiny triangular sandwiches made with white sliced bread and soft tasty fillings which are available everywhere, especially at small stand-up espresso stops. Or join the Venetians in a bacaro, the traditional wine bars where with your ombra (a glass of wine) you can enjoy a variety of snacky titbits called ciccheti, just like tapas. The easiest bacari to find are the Cantina Do Mori, by the market for over 500 years, and the adjacent All'Arco, which is slightly more welcoming.
Not so cheap
Pizza may have been invented in Naples but the Venetians can knock up a pretty decent copy. To be honest, the tourist traps which line the Grand Canal in the shade of the Rialto Bridge, are a nice place to sit and enjoy pizza when the sun shines. It may cost €12 but the view itself is worth that.
For a proper, cheaper pizza get down to Pizzeria Accademia which is on the Dorsoduro side of the Accademia Bridge. There you can sit outside, without being ripped off, and enjoy decent pizza with a good view.
Not cheap but worthwhile
Probably the most glamorous lunch in the world. From Piazza San Marco take the Cipriani’s free private launch out to the hotel and make for their waterside restaurant, Cip's Club, which floats on the water before the best daytime view of Venice from anywhere. Inside the hotel, small fortunes are being paid for lunch, which make the prices here seem not quite so hefty. Expect to pay more than €20 just for a plate of pasta – at least it’s home made and delicious – and enjoy the passing traffic on the water.
WHAT’S YOURS?
You’ll see Venetians sipping a pink drink in the early evenings, a “spritz” made with white wine and fizzy water with a splash of Campari or Aperol. Very refreshing.
But it’s also a good time to explore the little bacari again that you missed at lunchtime. And why stop at just one? There’s a whole tour where you can sip and snack for an hour or more. It’s a fantastic way to see the real Venice, fast disappearing under the body weight of day trippers.
The curious may insist on going to Harry’s Bar – made famous decades ago by Hemingway – but now, well, see for yourself. A small bellini made from tinned peach juice and cheap prosecco will set you back at least €15.
DINNER IS SERVED
In order to draw up this short list of recommendations I have had to endure some pretty mediocre food. Venice is, tragically, renowned for its ripoff restaurants which spread out from Piazza San Marco like a web, catching tourists by the minute. These few are the real deal. Great food, real Venice, and memorable. There are others, of course, almost all of which can be found in the excellent guidebook Chow! Venice.
Trattoria Antiche Carampane (near San Polo) is possibly the best fish restaurant in Venice. Small, plain and discreet, it’s damn near impossible to find. But worth it. “No pizza” it says on the door. So don’t ask.
Trattoria Ca' d'Oro was originally opened as a bacaro by the present owner’s grandparents and it’s still one as far as the locals are concerned. Don’t bother with anything so fancy as a menu, just ask what’s good and enjoy. Old furniture, terrazzo floor, cheap. Cash only.
Trattoria alla Madonna, San Polo is an excellent, moderately priced traditional Venetian restaurant specializing in fish but serving everything else too.
Osteria da Fiore was a favourite, if the city’s most expensive, but it’s had such sensationally bad online reviews of late, I’m loathe to recommend it since a bad meal here will still cost a lot of money. Feedback?
FLOAT BY
For an hour or so…
The circular tour on Vaporetto No 2 takes a lot of beating, day, evening or night. The journey through the Grand Canal is simply beautiful, made all the more exciting by the buzz of the traffic. Stretches of open water at either end seem positively ocean going after the Canal.
For the day…
Murano is tourist heaven, a dinky little island where it’s difficult to find a single shop that sells anything other than coloured glass ornaments. However, when it’s quiet, it’s altogether different. You can wander in and out of the factories, enjoy an ice cream, and not have to worry about transport back to the main island. The frequent Vaporetti to and from Murano run all day. It’s a beautiful journey there and back, past the cemetery.
If it is too busy the No 2 will take you to an island monastery, San Giorgio Maggiore, to view both the church architecture and, from the top of the campanile, a bird’s eye view of Venice itself
Overnight…
The Lido is the holiday resort, a long island with an eleven mile stretch of beach housing luxury hotels such as the Excelsior and the Des Bains (the setting for “Death in Venice”, both the book and the movie with Dirk Bogarde) and the annual Film Festival. 20,000 people apparently live here but in summer the whole of Northern Italy turns up to crowd the public beaches (most of the sand here is held privately, by the hotels) and swim and play. There are lots of little small hotels for overnight stays which can be found on sites like this.
Added 2008/10/28 @ 13:27:36
Average customer rating
awaiting 5 vote(s)...
