"Four Days in Venice" a Venice Travel Page by wolfytom

Just returned from a lovely week away in Venice.

It was everything we expected it to be and more but there are cons as well as pro's.

The city is breathtakingly beautiful and we saw it in both glorious sunshine and heavy snow, which only added to the charm.

It is, however, breathtakingly expensive too! The city thrives on the tourist dollar, yen and, to a lesser extent, pound and attempts to screw every last penny from your grasp. Not even Rome compares.

Tourism is at the centre of Venice's existence but that doesn't mean the Venicians will be particularly pleased to see you. We noticed a significant difference in the attitude of the locals in comparison to all other Italian cities we have visited. They are simply not as warm or friendly.

However we had a great time and benefitted from a room upgrade at the excellent Hotel San Moise. Having paid just 45 pounds a night for a double room, we were given a wonderful suite complete with Canal view. The breakfast was excellent and the service efficient.

We quickly learned the importance of watching the pennies and found an excellent place to eat, near Ferrovia (the ugly railway station). The restaurant was open from 11am to 10pm and served wonderful food at a very reasonable price. I suspect that it is part of a large national group. We enjoyed a main course that was a selection of 3 the pastas available on the day - it's called "somethin Trice"!! We added a huge bowl of salad, bread, a half litre of house wine and a jug of mineral water for a total bill of less than seven pounds each! I think the place was called "Restauro Brek". Coffee was 80 cents and a Cafe Latte 1.20. Compared to the rest of Venice that is very very cheap!

We didn't even ask about a Gondola trip, the only people who seemed able to afford them were Japanese!

We found ourselves walking miles and miles. We kept getting lost in the warren of lanes, alleys and streets and frequently walked a long way only to find that the street was a cul de sac, ending in a brick wall or one of the myriad of canals!

There are only two accessible bridges across the Grand Canal and the Vaporetti or water buses cost 5 euros for a 90 minute ticket. We found that we would buy a ticket and travel down the canal, but when we wanted to travel again, the ticket had usually expired! It soon adds up!

It is possible to get a Tragghetti across the Canal but these were few and far between and everytime we found one it was shut!

We were offered a free trip to the Murano Glass Factories by an "official" on the Piazza and took him up on the offer. We travelled to Murano in one of the beautiful water taxis (the journey would have cost us £50 if we had paid) and were dropped off at the entrance to one of the many factories on the island. We soon realised we were being targetted for sales and the promised demonstration of glass blowing lasted less than 3 minutes before we were whisked off to be shown the wares. I made it clear we were not interested in purchasing anything but our "guide" insisted on following us every step of the way. I was a little peeved by this and asked for the exit. We were unceremoniously chucked out and the door was slammed behind us! We then had to pay to get a water bus back to the island - so much for the free trip!