%s5%cbSafety and security in Venezia – excellent ! and other Venice, Italy Warning Or Danger Tips

Safe Venezia :-)

by Trekki , 4 more photos

I thought, I’d better place this here and clearly state that I never ever perceived Venezia as dangerous, not even at night. I felt extremely safe, wherever and whenever I went strolling around in the city. Even at night, where I would be much aware of pickpocketers or whatever in my own town or anywhere I was before (except Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) – but not so here ! Even at night, no matter at which time, me as single female traveller did not felt at any risk. Well, I don’t hang jewels around on my whole body, don’t wear miniskirts (haha, in my age and with my size, it wouldn’t be appropriate anyhow) and never left my handbag (which I don’t own) dangling over my shoulder.
Just use your common sense, as anywhere on the world.

But I am pretty sure that we all have to be thankful to Venezia’s police, who try to keep the city “clean” from rubbish elements. Plus, we have to be extra grateful to them, as they most probably do it in order to make us tourists feel safe, and less to protect the locals. Venezia just cannot dare to get into the headlines for being unsafe.

Nevertheless, subesquent, I will write some “warnings”; most of which are meant as “be aware” about things which are most probably different from your homecountry or have to do with Venezia’s position in the middle of water. Some are also meant as warnings, that have an impact on the beauty of the city herself.

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Warnings Or Dangers: Watch your step ! Or you fall in the canales

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Updated by Trekki

on Jun 29, 2007

A ramo - with water at its end

by Trekki , 2 more photos

Apart from being squeezed to death (or almost death) at the neuralgic spots in the city, this is the most important danger I really felt in Venezia. But it has nothing to do with subjects, but with our own. So often, when I was wandering around to take photos, and made some steps to my left or right, I realised that I got quite close to the water. I was constantly talking to myself “don’t fall into the canale”… haha, must have been a weird sight or sound to the passing by passengers. But be aware, it is very much easy to fall in the canale, as most of the canales are not protected by a wall or balustrade. One wrong step, and it would simply make plop – and off you are…

Another “danger” might wait for you at the end of a ramo, which is a dead end, but often ends at the water itself. It is meant for boats to stop here for dropping off people who live there, so it mostly has some steps leading into the water. But again, the high oxygen content of the lagoon’s water increases the growth of algae, so they are also growing on these stone steps. It can get hellish slippery, not only after rain – and again, one wrong step – and off you are in the water. It is a very good idea to bring good footwear (anyhow, as you will walk and walk), but make sure, the profile of your soles is of a good grip.

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Warnings Or Dangers: You can get squeezed to death in Venezia

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Updated by Trekki

on Jun 29, 2007

Traffic jam on Ponte Accademia

by Trekki , 4 more photos

Yes, and this is also serious, as it might easily happen during high peak seasons. Even in May 2007, when I was there, Ponte Rialto, Ponte Accademia and around the bridge in front of Ponte Sospiri were crammed with us tourists; well, 80% of them mostly Eurodisney visitors (I will explain the meaning of this term in the next tip).
The average Eurodisney visitor is not aware that locals actually live in Venezia and that they have to move from A to B to get to work or to do their business. Eurodisney visitors just stand and block ways, calles and bridges. Their completely blindness to the others (be it us other tourists or the locals) makes it very much dangerous to move along. Very often, they were standing there, piled up along the fondamentas, not even making room for the people that wanted to pass. I was nearly wiped away into the canales twice, when they were talking to each other with wide spreading arms, but … well, finally I deliberately bumped into them to make them aware of the existence of other persons… I am amazed that not more people end up falling into the canales, just because the Eurodisney visitors don’t realise that not everyone in Venezia mixes the city up with Eurodisney.

My suggestion ? If you can, avoid the neuralgic spots of Ponte Rialto, Ponte Accademia and the bridge in front of Ponte Sospiri during the peak times of the day, which seems to be between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. If you can’t avoid these times or if you meet them at spots where they might wipe you into the canales with their heavily moving arms, just push yourself right through the middle, and if it still seems to be difficult, use your ellbows. People like these can only learn by being pushed with the ellbows.

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Warnings Or Dangers: The Eurodisney tourist – a real danger !

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Updated by Trekki

on Jun 29, 2007

Woosh - and off you are in the

canale

by Trekki

As I use this term quite often in my writings about Venezia, I will explain it here. Remember the statistics of Venezia’s tourism. Nearly 80% of us are day visitors, coming in the morning and leaving in the evening and don’t come back. When I was wandering through Venezia, looking here and there and also taking the vaporettos, I did see so many of very strange behaving foreigners, so I decided to call them Eurodisney visitors. So who are they ? They are tourists who believe that Venezia is a museum. A gigantic museum on water, made to please their eyes. What they neglect is that this city has been erected ages before even anyone thought of their existence and was not at all built to be seen as a tourist trap or a museum city. Venezia just was lucky that it was not much bombed during the world wars (that’s what I read) and that the Venezianos love their home city very much, thus take care that it won’t be destroyed by the ravages of time, and by us tourists.
Eurodisney visitors will block almost everything, as (as described above), they cannot believe that other people actually have to go from A to B and not marvel at Eurodisney Venezia like themselves. Several times I also did observe that they must have fall from the sky onto the vaporettos, as they seem not to realise that – once a vaporetto approaches a yellow vaporetto stop (= like one where they themselves sould have boarded the vaporetto), it will stop there, let passengers get off and on the boat. They were hanging over the rail (= the one, the assistant would have to open to let others get off and on), and looked at this poor assistant as if he would be an alien. I am sure, they never got the point why he wanted them move away from the rail……

Yes, I am fully aware that I am very very much sarcastic here. I had to get it off my chest and maybe it helps the non-VTers which come from Google’s search engines, to realise that they should watch their behaviour towards the others when visiting what they believe is Eurodisney museum city Venezia.

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Warnings Or Dangers: No photos in (most of) the churches !

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Updated by Trekki

on Jun 29, 2007

This is meant as a be aware (and neither warning nor danger) – be aware of this before you go to Venice and get disappointed: it is forbidden to take photos inside most of the churches. There are clear signs (= pictographs) about this at any entrance, so no one can pretend not to have seen them (not even the inhabitants of certain countries that refuse to speak any other language than their own or English). Though I don’t know what would happen if you take photos and get “caught in the act”. They might want you to delete them (and watch you while you are doing so), well that is for digital cameras.
Still, I very much misbehaved myself. I took one photo in Tintoretto’s church Madonna dell’Orto, another one in San Pietro, but this was in the little apse chapels, no one was in there, no one was looking and I didn’t use flash. And we took photos of San Marco Basilica, but from the loggia (into the church's inside) 20 minutes prior to the closing = 5 p.m.. But situations like these are not likely to happen inside of the big churches where priests or employees are present everywhere.
If you try to take a photo in a non-watched moment, make sure you will not use flash, though.

There are churches, however, where it is allowed to take photos (such as SS Giovanni e Paolo in western Castello), but then the pictograms at the entrance definitely say “without flash” (the word flash is used globally).
If you are in doubt, ask at the cash desk.

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Warnings Or Dangers: No backpacks allowed in Basilica San Marco

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Written by Trekki

on May 30, 2007

Signs where to drop the backpacks

in front of SM

by Trekki

This is also meant as a be aware (and neither warning nor danger) before you are disappointed or even angry when it happens. As already mentioned in my pack list, bring a handbag (ladies) or one of these pouches that go around the waist, when you want to visit Basilica San Marco or its Loggia. There are big signs all over at the main entrance of Basilica San Marco (see photo), which clearly say in picture language that big bags, suitcases, trolleys and backpacks are not allowed inside the church. I was still amazed to see so many people lining up with trolleys and backpacks and watched them when they were approaching the guard. Of course he rejected to let them in, he pointed to the big sign and they had to go to leave their bags at the room in Calle S. Basso. Of course they had to queue again and were not given a shortcut entering.
The room to drop the bags is (as said) in Calle S. Basso. It is the first door at the right in this small street; unfortunately no sign at the entrance. But the door is open and you can see guards with shelves and backpacks behind them. BTW, this drop-off station opens 30 minutes before the guards let us into the basilica, so time enough before starting to queue.

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Warnings Or Dangers: Narrow streets - beware and keep right

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Updated by Trekki

on Jun 29, 2007

Some streets ARE narrow !

by Trekki , 3 more photos

Again this is meant as be aware (and neither warning or danger) – some of the streets are so narrow that almost only one person does “fit” through it. It can get very much difficult to pass when oncoming foot traffic is approaching from the other side. Venezia is full with these small streets, and even when you don’t expect small streets according to the map – they are there and make getting ahead difficult. That is also one of the reasons why I recommended in the packlist to travel with a backpack (as opposed to suitcase). I did see so many poor tourists struggling with their suitcases in these narrow lanes and then traffic jams happened. Of course, the occasional Eurodisney visitor gets trapped in the small streets as well, and, according to his/her belief, can’t imagine that there are actually locals that need to use these streets to move from A to B – so it gets even more congested.

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Warnings Or Dangers: Changed vaporetto schedules after football

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Updated by Trekki

on Jun 29, 2007

Police watching the football fans

by Trekki , 1 more photos

Italians love their football, just like any other football crazy nation does. And it seems that any other life can come to a standstill when football matches are going on.
On my last Sunday I went to look for chiesa S Nicolo dei Mendìcoli in the very far east of Dorsoduro. After having visited the church, I wanted to hop on the vaporetto at Santa Maria. Now this is at Canale Somenzera, which runs “north” to meet with Canal Grande at Piazzale Roma. Santa Maria is served by vaporetto 42 and 52, which would have brought me directly home to Fondamenta Nuove (or 62, which would make a stop at Piazzale Roma where I could switch into my 42/52). When I approached the station, I already saw a huge crowd of policemen and, as a true German native, had a guilty conscience (haha, this is off topic but somehow I feel that we Germans all look deep inside and search for our sins when we see policemen). Ok, so they were piling around the station and when I got closer I saw a huge kind of ferry boat where almost millions of football fans got off and got into some of the busses waiting for them. I thought, ok, the boat will eventually leave and then I can get my vaporetto. Not so – first, more of these ferry boats with football fans arrived (it must have been 6 or 7 in total), but also in between, when the vaporetto stop was empty, none of the vaporettos stopped here to let us board. And it was not only me, but over the time more than 20 other people arrived at the stop, all being locals. But as they took it with patience, I also did so, and finally, after having waited for nearly 2 hours, a No.42 vaporetto was nice enough to collect us :-)

So: better be prepared and don’t look for a boat that collects you in football game Sunday afternoons after 5 p.m. at Santa Maria. Better walk directly to Piazzale Roma or back to Zattere.

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Warnings Or Dangers: Danger for Venezia, and your pocket

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Updated by Trekki

on Jun 29, 2007

Just near Piazza San Marco

by Trekki , 4 more photos