A guide by joleta
If you are planning a visit to Venice look no further than Palazzo Odoni. You can book online at www.palazzoodoni.com.
We have stayed in several places in Venice but this has been the best yet and we would definitely stay there again. There is no better recommendation than that!
It is a charming place to stay in, the quiet area of Santa Croce, we love this area away from the tourist trail. The palazzo is situated on Fondamenta Minotto just a few minutes walk from Piazzale Roma, the bus station, but if you want to take the more expensive option from the airport, the water taxi will take you more or less to the door. The double doors take you into a delightful courtyard and up some stone steps to another door followed by steps into the palazzo.
As you walk into the palazzo you get a real feeling that you are entering into a bit of Venetian history. Alessandro and Alessandra are the hosts and they will give you a warm welcome.
We stayed in a double superior room with beautiful furnishings and a lovely en-suite bathroom with a jacuzzi bath. The room looked onto a church and the rooftops and was very quiet and tranquil.
Book it now and go, you won’t regret it and once you have visited Palazzo Odoni you will want to go again.
Santa Croce, 151
Fondamenta Minotto
30135 Venezia
Tel +39 041 2759454
Fax +39 041 0993073
info@palazzoodoni.com
www.palazzoodoni.com
A really good honest and simple restaurant in one of Venice's most interesting out-of-the-way areas down near Giardini. We were given a warm welcome and enjoyed everything about our lunch. A set meal of this quality for 14 Euros is really a rare event in Venice. On the set menu there's either 'fish' (spaghetti al vongole followed by fritura) or 'meat' (spaghetti al pomodoro with veal as the main course). It's a genuine, very large plateful and extremely well-cooked and tasty. Half a litre of wine costs only 5 Euros. At the end they added on 12% for service - exceptionally, I wasn't bothered to check back whether it was mentioned on the menu because it had been such an enjoyable meal. A warm recommendation for both the restaurant and the area if you're in Venice for more than a couple of days.
Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, Castello 1533. Phone 041 5228727
Once you've done the classic tour of the Doge's palace, do the extra one of the "hidden" bits, to see the torture chamber and where Casanova was imprisoned (and escaped from). You come out with a very clear idea of how the Venetian state really functioned.
The area around the Rialto is the best place to eat in, away from the menu turistico of the restaurants in the central areas. The most tempting food shops and bars are here. Cantina Do Mori is a city legend, dark and secret. It serves the best cichetti, a bit like Spanish Tapas, and cheap wine that is drunk by the market traders. Eat in this area and it’s unlikely that you will go hungry or be disappointed.
Food of course is the highlight of each day, and one of the best ways to enjoy it is to take an apartment and shop in the market. If eating out, it can be expensive as can everything in Venice. Remember if you want to sit outside to see and be seen, it may cost you twice as much as sitting inside. Order a panini or tramezzini at the bar and either stand while you eat or take it out to eat at the edge of a little canal or on the steps of a bridge, even cheaper still.
This far north, pasta tends to give way to risotto and with so much seafood from the lagoon, the choice is large. Most menus have a zuppa di pesce, or fish soup, again with an infinity of ingredients. Specifically Venetian is carpaccio, thin slices of beef served in mayonnaise, or bigoli in salsa, noodles in an anchovy or sardine sauce.
Cantina Do Mori: San Polo 429, with entrances on Calle Galiazza and Calle Do Mori, In San Polo;
tel: 041 522 5401
Directions: Go to the San Polo side of the Rialto Bridge, walk to the end of the market stalls, turn left, then immediately right, and look for small wooden cantina sign on left.
The island of Torcello lies across the lagoon from Venice about 10km north as the crow flies (or halibut swims). There is a regular vaparetto (water bus) leaving from the Paglia Bridge near St Mark’s Square, which makes stately progress by way of Murano and Burano. This is not, although it sounds a bit like it, some kind of skittish homage to a well-known catchphrase of Mr Vic Reeves. It is, in fact, another pair of islets in the lagoon. Murano is famous for its glassware and tourists can readily purchase various knick-knacks and baubles. However these trinkets are - almost without exception - of hideous aspect and exorbitant cost and can safely be left to the Americans.
A convivial night culminating in us making short work of a large bottle of brandy meant that we missed the hourly Sunday morning vaparetto we were aiming for so, with a lunchtime table booked at the splendid Cipriani’s restaurant on Torcello, we hopped on to a water taxi. These little speedboats are, inevitably, a lot more pricey that the water bus but, on a crisp, clear autumn morning, as we bounced across the silver-blue waters of the lagoon, the exhilaration of the ride more than made up for the expense. And certainly did a lot to assuage any cognac-induced greenness around the gills.
Such was our air of wellbeing that we did not mind at all when the water taxi-driver insouciantly handed over control of the speeding craft to his 10-year-old son. The look of benign, paternal content on the father’s face as his nipper hurtled us across the deep brought to mind the dog in the Tom and Jerry cartoons (‘Spike’ was it?) with his indulgent chuckle of “That’s my boy!” as his yapping offspring chased Tom up a tree.
A pizzeria in the back streets of San Polo that has an enormous range, great staff and even better prices if you're trying to do Venice on a budget. Used by a mix of locals and lucky tourists, so you get a good atmosphere, but also an English language menu if your Italian isn't up to scratch but want to try one of their more interesting pizzas.
Santa Croce, 1552/a; Go out of Campo San Polo to the north-west, and follow the calle straight, over a little cross-roads, and Ae Oche wil be on your left. Not easy to find, but worth it
Hotel accommodation for two adults and two teenagers is ridiculously expensive - even during October/November, which is a wonderful time to go. Through Rome Sweet Home (sic) we found a flat with a large bedroom, two small rooms and a balcony over a canal just round the corner from the wonderful Campo San Marco in Dorsoduro for 170 euros per night. It was all exactly as promised on the website.
Last August my partner and I stayed at Piccola Perla, a charming one-bedroomed apartment in St. Antonin, located roughly midway between St Mark's Square and Arsenale.
It was quiet, tastefully decorated and it was great to come back in the evening after a long day's sightseeing and put our feet up in the little courtyard, together with a drink of Prosecco. Being on a budget, some evenings we cooked our own meals, so it was good to be a couple of bridges away from one of only two supermarkets I have come across in Venice.
Recommended as a romantic getaway for a couple or an inexpensive spot for a small family (there was a sofabed in the living room).
www.ourveniceapartment.com - Tel. (UK) 01242 243693. Nearest Vaporetto: San Zaccaria.
Veniceby.com is a great hotel guide for Venice. They have a lot of info on each hotel and also many pictures. You can make your choice with all this in mind and they offer direct contact with the owners.
This cosy wine house five minutes from the Rialto serves dozens of wonderful wines by the glass, starting at about 1.5 euros for a glass of prosecco.
Also serves delicious bar food - when it's gone, it's gone. The atmosphere is that of a private party - you can spill out on to the street or eat at little drop-down ledges, built into the walls of the shop.
A great alternative to an expensive and indifferent meal in a tourist restaurant.
Cannaregio 5984 / Salizada San Canciano
Although there are around 450 bridges in Venice, only four cross the Grand Canal. The most famous is the Rialto, the district around it once the most important financial centre in Europe when the Republic was at the height of its power. Although the banks and bordellos of the renaissance have gone, what makes the Rialto worth visiting, apart from the bridge itself, is the market concentrated around a few tiny alleys and on the quayside. For a thousand years, housewives, servants and chefs have bought their daily supplies here, from a handful of scampi from the lagoon to fresh fruit from the Veneto. This colourful and animated spectacle has to be the best free show in Venice and is open every morning apart from Sundays and holidays.
Go to the glass factory in Murano. Get off the vaporetto turn right, head along the canal over the first bridge and double back. You get a free tour and load of hard sell. It's a good morning's entertainment disappointing the salesman of uniformly hideous glass. Then it’s back across the bridge to the nearby bar for a freshener.
Famous for its glass work (and apparently where mirrors were invented and exclusive to for quite a while). Walk down
the main street of Murano and you will return with more small glass
ornaments than you can carry - the street is just glass shop after glass shop! You can also go and watch the handymen at work at the factory, not very far from the water bus station.
A great guided tour (about 90 minutes). It's especially good for any younger people totally fed up with All Those Big Museums. You are taken round parts of the Doge's Palace that are usually off limits (you must book in advance and preferably do so direct with the booking office to avoid possible unhappiness) and get to learn lots of wonderful facts about secret passages, the palace, Casanova and the power that was Venice. A real joy for all ages.
Palazzo Ducale
Al Sole Hotel is a delightful hotel in the San Croce area of Venice away from the crowds of San Marco. We discovered it by accident one evening on our first visit to Venice in October 2004. We were so enchanted by it we decided that if we were to return to Venice we would definitively stay there, and that is what we did. We stayed for three nights recently and we were not disappointed – so much so, that we have booked another visit in January 2006!
Al Sole Hotel is housed in a charming XV century palace and faces on to the Tolentini Canal, with a very open aspect, and with a garden at the back. The surrounding area is quiet and attracts locals and tourists alike. It is only a five minute walk from Piazzale Roma bus station so it is very conveniently situated for a transfer from the airport. On our recent visit we booked a water taxi which took us straight to the hotel but on our next visit we intend to take the less expensive bus and walk the short distance to the hotel.
From Al Sole, it is only a few minutes walk to several good and inexpensive restaurants as well as to the famous Campo San Margherita with a wealth of lively bars and restaurants.
We would definitely recommend this charming hotel, with its friendly and helpful staff, to anyone who wants to stay in a perfect location in the heart of old Venice. We can’t wait to return.
Fondamenta Minotto 134 - 30135 Venice
Tel. (+39) 041 2440328 Fax. (+39) 041 722287
www.alsolehotels.com info@alsolehotels.com
This is very friendly B&B which is very reasonable for Venice and serves a fantastic breakfast, local bread, cheeses, fruit salad, and freshly squeezed orange juice.
B&B Sandra, Sestiere di Cannaregio 2452, 30121 Venezia; www.bbalessandra.com/index.php
The palace is a very beautiful insight into Venice and truly is the perfect example of a wonderful and majical Veneican Palace. It is great for art lovers, as there are a number of excellent paintings. The site also has a rich history based around the Palazzo being the residence of most of Venice's doges. The palace is fanatastic for getting an insight into the politics and culture of Venice. Be sure to allow yourself plenty of time to look around as there is a museum and plenty of rooms to see.
San Marco Square, water taxi from the main Venice port.
You can get unlimited travel on the vaporetti with a 24-hour pass (10.5 euros) or 72-hour pass (22euros). Considering a single trip on the Grand Canal costs five euros, it’s pretty good value. We got a 24-hour pass on our last day there and it was the best 10 euros we spent.
Any vaporetto ticket station
My favourite Island in Venice. Every house is painted a different, bright colour so it's like walking down the streets of a giant toy town. It's supposedly famous for it's lace, but in all honesty I was more taken with the houses.
Take a map with you (a detailed map) but forget about it until the moment you decide you should be turning towards home - wander the streets (preferably at dusk) - explore the non-tourist areas (which are many and you'll find that, contrary to myth, Venice isn't always crowded and noisy) by 'feeling' your way.
If you want to be a little more organised then some great places to get lost are the surrounding streets of the Frari Basilica or the area behind the Cà d'Oro (fabulous museum) near the casino and leading out towards the church of the 'Madonna dell'Orto (literally the madonna of the vegtable garden - apparently her Brussel sprouts were second to none) where there is, as with many small chuches, a breathtaking collection of artworks. But the important thing in all this is the washing lines, the balconies, the kids playing football and the women in their curlers in the grocers, the tiny bars and bakery shops.
Oh, and one more tip, in Venice look upwards. And one more: for lunch look for places to eat that are full of workmen - they'll be the most economical and there you'll find the best food.
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