mitchdesj

Venice , fascinating city; beautiful and ugly at the same time.

the ugly: stall after stall of cheap touristy merchandise
peddlers of fake designer purses all over the city, mostly around san marco area
overflowing trash bins
pushy sales people in shops
overdose of colored glass wares and masks
gondoliers on cell phones
barely any sign of everyday life

the beautiful: fascination at how this city is on water and still standing, the grand canal views are unsurpassed. Abundance of cultural visits to be made.

I loved my first and last trip to Venice; I will return to Tuscany, Provence, Florence and Paris but never to Venice...... I did not feel or find a true soul to Venice; I found people jaded and fed up with the tourists; ( and I can't say I blame them) but the uniqueness of the city is astounding and I enjoyed my visit immensely.

Part of the problem was having 8 days there, 4 would have been more than enough....

We had wonderful meals, lovely guided visits to churches and museums, day trips to Verona and Padua, lake Guarda, Burano, Murano............ fascinating walks through mazes of streets. It is something to be experienced once in your lifetime.....

We stayed at the Europa hotel and had excellent and helpful service.

These are my candid impressions, we came home friday.

ira

Hi Mitch,

Thanks for your unvarnished view.

May I respectfully suggest that on your next visit to Venice that you stay away from tours and guides, book a hotel away from San Marco and just spend a couple of days walking around the city?

I honestly think that you will see a very different Venice, one with a soul.

Jocelyn_P

mitch--
Interesting! We just returned from Venice as well, with the same impression. The only differece is that we were there for two days, and I thought maybe I just needed more time there to "get" the city. See my trip report "Vendors in Venice..."

elaine

Hi
Mitchdesj, I agree with your comments, and like ira, I appreciate your views, even agree with some of them. But, I also agree with ira that judging Venice only by the handbag sellers and garish glass is like judging New York only by what one sees in Times Square, or Paris by the outdoor "artists" in Montmartre.
Tourist centrals, all, with values to match in most cases.

We all experience cities differently, and to not want to return to one is your perogative (I recently went to Vienna and returning there is not at the top of my list), but the churches and the history and the architecture and the art work and the ambience, and the surprising little genuine beauties around every corner, for me, far outweigh the tackiness. Ditto Prague, ditto Florence, ditto London, ditto Paris, ditto Provence.

cheers

Sue_xx_yy

Thanks Mitchdesj for your impressions; I found your perspective quite balanced and I don't think that anyone can accuse you of coming to a premature impression when you were there 8 nights. I've just returned from there myself, and while I, like James Bond, would never say never, Venice is not on my must-get-back-soon list.

What were your favourite cultural visits?

crozier

mitchdes: "Part of the problem was having 8 days there, 4 would have been more than enough...."

That's probably it. I loved Venice, but was there only 3 days. The chaos, commercialism and general party atmosphere is what made it was great. But that could get stale in 8 days.

Ira: "May I respectfully suggest that on your next visit to Venice that you stay away from tours and guides, book a hotel away from San Marco and just spend a couple of days walking around the city?"

That sounds boring beyond belief. In 3 days, we saw plenty of the back streets. They all look alike very quickly.

mitchdesj

We did have some glimpses of "away from san marco" life, when we walked to St. Elena and spent an afternoon reading in a park by the water, had lunch in a family owned restaurant; we also went for massages at the Cipriani and just hung around having lunch and a drink.....

I found the residential areas devoid of life, shutters closed....... very pretty though.....
there are not a lot of permanent residents in Venice, they are so invaded with tourists that I can understand their desire to shield themselves.

We did walk around a lot, as much away from san marco that we could.... but of course, staying at the Europa we could not help but go through the piazza.....

I am not disappointed in what I experienced in Venice; if I were to return, I would like to go totally off season.

I appreciate all your comments........

Our best dinner was at Antico Martini.....

Nikki

My daughter was telling me just yesterday that while she loved our trip to Venice, she isn't in a hurry to go back there. I mostly agree. We had a great time and I thought Venice was beautiful and fascinating. I even thought the tacky vendors and the glass and mask shops were colorful and they are central to some of my best photos.

We had some friendly and interesting conversations with shop keepers who didn't seem jaded by tourists, including a long talk with a man who owned a glass shop in Murano who had a fascinating life. We traded impressions of touring in Italy and the U.S. with him for quite a long time.

It's a little hard to put my finger on why we aren't in a hurry to go back to Venice. But I will always want to return to Paris, and probably London and Rome, just as I haven't tired of New York after growing up there and going back for countless visits. Venice just doesn't seem to be in that category. I didn't feel that there were inexhaustible stores of things to see and do and restaurants to discover as I do in those other cities. The city just seems to be too tourist-based to be endlessly fascinating as a city in its own right.

Which isn't to say that I won't go back there if I have a reason or that I won't get an itch to go back at some point in the future.

dickv2

Good morning, Venice is different for all peoples. some dislike it by a variety of reasons and they are entitled to their opinion, we however are on the opposite side, we have just last November completed out 20th trip into Venice and still love it.. Personally do not tire of it..
Richard of LaGrange Park, Il..

ira

>Ira: "May I respectfully suggest that on your next visit to Venice that you stay away from tours and guides, book a hotel away from San Marco and just spend a couple of days walking around the city?"

That sounds boring beyond belief. <

As te Italians say, "chacun a son gout".

>In 3 days, we saw plenty of the back streets. They all look alike very quickly. <

As Holmes was fond of saying to Watson, "You see, but you do not observe".

You might have gathered that I like Venice.

rex

Your post, back in January, titled "Luxury 9 days in Venice" did not attract my attention (at least not enough to respond - - I think I did read through it, when first asked) - - because I considered it clearly not my cup of tea, to stay that length of time in Venice where ALL lodging is at least 50% overpriced because of the "location premium".

Since I didn't respond before, I can't say "I told you so", but count me clearly in the camp of "Part of the problem was having 8 days there, 4 would have been more than enough"

This is not so much viewing Venice negatively, as appeasing my insatiable appetite for variety. And the variety available in the Veneto, Lake Garda, the "Palladio country", Alto Adige or the Dolomites - - maybe even Slovenia - - is a big inducement to get away from Venice, if you have a week. Stay "out there" somewhere, save a lot on lodging and see many more of the wonderful faces of northern Italy and the Adriatic.

Best wishes,

Rex

Byrd

The Venice you visited sounds very different from the Venice we visited in February last year (or for that matter in October and November other years.

Byrd

suze

I don't believe it matters how many days you visit. It matters where you go, how you spend your time, your own attitude and perceptions. A person could easily spend 8 days seeing the tourist sites, or could spend 1 day out in the residential areas off the beaten path.

I've been to Venice twice and love it. Why is it a problem that the gondoliers have cell phones?... it's not Disney-Venice there for your amusement. Especially since you want "any sign of everyday life" I can't imagine anything more appropriate!!

mitchdesj

Sue, my favorite sights were the Guggenheim and the Palais des Doges, and the Accademia.........

I am drawing a blank for the name of the church I preferred, it has parts of the 2 older original churches still visible inside.....

capo

Glad to hear you found Venice fascinating and unique (because it is), and that you enjoyed your visit immensely so it sounds like the negatives, while keeping you from returning, certainly didn't ruin your visit.

Re: <i>I did not feel or find a true soul to Venice;...</i>

Interesting...and too bad. We met a number of (what I'd consider) &quot;true souls&quot; during the seven days we were there, everyone from a woman running a tiny osteria in the Sant Elena neighborhood to the guy (Luciano) who owns the Margaret Duchamp pub on Campo Santa Margherita (and plays great music) to the very friendly guy behind the bar at tiny Trattoria San Basilio to the people at our locanda in Dorsoduro to the equally friendly woman running a clothing store we stopped into.

suze

I found plenty of local people in the hardware store, post office, and grocery.

mitchdesj

capo, you read me well; I thoroughly enjoyed my trip, and I am in awe of Venice;
my personal impressions were honest and surprised me but this is what I felt nonetheless....

I was expecting to fall in love with Venice, I left home with butterflies in my stomach, sometimes that is not so good....
too many expectations.

capo

Thanks, Mitch. Even with the bad impressions you listed, it still came across that you enjoyed your visit overall.

I'm certainly not saying you have to return (after all, Venice doesn't need any more tourists) but, for what it's worth, I've been there twice, for three days in 1987 and for seven two years ago and, although I was awestruck by it on my first visit, it was on the second visit where I truly fell in love with it...in large part because of where we stayed and spent most of our time (away from the main tourist areas.) It also helped that we found a little hangout, the Margaret Duchamp, and got to know the owner so, for the time we were there, we felt like &quot;regulars.&quot;

Si, having high expectations can end up causing disappointment...although my then-girlfriend had high expectations (she had never been there before) and it seemed to meet hers.

Funny, I don't recall gondoliers on cell phones but we did have a negative experience on our gondola ride, with a gondolier who shortchanged us on time. But, irritating as that was, we just shrugged it off, putting in into perspective.

If you care to read my impressions from two years ago, they're on a thread you should be able to pull up entitled &quot;The Rain in Venice...&quot;

welltraveledbrit

Mitch,
thanks for your thoughts.

I visited Venice for the first time this January after avioding it on various trips to Italy over the years. Because of posts like this and the impression of the city as overly touristic I think I had a lowered expectation of what I would find and was surpeised to love the city.

I found that staying in Dorsoduro and walking all over the city (especially out towards the old armoury )gave one an impression of the local life... with washing hanging out and children playing in the street...however with a full eight days I think I would have wanted to head out to Torcello or the Veneto.

snookss

I also just returned from a trip to Italy. I spent one day in Venice. I would have like to spend maybe one more just to relax and take the boat to the islands. I'm sure that would have been enough for me even though I'm a glass lover. I got a kick out of the laundry hanging out to dry as I walked the streets of the city. I guess they didn't know we were coming. I do think the city is what I expected it to be.