Bacari Tour in Venice- want to join?
 

We are hoping to do a walking bacari tour with Alessandro on the 13th of Sept while in Venice. He does them if there are at least 6 people. If anyone else is interested email him at [email protected] to sign up. It's 30E per person I think and includes drinks and snacks at 3 different bars.

Stormygirl, We would love to but are not in Venice until the 19th (19-24), Bummer! If anyone else out there is going to be in Venice during our dates and is interested, drop us an email. When are you heading to Venice? We leave US on 9/8, a mere 7 days from now. Have a wonderful and safe journey! Shirley

Is anyone going to be in Venice for the 20th or 23rd of September? I believe he only does these on Wednesday and Saturday, although I could be mistaken. We leave on the 8th! Can't wait!! Shirley

Dear Stormy & Shirley:

I hope you both get to do this tour. My sister & I did it and it was very fun and informative.

Up . . .

Stormy...love your name! Our daughter's name is Stormi. :) You don't come across that name very often.

Sorry we can't join the tour dates above. My husband and I will be in Venice Sept.29-Oct.1.

I am interested in this tour also but on different dates.

Stormgirl, if you take it please let us know how it is.

Anyone else interested in this November 8th or 9th?

Just back and had a great time in venice as well as other cities. We missed our train to venice so ended up getting in too late for the tour on Wed. Since I had read about a few of the places he takes you to we kind of did our own tour of 2 of the bars. they are very popular and really interesting. a bit hard to find, we asked people in the area. Alessandro did call our hotel and luckily they told him of our train situation. the reason he doesn't do the tour on thurs is cause Botti is closed that day and it's one of his stops.

Probably a dumb question -- but what is a Bacari Tour. My wife & I will be in Venice in February, 2007 -- and I have been looking into the possibility of a guide for part of our time there.

Not a dumb question, Skiitaly.

I read about this in Rick Steves' Venice book, Classic Venice Bars Tour. He names a guy, Alessandro Schezzini, who conducts a small group tour, six to eight people, on an evening visit to three of Venice's bacari, which he describes as "classic old bars serving traditional cichetti (local munchies)."

It is about 30 euro pp.

Email [email protected]

My travel plans are so far off-season I don't know if there will be six people available but the tour sounds like it would not be too difficult to do-it-yourself.

But part of the appeal is supposed to be the tour guides explanation of cafe culture.

I thought it sounded like fun.

OO

You can pay 30 Euros and up for a Bacari Tour-or do it yourself for nothing-except the cost of a glass of ombra (wine) and the lovely cicetti-and here are four of the best bacari to go to-three in San Polo and one in Cannaregio:

Bancogiro-right on the Grand Canal

Cantina do Mori-right around the corner-ancient, atmospheric, with copper pans on the ceiling-a bit more expensive than Bancogiro

Do Spade-also quite popular, particularly with the legal crowd, as the law courts are nearby

My special favorite-Ai Promossi Spesi-written up in the NYTimes two years ago for its terrific cichetti-nothing has changed-I gobbled down two plates of cicetti and a spritz (with aperol of course-LOVE aperol!) for only 11 Euros-the same food would have cost close to 40 Euros closer to San Marco, even in San Polo-great place; great local atmosphere).

Although there is certainly something to be gained by going with a local, there are MANY tourists that make their way to these very places I've listed on their own, and have every bit as good a time, without shelling out extra cash for a guide.

I just saw Passport to Europe Hidden Venice. They said Bacari are disappearing and the few left are really off the beaten path?

They were having this aperitif call spritzo something.

White wine, selter water, and some kind of sweet syrup which makes it red.

I have posted this somewhere else on this board but do want to mention this here as well. We contacted and received confirmation from Alessandro for a Bacari Tour. We met 3 other people at the top of the Rialto that had also confirmed with him. He never showed. When I called him he said he didn't have 6 so it was off. I told him he had confirmed with all of us (I was checking email daily) but no matter. I would never recommend him to anyone. He spoiled an evening for 5 people and never sent an appology (or a sorry I won't be there via email). I also sent a note to Rick Steves as that is where I heard about him. We did go around to a few little bacari type bars and try some of the snacks, etc. on our own. Just be aware that Alessandro is not reliable. Shirley

<<They were having this aperitif call spritzo something.

White wine, selter water, and some kind of sweet syrup which makes it red.>>

Spritz has Campari in it, not a sweet syrup but a bitter red liquor that is a favorite all over italy. Spritz is a refreshing drink.

bookmarking an old post... hoping to find out about some new cichetti bars for an upcoming trip! =)

Well, since you asked ---- we decided on our three days in Venice that the best food at the best prices was in the bacaris (not the restaurants), so we ended up going to a bunch. One of our favorites was a place right next door to Cantina do Mori. It's a guy and his two sons that own the place and their food is fabulous. Their balsamic marinated cipollini onions were so good that I tried recreating them at home, and I just couldn't figure out his secret (I think maybe they put in a dash of soy sauce).

It's not that new (open two years or so by now) but a really great place to go for cichetti is Un Mondo di Vino, on Salizzada San Canciano (Canareggio 5984.) They have some really tasty and interesting stuff, and a lot of great wines by the glass.

It's a good place to combine with Alle Botte and Ai Promessi Sposi on an east-side pub crawl. :)

ttt

Hmm, the first post of this thread is from 2006 and refers to a tour which includes food for 30 Euro a person.

What are the chances those prices haven't risen a lot?

I'm planning for an upcoming Madrid trip and tapas tours are like 50 Euro and in many cases, you have to pay for the food yourself.

I'm planning for an upcoming Madrid trip and tapas tours are like 50 Euro and in many cases, you have to pay for the food yourself.>>

we did a tapas tour in Madrid but we paid for the food ourselves as it was self-guided! this really didn't seem to require a guide - the bars are so numerous, the selection so varied, it would be difficult to go wrong.

and you can buy a lot of tapas for €50 each!