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Padua - To See or Not to See? Or cut time in Venice?

Padua - To See or Not to See? Or cut time in Venice?

Old Sep 12th, 2009, 09:27 PM
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jjkbrook, thanks very much for your reply!

I think that I'm going to drop the Murano/Burano/Torcello bit... really only wanted to see Burano but I've seen lace making on TV shows so it's truly not that compelling to go there. I'm sure there will be lace to be bought in Venice! And, I've seen glass-blowing in many, many places... can certainly miss it in Venice.

And I'm not even going to respond to Paul1950... I can well afford hotels in Venice.

I agree that a number of sights will not take long to see.

But, the car rental.... had to go there, eh??? ;-) I'm only renting for the day... pickup in Venice by my hotel and drop in Florence the same day. Got a good price, virtually the same as a taxi to the train in Venice, train cost, and taxi to hotel in Florence. And the drop location is less than 1/2 km from my hotel so I can walk back or just catch a bus to where I want to go. This is a point not open for discussion.

When I leave Florence, I will be renting another car and dropping it in Sorrento.
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Old Sep 12th, 2009, 09:45 PM
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I also agree about just walking around to enjoy what you come upon... I plan to do just that in addition to what I've listed.

My first day in Venice (flight arrives at 12:15pm) will probably just include the Frari, San Rocco, maybe the Scoula dei Carmini, and the Ca'Rezzonico. With lots of walking around to see the 'un-sites'!
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Old Sep 13th, 2009, 12:35 AM
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Lots of useful advice from jjkbrook but I would disagree with just a couple of them...

"the Giottos in Assisi are disappointing" - we thought they were fantastic and were really glad we'd got there at opening time so we had about an hour and a half to appreciate them with hardly anyone else there.

"the Punta Dogana, passing by on the boat is enuf" - unless the OP means she wants to visit the new gallery of contemporary art it reopened as this June - we spent about 2 hours there and thought it was very good.
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Old Sep 13th, 2009, 06:14 AM
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In Padua u can take a tram from Scrovegni to very near to St Anthony's. As stated it is a very long walk, so unless u want to see a bit of the city, I'd suggest taking the tram.
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Old Sep 13th, 2009, 08:23 AM
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Thanks for your replies, Caroline and yestravel.

Punta Dogana is not on my list as I'm not terribly fond of modern art.

In Padua, I did think that I would take the tram one-way to save on time and walk the other way.
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Old Sep 13th, 2009, 08:42 AM
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I can't imagine staying out by the airport in Venice. I don't think you should be so hard on the people who are questioning that choice and making other suggestions. Most people agree there's many very good reasons to stay right in the heart of Venice. Since you say you can easily afford it, I really would consider making that change.
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Old Sep 13th, 2009, 08:48 AM
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Suze, I don't think that I am being hard on the people that are saying that I should stay in Venice. Quite frankly, I feel just the opposite that they are being hard on me! Did you read Paul1950's reply???

I spend 3-4 nights per week in hotels during the entire year... I have given up a lot to get those hotel points and I am sure going to use them!!!
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Old Sep 13th, 2009, 09:02 AM
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Yes I read Paul1950's reply. I agree with him. Plenty of people couldn't afford to pay more for a hotel, so I don't think there's anything insulting by mentioning that possibility.

I would feel different perhaps about other European cities (staying on the outskirts and commuting every day for sight-seeing to use points or save money) but Venice is not one of those places. The magic of Venice IS Venice itself, and I think you will miss a lot by staying at the airport. This forum is about sharing opinions, and that's mine.
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Old Sep 13th, 2009, 09:14 AM
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Suze, then we will agree to disagree which is fine.

BTW, my original question had nothing to do with hotel location.

Let's just close this thread.
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Old Sep 13th, 2009, 07:27 PM
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Ill stand by my point on the Giottos - first of all I believe the ones in Assisi were not painted by the master. The viewing conditions arent optimum and they just (for us)didnt pack the same wallop. Having said that, we have not been in either place for 20 years, there has been an earthquake and I assume some restoration since then, so hopefully that is improved. It is a beautiful town, with a wonderful feel (not to mention a Roman temple and a great place of devotion.

Re the Punta Dogana, we were last by there two years ago so I guess my info is out of date. Do you think the art is worth seeing?
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Old Sep 14th, 2009, 08:48 AM
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Hi jjkbrook. We were in Assisi just last year so I can only assume the post-restoration frescos are a lot more impressive than they were before. We also loved Assisi generally and would go back.

We are very keen on contemporary art and are out at galleries every week, and we thought the current show at Punta Dogana was very good. (We weren't so keen on the related show at the Palazzo Grassi.) But it depends on whether you are into contemporary art or not, I suppose.
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Old Sep 14th, 2009, 09:45 AM
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I'm sorry that you took my reply as some sort of an insult. It wasn't intended that way at all. I almost feel like I should apologize just to make things nice-nice, but on rereading what I wrote, I don't see anything to apologize for. If someone can't afford a hotel in historic Venice, then staying near the airport, or in Mestre, or on the Lido is better than not being able to visit Venice at all. It seems a reasonable statement to me. On the other hand, if someone can afford to stay in historic Venice, I would urge them to do so.
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Old Sep 14th, 2009, 01:33 PM
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Paul I think most people would agree with you and I didn't read anything insulting in your post either. But Joan has clearly made up her mind and doesn't want to discuss her choice to stay by the airport instead of in the heart of Venice. We all gave it our best shot.
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Old Sep 14th, 2009, 01:52 PM
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staying by the airport instead of in Venice is dumb.
plain and simple.
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Old Sep 14th, 2009, 05:54 PM
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And just to repeat what I said in another post (stirring Joannyc's pot a little, and after reflecting on the things that we enjoyed in Venice)

It’s easy to see Venice as just a theme park, a town devoted to the tourist experience, and that is selling Venice short. Venice is also a working town, and there are real Venetians living there – about 60,000 of them, with a sadly declining population.

I’d suggest just ignoring breakfast one morning, and getting the earliest ferry that you can to San Marco – try to be out of the hotel by 5:00 or 6:00 AM. The Piazza will be deserted; there will not be a tourist in sight, and it is then the most romantic of places.

Walk under the clock tower, (check out the statue of the woman who stopped Tiepolo’s revolution by dropping a mortar about 20 metres past the clock tower, high on your left). Follow the signs saying “Per Rialto”, and after you cross the Rialto Bridge, you’ll be at the Rialto fish and produce market. It’s about a ten minute brisk walk at that time of day, with no (or at least few) tourists around. Try and get there really early – we were there at about 5:00 AM, when the boats are unloading fish, artichokes, potatoes, oysters (very expensive, we fancy), fruit, cherries (20 Euro a kilo), eels, everything. It’s like being in an aquarium. It was dark, and we saw a different side of Venice, a reality that the tour group tourist does not encounter.

Have a coffee and a croissant at a café – it will cost about 3 Euro each if you have it standing up, and that’s how Venetians have breakfast. You order the coffee, and just help yourself to a croissant from the warm case on the counter.

Walk back to the Rialto Bridge, and just before you cross it, on the left hand side you’ll see the Law Courts. There is a pair of little plaques on the wall, at the corners of the Court building, that say something about the construction and frustration of building the bridge.

The bridge took some three years to build, and ran late – the Rialto merchants were not amused by the delays, and started the rumour that the bridge would not be finished until “the male member grew fingernails, and the female equivalent caught fire” – or obscene words to that effect, which Fodor’s would likely censor.

The contractor, Antonio d’ Ponte, placed the pair of plaques depicting those events on the court building, the male version at the corner closest to the markets, the female closest to the bridge.

Venice is full of miniscule “sights” like that – worth declining a Hilton breakfast in order to see them.
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Old Sep 14th, 2009, 08:42 PM
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Oh, and to explain the car vs. train to Florence, I understand the OP is using a car because she is concerned about theft of her luggage whilst on the train. (Separate thread on Fodors refers.)
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Old Sep 15th, 2009, 03:35 AM
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Ah !

Another good reason to be in Venice early one morning is to take the no. 1 vaporetto along the length of the Grand Canal. You mention wanting to do that and having the idea that late afternoon is best for the light. I don't really know what you mean by that, but at any time other than early morning the boats are very crowded and you'll struggle to get a seat outside to enjoy the journey and see as much as possible. Only some boats have seats outside, at the front, and that's definitely where you want to be. The first time we went to Venice we did this, getting to the vaporetto stop at about 7.30 I think, and were able to get good seats at the front on the first boats which had them.
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Old Sep 15th, 2009, 06:08 AM
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"I understand the OP is using a car because she is concerned about theft of her luggage whilst on the train."

Personally, in Italy I'd be much more concerned about theft of luggage from a car than on the train . . .
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Old Sep 15th, 2009, 06:28 AM
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joannyc--not sure if you've made a firm decision on your original question, there was a lot of ancillary discussion in the reply posts that I didn't read closely. But my 2 cents, FWIW...on my recent trip I didn't have a firm itinerary and made the decision to spend 2 nights in Padua b/c I thought it would be cheaper than Venice. This was my biggest regret of my entire trip! I then had 4 nights in Venice. I would give anything to have spent those additional 2 nights in Venice. My hotel in Venice not only turned out to be cheaper than my hotel in Padua (which I know isn't your issue with a day trip), but as a first time visitor I found Venice fascinating (and Padua not so much). Obviously your interests may be very different than mine, and I enjoyed the Scrovegni chapel for my 15 minutes alloted time, but it certainly wasn't worth sacrificing time in Venice, IMHO. Have a great time no matter what you decide, and enjoy those free hotel nights!
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Old Sep 15th, 2009, 11:15 AM
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Oh yes, I remember that thread. That's ashame not to use trains to get around because of fear. That's really unfounded. I'm also sorry we couldn't convince Joan about the reasons for staying in Venice proper. Some people who post here really aren't looking for our input.
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