St. Mark's-Venice
Nov 8th, 2012, 07:29 PM
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St. Mark's-Venice
Going in May and not a huge crowd fan. Will see St. Mark's at night, b/c I've heard it is beautiful. Headed back the next morning to see things "open". What are the highlights and what order should they be seen as to avoid big crowds?
Nov 9th, 2012, 03:09 AM
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Are you "see it all" people or are you "experience the place" people? There are all kinds of things you can see (the Treasury, the original horse sculptures, etc) but you can also choose to experience and feel the building without seeing and of those.
I've never been into St Marks at night. Unless they are lighted from outside, stained glass doesn't show well at night. But early morning is your friend. After 10 AM, forget about it until after 4 (roughly). If a vacation is for you a time to sleep in and chill, I would try to get out of that mindset in Venice. Save it for Rome. Get out early, then take a nap if you are tired.
I've never been into St Marks at night. Unless they are lighted from outside, stained glass doesn't show well at night. But early morning is your friend. After 10 AM, forget about it until after 4 (roughly). If a vacation is for you a time to sleep in and chill, I would try to get out of that mindset in Venice. Save it for Rome. Get out early, then take a nap if you are tired.
Nov 9th, 2012, 04:51 AM
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Hi koryandleslie, In May, you are going to get crowds in St. Marks area. You don't say how long your visit will be but I'd try to make advance reservations for Doge's Palace and Secret Tours (is that the right name?) in that area.
Find Campo Santa Margherita if you have time. There was a wonderful morning market when we were there. Not too far from there is my favorite Scuole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuola_Grande_dei_Carmini --it is so gorgeous.
I hope you fall in love with it.
Find Campo Santa Margherita if you have time. There was a wonderful morning market when we were there. Not too far from there is my favorite Scuole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuola_Grande_dei_Carmini --it is so gorgeous.
I hope you fall in love with it.
Nov 9th, 2012, 08:49 AM
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"What are the highlights and what order should they be seen as to avoid big crowds?"
What do you mean by the highlights?
If you mean the best-known sights which are usually on the to-list of first-time visitors, especially with only a day or two (see any guidebook), there will be crowds from c.10am (possibly earlier) at those; so these are contradictory requirements.
Otherwise, everyone's personal highlights are well, personal - mine are unlikely to be yours.
As an alternative, if you are the sort of person who would enjoy just wandering, seeing smaller lanes & squares & getting lost in uncrowded areas, do that - buy a good map & just wander, avoiding the main drags & diverting whenever you see crowds. You'll still get lost - I still do - but that's a large part of the fun.
What do you mean by the highlights?
If you mean the best-known sights which are usually on the to-list of first-time visitors, especially with only a day or two (see any guidebook), there will be crowds from c.10am (possibly earlier) at those; so these are contradictory requirements.
Otherwise, everyone's personal highlights are well, personal - mine are unlikely to be yours.
As an alternative, if you are the sort of person who would enjoy just wandering, seeing smaller lanes & squares & getting lost in uncrowded areas, do that - buy a good map & just wander, avoiding the main drags & diverting whenever you see crowds. You'll still get lost - I still do - but that's a large part of the fun.
Nov 9th, 2012, 09:31 AM
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We took our first trip to Venice a couple of weeks ago. Everyone warned me it would still be high season and the crowds were painful, indeed. Each day watching up to three monster cruise ships pull into Venice; those crowds made perfect sense.
We were with another couple, one of whom, when given a map, had an uncanny sense of direction so we never got lost. We got to all the very crowded first timer highlights. I'm planning a return trip to Venice in May, I know the crowds will be there but I'm not as adept with a map so I expect to get lost often and will probably enjoy Venice more than our first trip
At least, I hope so, Deborah
We were with another couple, one of whom, when given a map, had an uncanny sense of direction so we never got lost. We got to all the very crowded first timer highlights. I'm planning a return trip to Venice in May, I know the crowds will be there but I'm not as adept with a map so I expect to get lost often and will probably enjoy Venice more than our first trip
At least, I hope so, Deborah
