A sort of summing up, advice, whatever.

For Australians, I’ve never seen a converter for Aussie type electrical three pin plugs on sale. Doesn’t mean that they don’t exist in Venice, but could be hard to find.

For Australians, we’ve been using ANZ travel cards, euro denominated, and never had rejection in ATMs.

Places we’ve stayed, which we thought were OK.
In Assisi, Hotel dal Moro Galery, and their resteraunt is good. Not eaxctly budget, but good. http://www.dalmorogalleryhotel.com/hotel_en.html

In Florence, Hotel Casci (pronounced “kashee”) http://www.hotelcasci.com/en/home.html

In Rome, a little B&B that was good for us, and well located. Some people have complained about noise, but we had a back room. http://www.venere.com/bandb/rome/ban...9,20101212,2,1

In Chioggia, a bit off the tourist trail, but maybe if you go there, then you might like Hotel Caldins. http://www.venere.com/hotels/chioggi...4,20100225,1,1

In Bologna, we stayed at http://www.albergodrapperie.com/chisiamo_en.php and it was good, well located, in the middle of the historic centre of Bologna.

In Verona, La Finestra sull'Arena worked well for Lou and her mother. There were about 75 steps up to their room – or actually a liitle suite – and the owner, Massimo, was really helpful to them.

Places in Venice.
Chets bar, as you walk from Campo Margherita towards Santa croce, on the left, pours a great spritz. About half the student population of Venice seems to agree, and so it is an active environment and fun.

In Campo San Barnaba, at the Bar Ai Artisti, the staff are friendly, pour a good spritz with the best olives, and a cappucino and croissant will cost you the princely sum of 2.20 euro.

In Calle Lunga San Barnaba, two places that we’ve eaten are La Bitta and Albergo San Barnaba, both on the left as you walk away from the Campo. La Bitta do not do fish, which was good for us, as we had a guest with a seafood allergy. No risk of remnant prawns in a dish. We’ve eaten there a few times, half a dozen times in all, both two years ago and this trip, and never been dissapointed. The menu changes daily, and if you walk past about 6:30 PM, you can see what is on offer on the menu in the window. Goose, duck, rabbit, steak (always) and calves liver (always). They do not open for lunch.

Albergo San Barnaba (I think that’s the name, and it is on a corner about 20 yards past La Bitta) is good. A husband and wife affair, menu in Italian only, but the owner speaks good English. No wine list – just stroll past the wine rack and select something, and the bottles are priced. We’d eat there again, but they are closed for holidays – as are many places.

Quadri’s in San Marco. OK, the prices are heavy, but we had a spritz each, total 21 euro, and occupied the table for an hour and a half, and were under no pressure to move on. People often say that Italy is poorly organised – but Qadri’s is a breeze. Take a seat. Head waiter will present a menu – or rather a book which includes a little history of Quadris. Waiter wil take your order, punch it into his mobile device, and your order will duly appear on a silver tray. The bill will be under the napkin on the tray. Pay the waiter. Use their conveniences, which are upstairs, as there are some great photos of San Marco to see as you ascend.

Snack Bar Toletta is good. I’ve read somewhere to avoid places that are called “snack bars” but the Toletta is good, the best range of tremezzini, sandwiches stuffed to bursting with goodies, that we’ve seen in Venice. You can take a tremezzini to go – ask for it through the window. Or take a table, have a glass of wine, but it wil cost you more. “Al tavola prices”, rather than “al banco” – and the differences is significant. Calle Toletta, Dorsoduro 1911, turn right after you cross the Academia bridge, and follow the students.

The Irish bar, in Calle dei Stagneri, which runs off Campo San Bartolomeo, just at the San Marco end of the Rialto bridge. If you are an Ausralian, you might avoid this, given that the English cricket team has just humiliated Australia. The English barman was at pains to point this out, while serving good tremezzini and wine, and was fun. We’ve been there a few times for panini, tremezzini and wine, but the main dishes may be better elsewhere.

There’s a bar at Ponte San Trovaso, Dorsoduro 992, which has something of a reputation. Cantinone-gia Schiavi, which I found courtesy of an article in The Guardian. They have wine by the glass, and it is very much a wine bar. They also do snacks, slices of bread with all sorts of different toppings, fish, ham, artichoke, cheese, you name it, all made freshly as required by demand, each piece costing one euro. You can just point to what you want, one of those, two of those, etc, and it will be put on a plate, which is then handed to the barman. Ask for whatever drink you want, and then pay for the lot. A lunch for one would cost about eight euro, including a glass of wine at 2 euro.

Glass shops. If you have relatively deep pockets, or a solid credit card, then the glass at l’Isola is pretty special. Campo San Moise, west of San Marco, next to Prada, http://www.lisola.com/ They only have glass by Carlo Moretti and his brother, not the usual tourist-intended stuff. The shop itself is worth a look – the interior design is by Carlo Scarpa, one of Venices finest architects. Scarpa also did work in the Academia, and his style is apparent - if you have a chance, look in the shop before you visit the Academia, as the architecture is interesting, a bit Frank Lloyd Wright-ish.

If you want linen, you might patronise Annelie’s shop in Calle Lunga San Barnaba, on the left as you head away from the Grand Canal. She’s pleasant, prices are OK, and she speaks excellent English. A source of inside information for us, and she’s been helpful.

Guide Books.
I’ve been using “Secret Venice” by Thomas Jonglez and Paola Zoffoli. It has a wealth of information about the lesser known parts and details of Venice. Things like the fact that there’s a basis in numerology for the design of the Salute, the location of the bowling club in Santa Croce (which has a bar that we’ve yet to patronise but the bowling lanes are fun, as is the trophy display) or a detailed explanation of the significance of the capitols of the columns on the Doge’s Palace. Not a guide book as such, as there is no hotel information of vaporetto map, but it has so engaged me with Venice.

“Venice” by James / Jan Morris. I think if you want to know Venice, then this book is a good place to start. Morris has done a couple of revisions, but any edition is OK – and it’s available for a song second hand.

“The Rough Guide” is good, and the language displays a rather droll sense of humour.

There are others, of course, but I think that the ones above are my favourites.

Money. Small change in Venice seems to be in chronic short supply. I’ve taken to just holding out a handful of change at the supermarket and allowing the cashier to select what they’d most like. It seems to simplify life for both parties. Paying for a traghetto ride (0.50 euro) with a twenty euro note is a bit unkind.

Try and have a plan in place before you come, something of a story that you want to explore. There is such a wealth of things to see, places to visit, and you can’t see them all. But if you can have some sort of an idea,a thread, whether it is art, history, Venice’s industrial legacy, how boats operate, whatever, then your time will be happier.

I’ve yet to viist the Valese iron foundry or see the ice house in the gardens of the Palazzo Rizzo-Patarol – now the Hotel des Doges - in Cannaregio, so there are things still to draw me back to this lovely town.

Thank you to all have commented and responded to this rambling travelogue/monologue. I hope you have enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed writing.

(an apolagy – my spel checker is shot to peeces)

How can I be going to Venice for just 1 1/2 days after reading this treasure-trove ?!?!??! It's obvious that I'll have to make a trip just to explore Venice in detail. Thank you so much for all of this. I cannot wait to get there!

So, the Spell checker couldn't handle the presuure, eh?

Thanks for the buggy ride .. no pun intended.

I like your new profile photo.. fa un bello figuro!!

Uffa, my Spell checker is set on 'doze'. Make that "pressure".

So, now I see why we have a preview function.

We visied the Foundazione Querini Stampalia, near Campo Santa Maria Formosa, Castello 5252. It was a total knock out. The building is the old family home of the Querini clan, and when they moved out, a lot of their furniture got left behind. They also left behind some works of art, notably a Bellini, a Tiepolo, works by Longhi and a heap of others. Maybe they could not find people and boats to transport their stuff, and their misfortune is our good luck.

The building is on three levels – or three levels that are accessable by the public.
The ground floor sees a bit of aqua alta, and Scarpa had this in mind when he was invited to re-work the ground floor in 1960. The architecture is fifty years old, and is as crisp and sharp as if it had been designed yesterday. The ground floor accomodates the inevitable flooding by inviting the water to enter, and suggesting that when the tide drops, then it ought to kindly depart. Raised walkways allow circulation even when the ground floor is under water, and one of the walkways is shaped like a trough. A contradiction – troughs are meant to contain water, but this trough keeps your feet dry. The tide was low-ish when we visited, and I’d love to see it when the tide is high, to get a getter idea of what Scarpa was on about.

When you stand in the main reception room or hall, there’s a brass line on the wall at eye height, which establishes an horizon. But the way the paving on the floor has been laid, bands of stone breaking up the washed concrete paving, creates a strange optical illusion, reinforced by the horzon line. You could swear that the floor was stepped, looking like the typical Venetian bridge. But it is dead level. I had to walk the length of the room a couple of times to realise that my eyes were playing tricks. The door to the right is worth opening and closing – a door leaf made of stone, on massive hinges, but to a slightly less than human size, a small door.

The room opens onto a lovely garden, lovely even in winter, where there are a pair of miniature fountains, connected by a long lily pond. Water trickling, with trench details that reflect the water ingress and egress that you’ve passed as you walk in. The stone detailing is worth a look, as in many places the stone has been scribed to create an interlocking, dovetailed or mortice and tenon appearance. Stone, but talking about carpentry.

Decent bookshop and bar on the groundfloor as well.

Ascend to the first floor, and go back in time by about three hundred years, when you enter the library. The library is modern, a reference library, but contained in rooms that still retain their décor from about 1700. Frescoed ceilings, a place of serious academic reference, and well populated by students. Stroll around – the parquetry squeeks horribly – and that’s the loudest noise you’ll hear. Chandeliers the size of a tractor wheel.

You’ve maybe ridden the No 1 vaporetto down the Grand Canal and looked up into the palazzi, those big rooms, chandeliers, decorated ceinings, and wondered what they look like from the inside. Go up to the second floor of this building, and you will find out. The second floor contains the rooms and furniture of the family, still in the rooms that were meant to contain it. A bedroom, ladies boudoir, dining room, drawing rooms (walls lined with red silk fabric, the original fabric). A display of a porcelain dinner setting – well, some of the setting, as it contained some 450 pieces, none of which have gone missing. The family paintings, commissioned to enhance the collective family ego, fresoed ceilings, several globes, one of which shows a rough approximation of Australia. Mirrors that were silvered in 1650, “through a glass, darkly”.

All this for ten euro. Can’t complain about that.

OK, from the sublime to maybe the ridiculous, or if not, to a small detail. In the Piazza, a marker for the last public well in St Marco. Find the doors to the Police station on the south side, the Procurie Nova. With your back to the police station doors, walk about twenty or thirty metres into the Piazza, and you’ll see circles engraved in the paving, along with the inscription on a white stone “Pozzo Interrato Nel Secolo something” – and this means “Well buried in century something” – the marker for the last public well in the Piazza. Once you know it’s there, it’s not hard to find – the circles are three metres in diameter. An interesting thing would be to look at paintings of processions in the Piazza, and see if the well head is visible.


There’s always more to see …

Apparently, there used to be a canal running through what is now the Piazza. There's also an inscription somewhere in the Piazza to mark the location of a church that was sacificed to make way for the Piazza. Layers of history ...

The Querini Stampalia was closed because of public funding cuts when we tried to go last Summer - your report reinforces my determination to get there.

Curious as to why you have avoided the Ristorante Quatro Ferri on your calle? Very good fish antipasti.

So glad you enjoyed the Querini Stampalia, Peter ! As always you spotted details I didn't, so will take your notes when we go back. I agree it would be fascinating to see the ground floor at acqua alta.

Just discovered online that our local Blackell's has 'Secret Venice' so I've reserved a copy and will look forward to using that and your report to plan our next trip (2 weeks in June).

Thank you so much for sharing all this with us ! Hope you have/had a good trip home and I really think you should get a literary agent. Alla volta prossima !

You find something new every day here. I’d always thought that the monument to Doge Pesaro in the Frari (four black dudes, with bulging white eyeballs carrying the white man’s burden) was Venice’s most ugly monument. But I’ve discovered, I think, a monument to beat it. A monument to Daniel Manin, discovered as we took a last stroll around.

Stand on the steps of the Fenice (the lamps outside are gas lamps, by the way) and turn left into Calle De La Verona, and walk about 20 yards, and look down calle to your left. There’s a monument made of left over cannon balls (a couple are numbered, and I didn’t know that they had numbers cast into them) plus a couple of cannons, mounted vertically, with cannon balls atop.

Truly ugly. A real Krupp Ironworks sort of monument.

I agree with you about that monstrosity in the Frari, Peter.

I'll have to take your word for it about the even uglier one, at least for now.

How about the bridges with foot prints?

Your advice, the marvelous detail, info: Just when i think it can't et any better...it does! Thank you, mille mille grazie!
Most recent of two previous visits to Venice was in 1970. Had ten days there. This time, taking daughter for first ever time, and have only two days, which was an afterthought in the plan, I already know I'll be yearning for more time in the future.
We'll make a point of using the toilets at Quadris! "Use their conveniences, which are upstairs, as there are some great photos of San Marco to see as you ascend."
Peter, i dont know you, but i love you!!

Peter,

On my last visit to Venice, I spent a week in an apartment in Dorsoduro.

I discovered Fabio's wonderful photographs and purchased three of his limited prints.

That's not a monument, Peter, that's the Hotel San Fantin! [Though there is a plaque recording 'the heroic resistance', I don't think there is a mention of Manin.] You should walk round to the other side where there's a window with a railing in front made of rifle barrels with bayonets attached. Waste not, want not, I say!
The hotel next door [La Fenice et des Artistes] featured in Don't Look Now, and the sotoportego between them and the bridge beyond featured in Death in Venice.

Oops! Apology! There is a bas-relief profile of Manin below the plaque.

You must be on your way home by now. I have truly enjoyed your report.

Well, we’re back in Melbourne now, and I’m back at work. A pretty straightforward journey (Vaporetto, Alilaguna, Emirates to Dubai, thence KL, thence Melbourne, then cab home, arriving about 4:30 AM).
Met at home by YvonneT, who was the BEST house sitter.

And a nice surprise in Venice. If you have an IMOB card, then the Alilaguna ferry from San Marco to the airport is about 6 euro, not 12 or 13. Those cards are great!

Cheers

Peter

welcome home Peter.

when do you start planning your next trip?

It was the greatest pleasure to take care of your house and your two rascal cats, Peter and Lou. I JUST got home (11pm your time). Thereby hangs a tale or two.

Start planning and saving. Your public demands it.

Glad your journey home went smoothly, Peter. I didn't know about the cheap Alilaguna fares - we paid full price ! But we will know next time, so thanks yet again.