I have been working my plans around May 1 and just realized that our full day in Venice falls on 4/25, which is also a holiday. Does anyone know if St. Mark's will be open? I looked on their website and I just see their hours, not any closings.
Thanks,
Marcia

I was there on 4/25 which is both the feast day of St. Mark, Venice's patron dsaint, and National Liberation Day. Venice was extremely crowded and throngs of Italians were coming into the city for the day. I think everything in town was open.

Hi mdod- I will also be in Venice April 25, and posted a question about the festivities on that day.

Girlspytravel & LoveItaly replied, & you can click on my name to read their replies if you're interested.

Hope you have a great trip, and let's hope the weather is festive on that day too!

Well crud. I knew it was a holiday but didn't realize it was also celebrating St. Mark! Venice is crowded enough on a regular day I was contemplating adding another day to Venice but now I need to rethink my whole plan. Some people like the excitment of people watching and special festivities. I just get tired and aggravated that I can't see what I want to see.

About 10 years ago, at the advice of friends who had done it 10 years earlier, we went to Chichen Itza on the Equinox. I think every tourist and every Mayan on the Yucatan Peninsula had the same idea!

That was the worst possible day we could have chosen to see Chichen Itza. It was our first, and last guided tour. There were so many groups going that they didn't stop at the obligatory tourist traps along the way because we'd miss the Equinox spectacular at the pyramid. After lunch, the roads were totally gridlocked so the guide told us we'd have to walk the rest of the way ~2 miles.

The best part was this old couple that was whining the whole time. The guide made it clear when we signed up that the ruins were not for wimps- lots of walking and very hot. Well...there was some old couple that started complaining about walking before we even lesft Cancun. They refused to walk to Chichen Itza so the guide put them on a taxi headed for the ruins. We beat them there. I'm not sure they even went in. When we left they refused to walk back so the tour guide put them on an outbound bus (that was going nowhere) and we walked back to our bus at the restaurant. After waiting for them for over an hour, they finally WALKED up. LOL...I guess the fear of being abandoned in a foreign country gave them the energy to make it back.

Marcia

St Mark is very important for Venetians. The church will be open but they will have religious celebrations. So they will probably reduce the visiting time for tourists.
April the 25th is also a national holiday as well as May 1: many of us Italian will take advantege of these holidays to have some days off working. This means that there will be a lot of traffic on the streets leading to Historical cities, seaside and mountains. Many monuments are closed on those 2 days as well as shops.

Thanks Zorba. Now I'm looking at spending the 23 and 24th in Venice, taking the train to Florence mid-morning April 25th and overnighting in Florence the 25 and 26th. I know Florence will still be crowded but I'm hoping we'll spend the busiest time on the train. My current plans would put us in CT on May 1. I thought that would be better than Tuscany because we would just stay put in CT and walk the trails and not have to worry about traffic. Does that make any sense?

What do you mean by CT? You may have problems finding an hotel in Venice: if so look for something in Verona or Padova near the train station (it will take you 1/2 hour from Padova to Venice by train and less then 1 hour from Verona).
Book a seat for your travel to Florence or you risk to do all the trip standing - you can do this in Venice station at least the day before you leave. May 1th all shops are closed but restaurants are usually open.
I think you will have a great time in Venice even if it will be pretty crowded.

Zorba,
Yes, I'm having a hard time finding anything in Venice. I just booked Hotel Biasin near the train station. It only has 2 ratings in venere.com but they are decent and there was a good comment on Slowtravel. Nothing fancy but we're never in our room. We just need a bed. I've got a couple of emails out to some B&Bs but haven't heard back yet so I figured I had better book this while I can.

CT is Cinque Terre. I'm having trouble finding anything there too. So far I've struck out at everything in Manarola (that's reasonable) so I guess I'll have to look elsewhere.

Try this link for Cinque Terre
www.cinqueterre.com
It is also in English and you can find all accomodations available in the 5 most important locations in the Cinque Terre.
There are also many other info.

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately the only place they have available for our dates is Il Borgo di Campi. While it looks beautiful, it sounds like it has very limited access. Besides the steps, which we can handle, you apparently have to take a bus to get into town and it doesn't come very often. I've sent an email to Villa Margherita by the Sea in Levanto. I'll post a new topic to see if I can get any other ideas.