Belatedly, here are some memories of a wonderful weekend in Venice three weeks ago. <BR> <BR>Flying from Stansted with Ryanair was very simple and trouble-free. Treviso airport is very small (just one tiny luggage carousel – I wondered why we didn’t just pick our bags up from the luggage wagon after getting off the plane!). It’s at the side of the road. There’s just a sign saying ‘aeroporto’ and there it is. An easy coach journey takes you to Piazzale Roma. <BR> <BR>Anyone arriving this way MUST beware of the official-looking men wearing ID cards who point and say ‘water bus’. We walked in the direction they were pointing and found more men with ID badges who tried to get us to get into a boat for 25000 lire each. A sort of shared taxi. Some other people did fall for the scam but we knew we could get the no. 1 vaporetto to our hotel. So we asked where the vaporetto stop was and they pointed down the canal and said ‘1 kilometre’. We walked it and it was nowhere near 1km! The vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal was one of the highlights of the trip. I just couldn’t believe I was in the most famous and beautiful high street in the world! <BR> <BR>Our hotel was Locanda San Barnaba in the Dorsoduro – http://www.locanda-sanbarnaba.com. A short walk from Ca’ Rezzonico vaporetto Stop, it is a small, elegant palazzo recently refurbished to a very high standard. All the rooms are named after a play by Goldoni. Ours was Il Ventaglio, which I thought translated as ‘garlic wind’ (I don’t speak good Italian!) but in fact the hotel receptionist told me it meant ‘The Fan’. It was a superior room with a gorgeous fresco on the ceiling, antique furniture and polished parquet floor. The central hallway is very elegant with frescoes on the walls and a piano. The hotel owner, Silvia Okolicsanyi, is very friendly and helpful. Breakfast was good, especially the delicious hot chocolate. <BR> <BR>We had a leisurely lunch on the Zattere – pizza and beer. The weather was gorgeous the whole weekend so we were able to sit out and eat lunch every day! We strolled through the Dorsoduro to Santa Maria della Salute and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. This is a great little collection of amazing modern art – a contrast to all the Renaissance and 18th Century beauty of Venice. <BR> <BR>The first night, we ate dinner at a little restaurant near our hotel called Alla Profeta. Very simple, good food and wine. We had booked a table but it wasn’t ready when we arrived so we were given glasses of Prosecco on the house. A nice touch. After dinner, we walked to San Toma gondola station, hoping to take a night-time gondola ride. They were packing up for the night, but with some persistent bargaining, we were able to negotiate a 50 minute ride for 150,000 lire. As we were waiting for our gondolier to fetch the little lamp that sits on the prow, we saw a rat scuttle across a moored traghetto. Shuddering, we got into the gondola - hoping his rat friends weren't hiding inside - and were paddled out into the Grand Canal. The moonlit ride was wonderful. It was very peaceful and atmospheric, with the palazzos lit up. We were taken through some of the smaller side canals in Castello, which was wonderful. I couldn’t believe how the gondolier manoeuvred his boat through some of the tight bends without scraping along the walls! One particular corner is known as the Seahorse Bend as many less careful gondoliers bash the metal seahorses on the sides of the boats as they try to navigate round it! <BR> <BR>As we approached the gondola station at the end of our ride, the gondolier started calling out ‘Elviro! Elviro!’ We thought he was calling to someone on the quay, but then he said ‘Elviro is our pet rat’…the rat we had seen in the traghetto! <BR> <BR>Part 2 later! <BR> <BR>

i know the rat would have grossed me out. glad you didnt see any more. tell us about some of the things you saw. was it cold there. did you go shopping. what other sites you saw.

Zoe - What a wonderful report! Can't wait to read the rest of it. Thank you! <BR> <BR>L <BR> <BR>Already dreaming of trip to Italy in a year...

Zoe, thanks for posting such a great trip report. I'm glad to see a second wonderful opinion of the Locanda San Barnaba on this site (since I'll be staying there in June), and also mention of a good restaurant near it. Looking forward to part 2. . .

eeee! eeee! eeeee! No those aren't scaredy-sqeals, they are excited squeaks...we leave in a couple of weeks and every report get's me more keyed up! Very anxious to hear the rest of your report

Hi Zoe! Thanks for the trip report! It's funny that you ate at the Alla Profeta. We walked in front of it (in early March) and thought it looked cozy and the menu was very moderate. We made plans to come back and have dinner there the next night, but when we got there it was closed Fortunately, L'Incontro was not far away and we had a great dinner there, but we always wondered about the Profeta.

Zoe, <BR>Thanks for your report. Re Alla Profeta, what kinds of things did they have on the menu? Thanks.