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25 November 2012 Travel time: with 24 September 2012 on 26 September 2012
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Capture of Venice. Where to begin?

Venice is good for everyone, but I would leave living directly in it for true fans or those who came from Marco Polo Airport by water taxi and agree to return there on it. At worst, housing can be chosen in the immediate vicinity of the car or train. station. If you neglect these tips, then the road back can result in one big stress. A suitcase full of pasta and wine delights of Italian antiquity on the way back up the stairs and pavements will control you, not you them. And when crossing bridges, you run the risk of sinking into the bottom following a set of masks and refined oliah, which will make your suitcase weigh indecently heavy. Lovely tangled streets (in which all guidebooks advise you to get lost at least for a moment) will turn into a hellish labyrinth for you, which someone deliberately built for those who are in a hurry to catch a departing plane.


We, enjoying the street landscape at a relaxed pace, somehow met a similar couple. He spun the map worse than the driver turns the steering wheel of his car on a serpentine, and She remembered him all the flaws in recent years, coupled with curses on his relatives. To their question, not at the address “how to get to Roma Square as soon as possible”, I could only answer “swimming”, for which I was incinerated by a woman’s gaze and hypothetically beaten by a man’s hand.

So I consider living in Mestre a step into the world of prudence and peace of mind. I consider Forte Marghera the most concentrated street with hotels. Firstly, it is very long, and secondly, it is located along a pretty canal, where you can already get used to the sight of water even before you arrive in Venice itself. Parallel to it is the wonderful street Viale San Marco, immersed in greenery and small shops. I did not meet hotels there, otherwise I would have settled, of course, on it.

In addition, along this very street there are buses following to Venice.

On Forte Marghera Street, I myself saw several hotels located one after the other President, San Carlo, Alexander, San Giuliano. These are the ones that were in close proximity.

The shuttle bus from Treviso Airport to Venice makes 2 stops in Mestre. One on the square on October 27, and the second on the railway. Mestre train station. If you get off at the first, then you will find yourself at the origins of Forte Marghera, but if you get off at the station, then you won’t get to it on foot from there. But! There is a bus number 9, the existence of which we learned only by chance.

Since the first time we went to the square on October 27 and calmly walked 2 stops to our hotel, we planned to do the same here. Focusing the driver on this moment, I thought it was done. But he, the radish, decided to take us past that very square. In the dark, all squares in Mestre are the same for me.


But when the driver announced that we were already at the station, then I realized that it was time to smash the windows of the bus windows, or at least be outrageously indignant. At my snorts, the bus driver just shrugged his shoulders indifferently and made sure whether we were going to pick up the luggage or just foaming here. Fortunately, there was a public transport stop nearby, and bus number 9 was waiting for us on it. The one that delivered door-to-door delivery to our hotel. Someone decided for me that it would be faster than trudging 2 stops from the square on October 27th.

True, on the bus, as decent citizens, I had to purchase 2 tickets at inflated prices. This moment is popularly represented in my photo. So buy tickets in advance at tobacconists or in the lobby of your hotels.

Getting back was even easier. Near our hotel, 2 buses with numbers 9 and 15 slowed down, which will take you to the railway station in 15-20 minutes. d. Station Stazione.

They have the same interval.

Catch the next bus to Treviso airport, I still recommend it on the train. d station, at its main stop in Mestre. The first time we tried to jump on it was on October 27 Square. In this we were helped more by my conviction that we simply cannot miss the plane than by any common sense or anyone else's tips. The fact is that you can stop at October 27 Square in at least 5 places and this is official. You can still slow down at the turn, at the stall, near the tram stop, etc. The option to sit where we left didn’t roll either, so the bus goes the other way. The population surveyed within a radius of 300m pointed in completely different directions, and I was surprised when 2 elderly girlfriends did this. And it didn't bother them at all. While we were waiting for our bus, several others stopped along the way.

The drivers sitting in them usually wrinkled their eyebrows for a long time, and then, in order to avoid protracted pauses, waved their hands with majestic gestures in any of the directions and always added something in Italian to completely confuse me. The fact that we still got on this bus for the first time was not a bit of my merit. He just unexpectedly slowed down next to me, when I was about to remember the long-forgotten requests to the Almighty and scanned the surrounding space with a glassy look. And since we split up, the wife at that time, not suspecting anything, was waiting for the bus on the other side.

Even without wishing such a landing on the transport to the enemy, I strongly recommend taking the bus to the railway station. station.


Of course, now I will board a bus in any October or November square with my eyes closed in a matter of seconds, but this is a completely useless experience for which I gave a string of nerve endings and groundlessly cursed 2 times the entire Italian transport system. Add to this the fact that the bus, without undue remorse, can leave 5-10 minutes ahead of schedule ...So, everyone to the station. It's calmer there.

But buses 12 and 12L are already those that pass along a parallel street towards Venice. And the picture also shows the name of the stop where you should get off. And the good thing is that there is a pointer to the Alexander Hotel, which was our neighbor, otherwise it’s hard to predict where to get off so that your hotel stands on a parallel street to you.

Transit point in Mestre

For our second stay in Venice, we have chosen the San Giuliano Hotel.

The last time it was his neighbor San Carlo. This deserves an explanation, which I have already explained to my compatriots and neighbors on bus number 9, who were living in the Hotel San Carlo. I had to reassure them that everything was in order with their hotel, but since this time we were with a 6-year-old daughter, San Giuliano simply had a more loyal policy towards children in terms of price. Other than that, there were no significant differences. Although for particularly sophisticated inhabitants, a couple of differences have been established.

In terms of interior decoration and the convenience of bathrooms, I would prefer the San Carlo Hotel, but the breakfast was much more varied at the San Giuliano Hotel. In general, these are 2 luxury hotels, which one could only dream of in Barcelona or Paris. And for such a price. The service and decor are all top notch. In such a hotel you can live for weeks, does not tire.

I will be full, I will not forget!


Since our family is fans of the cuisine "La Quizine from my wife", then traveling to the taverns and taverns of the western part of the Eurasian continent usually gives off a cheap aftertaste and a white page of memories in the subconscious cookbook. Having refused forever to calculate the frustrating cost / quality ratio to maintain the nervous system in greenhouse conditions, you try to make allowances for the fact that the bag-backpack period of your life is not long, and your stomach deserves attention in any case, at least such a mediocre one. But, having beaten the hero city of Paris, with the conventional paradigm of the city with the most expensive cuisine, Venice seemed like an easy nut to crack.

Moreover, as such high-calorie travel companions as Parisian hot dogs and pancakes, treated kindly in all guidebooks, there was an excellent, fragrant and incomparable pizza.

They bake it here at every step, and a good one is baked literally a step away. So I think it's best to die of hunger in Venice. Even with a worthy selection of a couple of euros, with the help of a direct impact on the pity of passers-by, you can buy yourself a piece of juicy, melting in your mouth disk of pleasure, taken out of the oven of a shovel before your eyes.

We were served breakfast at the hotel. According to unverified information, in Italy it is forbidden to offer a tourist a bed without providing the opportunity to eat a couple of plastic cookies in the early morning before leaving the city. Breakfast at the hotel is quite similar in terms of filling. I will say right away that you will hardly eat like this for a week. Only a prepared, unpretentious European darling can start every morning with dried toast smeared with non-melting butter and soaked for better digestion in the stomach with third-rate coffee.

Some hotels serve fruit and various pastries for breakfast. I note that in our hotel San Giuliano the choice was pretty good. So you can start the morning with such dishes. But it will not add joy to the eyes. Although, on the other hand, it saves time. And someone will generally say that there is nothing to lean on food in the morning and they will be right. They didn't come for this.


Upon arrival in the evening from Treviso airport, felt the urgent need for gluttony. It sucked under the spoon, and grumbled under the fork for the second hour. At the hotel counter, a pretty girl in an executive jacket waved in the direction of the nearest cafe-restaurant. Having caught the directions, we arrived within 10 minutes at the place. The competition was a beer club under the Irish pub and a pizzeria with large bright windows. Since none of us wanted beer, we went to a pizzeria. The institution was youthful, noisy and mobile.

Everyone had fun, especially after a fresh pizza on a wooden frying pan sizzled on our table. The pizza was about 7 euros, plus 3 drinks and all sorts of taxes from the nose for serving stools. The result is 17 euros. You can immediately feel the difference with Parisian cafeterias.

The next day, at lunchtime, we, like tens of thousands of other tourists, were looking for a landing strip for refueling fuel tanks, where the last reserves of proteins and carbohydrates were depleted due to active jogging along the Venetian streets.

Since by that time we were in the area of ​ ​ Piazza San Marco, we had to look for an institution in the very tourist area of ​ ​ u200bu200bthe city. On our last visit, we visited a large, state-of-the-art Venice cafe where we ordered lasagna, spaghetti and a large vegetable salad. The prices were from the category - all for 7. This time we decided to buy into the promise to provide each tourist with a separate menu for 12.50.

Such promises were spread at lunchtime in almost any institution. We chose a restaurant with the uncomplicated name "Ristorante e pizza" because of the touch of chic, free WiFi and promising inscriptions that you will not be charged for using their forks and spoons and for washing the tablecloth with which you can get your hands wet, unless, of course just run out of napkins.

Having chosen 2 sets of the menu of the day in 10 seconds (we hoped that the menus would be appropriate and the daughter, who pecks like a sparrow, would not remain hungry), I decided to look me over for drinks. The consideration of the prices made me feel melancholy and prostrated. 3 euros for an espresso at the generally accepted 1-1.5 euros and 6 euros for Sprits, for which the red price of 3 euros twisted the corners of my mouth and disfigured the already not very polite face of the waiter.


By the way, the waiters deserve a separate criticism, and, if possible, a 2-week correctional term in a strict regime colony or a month-long course for a young soldier under the guidance of a ruthless sergeant. Present in the institution 1 Italian with greasy hair and 3 Filipinos of rude appearance, with their arrogant behavior managed to amaze not only our table. The absent gaze, narcissistic circling around the hall and comments to visitors about tips, called into question the appropriateness of this institution for the external label of the city of Venice as a whole. Since ugly barrels of kvass were once removed from open areas of squares and bright supermarket windows, similar establishments should be relocated to remote suburbs populated by livestock workers and traffic police officers.

And when these 2 unfortunate menus were brought, my heart even creaked with pity for the traffic police.

The phrase "spaghetti with sauce and green salad" contrasted sharply with a plate of half-warm pasta with 4 petals of lettuce. The design of the dishes and the content of the plates themselves somehow reminded me of student canteens and the dishes served in them. My surprised look, mixed with a feeling of annoyance, caused only a self-satisfied smirk from the waiter. For the contents of our table, I was ready to give a maximum of 10 euros, and then, for the time spent and hospitable WiFi. But 25! Modestly poking around in the plates, we, of course, did not leave a penny of blood gingerbread in this dining room, which was, as expected, quite loudly commented by the waiter. In parting, I wanted to bite off a piece of Tyson's ear to our waiter, but thoughts about the high within the walls of the future San Marco Cathedral pushed me away from this thought.

Upon exiting, I took a photo of the so-called restaurant, so that on my next trip to North Africa I would definitely order a rite of cursing and diverting good luck from the local voodoo. Such establishments are not even worthy of a short article in the newspaper if some compassionate visitor douses himself with kerosene, and then changes his mind and sets fire to this whole sharashka office instead of himself.

So, half-starved, we went to admire the most wonderful cathedral in Venice.

We did not allow ourselves such a mistake again and dined, and also dined the next day with chic pizzas from local shops. Usually, there you can buy pizza as a slice 1.50-2.00, a whole 5.00-7.00, and the size of the "family" 9.00-12.00, which resembles the format of a sewer hatch. The family should be really big and consist of only pizza lovers. Crazed with hunger and a riot of colors, they somehow forced us to buy 2 medium-sized pizzas for three.


If you wander through the rows, you can find good deals on fruit. But on average, apples, pears, oranges, grapes, kiwis cost 1.5-2.5 euros. Everything looks spectacular and beckons to become a fruit-eater much stronger than the shelves in the supermarket.

The most interesting thing is that they give checks on the market! After weighing the right amount of goods, you will be given a small stub with the indicated amount in addition to the package with the goods themselves. So, you can not even learn Italian.

In conclusion, I will say that Venice looks much more homely than Paris or Barcelona and it is much easier not to stay hungry here. But be wary of restaurants where you can't see what other diners are eating. Sometimes one glance is enough to understand that they are serving a meager parody of Italian cuisine. Moreover, all establishments post their price lists for review.

Not a luxury, but a means of transportation

Upon arrival in Venice, I recommend that you forget about all your worries and dive into a boat swaying on the waves and enjoy the city on the water from the very water. Believe me, this will be the most competent decision, given that any owner wanted his facade from the side of the canal to look the best. To really escape from all the worries, you need to take care of the tickets.

If you have arrived, so to speak, for a minute, then having bought a ticket for 7 euros for 60 minutes, you can safely go downstream by boat, and return to the exit from the peninsula on foot (since the return trip is not included in the price, even if 60 minutes have not yet elapsed). But, if you come with serious intentions, then I recommend that you look at the Venice Connected page or buy yourself a ticket directly from the machine for 12.24 hours or more.

On the site you can see the appearance of the device with which you will have to deal.

Having done plenty of driving last time on a local vaparetto, we decided this time to make marches to the far corners of the Venetian region, to the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcelli, if possible.


If you dare to repeat such trips to the distant islands of Venice, I recommend doing this in the morning. Since direct boats run until 17.00. Since at 17.30 museums located on these islands stop letting visitors in. Usually, all vaporettos run every 20 minutes, but a direct boat runs to Burano Island every hour.

Of course, even after 17.00 you can go to the islands and back, but these will already be night routes that run much less frequently, take longer and make more stops. Direct boat to Burano takes 40 minutes. Imagine how long the evening bus rides.

For trips to the islands, I recommend using the Fondamente Nove station, which is a 20-minute walk from the station.

With the island of Lido, everything is much simpler.

The most popular route number 1 leads there. And he walks until he loses his pulse.

Murano, the island on which the famous Glass Museum is located, is not far at all and the journey will take about 20 minutes. The walk will pass by the cemetery island. The whole island is alive on which the only caretaker of the cemetery is. In the colors of a crimson sunset, it looks pretty creepy. Now, if the caretaker's flashlight runs out of batteries, and there is someone nervously sniffing among the graves? Where can you expect help? Who will bring the batteries? So for fans of Brodsky and Stravinsky, I recommend visiting the graves in the daytime.

From the island of Murano, boats go both to Piazza San Marco, and directly to the car and train. station, which is very convenient.

With Burano, things are a little more complicated. Although the island itself is fabulous and on sunny days it looks like a toy fantasy from the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The road there takes 40 minutes and this is with the only stumble on the neighboring island of Torcelli (we did not get there due to the time frame).

You can return back by the same method, or, for especially brave sailors, go through the island of Treporti. Since we had a temporary ticket, but we wanted to see everything, we decided to go around. For which I was awarded several reproachful views of my wife later.


The journey took 1 hour 20 minutes. Moreover, on the island of Triporti, you need to transfer to another boat. Sometimes, when we were on that boat, it's very easy to forget where you are at all. Since the circle passes from Venice itself at a decent distance and in some places borders on access to the open sea. For those who have about a week to Venice, I recommend it for the horizon. Well, vacationers on the package "around the world in 80 days" I think it would be a pity to spend so much time on boat trips. Although, who cares.

Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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