Photos of Venice

Welcome to my online photo diary of our trip to Venice. There are around 200 photos of our holiday (fiancée and me) taken at the end of March 2008. I've added a couple of comments under each photo describing the situation and giving tips on what we thought. The photos have been made available for quick purchase if anybody wants them for wallpaper or print. (A quick note: the colors are AdobeRGB, not CMYK. There was no option on my software to convert to CMYK, sorry).

I'll be adding another 300 photos or so in the coming months (today is August 2008). The 200 pictures of Venice which are available now are the barebones of the typical things you'll get to see if you visit: basically, canals and San Marco Square (including the pigeons). There's more to absorb in terms of:

• side streets,
• squares,
• quirky shops with their own craftsmen manufacturing the shop's produce,
• old buildings,
• churches,
• cafes,
• restaurants,
• the Venice market,
• and of course the locals themselves.

What is Venice like?

Unlike say Florence, Pisa, or Rome, Venice itself is the tourist attraction. There is no specific attraction (except perhaps San Marco Square) which overshadows the rest of the town. The thousands of wide and narrow canals, dinky streets, old run-down buildings, and boats are what truly make up Venice's character. I had the feeling that I was in some kind of theme park made for tourists. The ambience and style of the place brings up adjectives such as

• over-the-top,
• frivolous,
• eighteenth-century,
• dinky,
• lego-like,
• run-down, and
• pink.

Venice Tips

We were only there for three days, but I'm going to give you (a potential visitor) some top tips to watch out for if you ever decide to visit Venice.

1. Ladies, bring your walking shoes! I can't stress this enough. The two main modes of transport are waterbuses and walking shoes. The waterbuses go all around Venice and also along the Grand Canal which cuts through the middle. You might be thinking that you will have to hire a boat to travel everywhere, but this is certainly not the case. There are walkways everywhere. There isn't a single part of Venice where you cannot walk. The are lots of bridges over every canal, don't worry. Also the size of Venice is small enough so that walking is doable. From the Grand Canal to one of the far edges of Venice (halfway across the whole of Venice) takes around 25 minutes on foot. You can hire a watertaxi, but be prepared to fork out 50 Euro and up. We didn't think it was worth it.


2. Before you visit, print out these waterbus maps. Find out exactly where your hotel is on the map and work out which bus stops are the nearest, or better yet, ask your hotel. Find out which bus goes where you want. Don't do what we did and arrive at 11:30pm at the railway station not knowing what bus to get. A 72-hour bus ticket cost 31 Euro (late March 2008). It is a must-buy.


3. Buy a tour guide which has a map of Venice (or print one out from Google maps). This is essential. You'll probably get lost anyway, with or without map, as we did. We ended up in the industrial area of Venice when we thought we were heading towards San Marco Square (opposite direction). The streets are so tiny, it's like a maze.


4. Don't spend longer than three or four days in Venice. A week is too long, in our opinion. You'll want to:
   • go up the Campanile (tower) for the views,
   • visit Doge's Palace (both are on San Marco Square),
   • go inside the Gallerie dell'Accademia if you are remotely interested in art,
   • and stroll up and down and around the Grand Canal making major detours off it. The area around the Grand Canal is the main tourist walk because it is the oldest-looking and most beautiful part of Venice. All the photos of old-looking canals and buildings were shot around there.
   All other things to do are optional. If you love visiting every church and square, stay longer.


5. When you go is very important.
   • Time of year: Springtime can be cold. Late March in 2008 was cold. Some people were wearing gloves and hats. A thick coat or anorak is essential, especially when waiting at one of the more exposed bus stops on the San Marco Canal. The wind will whip through you. The cafes look empty in the photographs: that was because everyone was inside. Be very careful around February; there's a good chance of fog! Thick fog. Teacher friends of ours lost their school group in the fog being only a few steps behind the pupils.
   • Avoid Italian bank holidays. The Thursday before Easter was not that busy compared to the Easter weekend. During the week is the best time to visit.


6. Venice night-life seems to be non-existant, but that isn't 100% true.
   
   
   • Casinos: There are a couple of casinos at the beginning of the Grand Canal (about 20 or so minutes walk from the main station turning left as you come out of the station). The one we went to was quite fun. No tourists there, only Italians (some bigwigs throwing a lot of money around too). We only bet three or four times (small bets of 10 Euro a pop) and came up ahead around 20 Euro and then left. I came with a navy T-shirt and jeans and they gave me a black jacket to wear (obligatory). It clashed, but looking around, I wasn't alone :).
   
   
   • Nightclubs: A little bit further on from the casino on the opposite side of the street is a bar/disco. Situated on the first floor in a corner building on a side-canal. It is surprisngly good. Good atmosphere and cracking little dance floor stuck on the end. We spent a couple of hours there. All the clientele are young locals/students. I think it cost 10 euro to get in and drinks weren't over-priced. Music was the general club stuff, no techno or harder dance music. I can't remember the name of it, but here's a list of other nightclubs in Venice.
   
   
   • Pubs: We didn't see any, let alone frequent.
   
   
   • Restaurants:The food was quite good for Italian standards, not as good as Tuscany or Florence for example, but better than the usual fare you get in Ireland (where we are from). The restaurants we went to weren't over-priced either; they were about middle of the range (around 50 Euro for two people including wine and coffee).


7. The locals don't speak much English. Forget asking a policeman directions. They'll look at you and grunt something quick in Italian and point. They're not being rude, it's just their poor English skills. We asked a bus conductor directions. I said "Scusi" in my mock Italian accent and he swung around all smiles and eager to help. When I then spoke slow and clear English I got the displeased finger point and grunt.


8. Engage your waiter in conversation. I'm not saying all waiters are like this, but ours spoke fairly ok English and gave us some top tips, namely: he showed us where the nightclub and casinos were. Also, he knew an English lecturer who comes over to the university every few weeks to teach English. He hangs out with him and they, with other friends, play football on San Marco Square at night. If the police come they scarper. We got an invite, but the English guy wasn't in Venice at that time.


9. And lastly, here's a tip from my Fiancée. Girls, don't bring a boyfriend who has a dslr camera and is snap happy. He'll drive you nuts.