László Varga

While in Venezia, we have dedicated half a day to visiting two islands near the main island: Murano and Burano.

Murano is famous for its glass making industry. Basically the island is full of small workshops owned by different families specializing in artistic glass production. Getting to Murano is quite simple: ACTV, the local transportation agency, operates some ferry lines to the island (~10-15 minutes). We used number 12, which stops at the light-tower of Murano every 40 minutes. From there on one can follow the pathways among the channels, that split the island into smaller pieces (connected by bridges), where there is a line of shops with different glass-based decorative items. Some of them are funny, some of them just amazing and some about which I have no idea how on Earth they could make it.

There is also a glass-museum in Murano, which is part of Musei Civici Venezia group (MUVE), hence our Museum Pass was valid and we could enter. One thing to note about the museum: although in some places it says that it is closed on Wednesday, we have actually payed a visit on Wednesday. Also on the official site it says nothing about being closed on Wednesday.

Our route took from Murano to Burano, a smaller island to the north, about 20-25 minute boat ride from Murano (again, with route no. 12). Burano is an interesting place to visit due to its colorful houses and it’s lace production. As in Murano, here too, there are a lot of shops, but instead of glasses, people are selling lace.
The lace museum of Burano is also part of the MUVE group, so we have payed a visit. It is not a big museum, but it features a movie at the entrance which tells the story of lace production in Burano. Also on the second floor there was a group of women working with laces. I have no idea whether they were part of the “decorations” or just working there, but it was a good opportunity to have a look at how laces are made.

Originally we planned to eat lunch at one of the islands, however, I think we would have received the same food for a bit more money as in Venezia. For that reason we decided to head back to the main island and continue our tour there.

The islands conclude our two and a half day visit to Venezia, so my stories about the trip will end here. I think visiting Venezia is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so nobody should miss it out, if they have the chance to visit. Some pictures of the trip can be found here.

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So what else is important about Venezia, that should be written down? Well, one thing I had to take into account when planning the trip, was where, what and for how much can we eat? I have calculated with an average of €15 per person per meal (yes, it was a low-cost menu) and I must say, the estimation was not that far from reality.

A meal in Venezia can range from the €4.50 Involitos (a type of sandwich) to €40 full course meals. It depends on what you desire and what are your standards. For us it was more like trying to get the taste of Italian food, and not to go and get fancy dining. There are tons of restaurants in the main island (and not only) so there is a quite big variety of places to choose from. At many locations a “kind” (bit pushy) gentleman invites (in all possible languages) the tourists passing by to have lunch or dinner, so I guess there is no way one can get out of the city without a stuffed stomach. It does not really matter whether you are in a central position or not, the prices are really similar at the Rialto Bridge, in a small alley near Piazza San Marco or the seaside. I have seen, however, that the prices are a bit higher on the islands, especially Burano. Of course if you do not want to taste Italian food, then there is the possibility to get to the only fast-food-restaurant chain that took hold on the main island: McDonald’s. They will surely offer the same food people all over the world are used to and at reasonable price.

When you want to see so many places in such a short time period, you will surely not eat that much. For example on one of the days, our lunch was a simple Involito which we ate along the way between two museums. Speaking of museums, there is on more type of museum which is pretty popular in Venezia: entrance to some of the 17th century palaces among Canal Grande. Unfortunately they are closed on specific days of the week (each one on a different day) so plan your visit carefully. We only managed to visit Ca’ Rezzonico (which was closed on Tuesdays) but I guess most houses display the same values as this one. On several floors a typical rich Venetian palace is presented in Ca’ Rezzonico, the rooms ranging from large galleries to bedrooms. Also, from the upper floors of the house there is a beautiful view of the Grand Canal.

Finally I have left one of the main attractions of Venezia: the Gondolas. As I have written in the previous post, there is quite a number of gondolas in the main island some quite nice, some a bit old looking and dusty. Make sure, however, that you do get on a gondola and not on a Sandolo which is a simpler version of it, but not the real deal .
A gondola ride usually cost €100 (for around half an hour), but one can negotiate the price to €80 (for which we got a ride of about 20-25 minutes). The gondolier we went with spoke fluent English and took us near historic buildings like the house where Casanova lived, a house where the German poet, Goethe lived and some other important buildings. We mostly went along the narrow canals, where I must say I was amazed by the skills of the gondolier: you can bet on the fact that the gondola will not even touch another boat or any of the walls. Our gondola ride ended with a short trip among the Grand Canal after which we were taken back to the initial starting point. In my opinion it was one of the highlights of our stay, so if you’re in Venezia, you cannot skip this, even if it seems a bit pricy.

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In an entire year of living in Italy I have visited quite some great places and famous cities. There was still one city remaining, however, which I planned to visit later: Venezia (Venice). After all, Venezia, is a city which should not be visited with friends, but with someone special .

When planning a visit, there are two major features to consider: the trip there and a place to stay at. After those are handled, the rest is just details. The trip there was made via WizzAir, the local low-cost travel company. The round-trip ticket for two was quite cheap (~€125), considering that the ride takes only around one and a half hours from Cluj. The plane lands in Treviso airport, which is a 1.5 hour bus ride away from the actual island of Venezia and costs €13 (round-trip ticket via ATVO). By buying the bus-ticket we received also a small map of the city of Venezia and the timetable for the bus which is synchronized with all flights leaving from Treviso Airport.

The other important factor to deal with was the hotel. I have found a great one via booking.com: Hotel Locanda Canal. A double room for 3 nights (breakfast and WiFi included) was €225 plus €9 city tax. I must say I was a bit skeptic about this, because the hotel is located too close to Piazza San Marco and the price seemed just incredibly low. I was, however, “happily disappointed”, because the hotel was excellent. The room we stayed in was nicely furnished with a view to a nearby small canal and the staff was very friendly.

One important tip about Venezia: if you are at most 29 years old, you are eligible for the Rolling Venice Card which costs €4 (per person) and gives you a number of reductions for local transportation and museums. We have purchased this ticket on Piazzale Roma at a marked HelloVenezia office (you can’t miss it). If you are not accustomed to Italian way of handling problems, this may be your first chance, by waiting in line until the nice Italian lady in front of you puts up 100 questions and the ticket salesman answers all of them and they together work out a strategy to… well I have no idea what, but it took about half an hour… (frustration resolved ).

Getting around in Venezia is doable on foot, but I would recommend using the vaporetto instead. We have purchased a 72h ticket usable on any ACTV vaporetto (which has routes to the local islands also). We payed for the ticket €18 (using the Rolling Venice card). We have used mostly route no. 1 (which travels quite frequently on Canal Grande). The vaporetto itself is funny, for people used to traveling on dry land: it is the actual equivalent of a normal bus stopping at designated stations. The first trip (from the bus-station on Piazzale Roma to Piazza San Marco) was quite the event for us giving the first glimpse of Canal Grande stuffed with historic buildings, restaurants and of course gondolas.

Given the fact that there is a number of museums in Venezia, it can cost quite some money to visit all, so, again, using the good old Rolling Venice Card, we have purchased a Museum Pass for €14. This can be bought on site for example in the Correr Museum (on Piazza San Marco) or at any museum which is part of Musei Civici Venezia group. The Correr Museum is actually the entrance to 2 more attractions (included in the price): the Museo Arheologico and the Sale Monumentali Biblioteca Marciana.

A real attraction on Piazza San Marco, however, is the Palazzo Ducale which with its great interior court and grandiose halls is not only an eye-candy but an important historical site. Visiting Palazzo Ducale also includes the visit into the Prisons which is connected to the palace via Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs) and is the place where Casanova was imprisoned. This too was included in the Museum Pass.

Also on Piazza San Marco is the Basilica of San Marco, which with colorful and very decorated style is a must see attraction in Venezia. As in all churches in Italy, make sure you are properly dressed (no shorts or visible shoulders) in order to enter. Personally I was not too impressed with it (I think it is nowhere near il Duomo in Milano and even much further from the St. Peter Basilica in Rome). Despite that, entry into the basilica is highly secured: one must not enter having backpacks (there is a special place to leave it not far from the basilica) and photographing is prohibited (as in all museums). There is no entry fee, so we had a look, but there is not much to see, if you do not pay the extra charges to have a glimpse at special places (which we considered not worth it). You can pay €5 to be allowed up the terraces to have a view of the square from above, but this again seemed useless, because by paying €8 (€3 more), you can go up the bell-tower, il Campanille, from where you can see not only the square but the entire main island and also the neighboring islands. We considered that much better and decided to go up. The view indeed is marvelous, although it can be quite windy and chilly on top.

Because our brief visit was very eventful, I have decided to split the stories into more parts (possibly 3), so I will end here the first part, so nobody gets too bored or tired while reading it .

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