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CITY
TRANSPORT
Venice
has two interlocking street systems - the canals and the
pavements - and contrary to what you might expect, you'll be
using the latter for most of the time. Apart from services #1
and the #82, which cut through the city along the Canal
Grande, the water-buses skirt the city centre, connecting
points on the periphery and the outer islands. In many cases
the speediest way of getting around is on foot . Distances
between major sights are sometimes tortuous but extremely
short (you can cross the whole city in an hour), and once
you've got your general bearings you'll find that navigation
is not as daunting as it seems at first.
WATER
BUS
A
water-bus is the quickest way of getting between far-flung
points, and even in cases where it might be quicker to walk, a
canal trip is sometimes the more pleasant way of covering the
distance. The lack of clear numbering on many of the boats is
confusing at first, and the ACTV map of the lagoon transport
system seems at first glance to resemble the wiring diagram of
a telephone exchange, but in fact the routes are pretty
straightforward.
There
are two basic types of boat: the vaporetti , which are the
lumbering workhorses used on the Canal Grande stopping service
and other heavily used routes, and the motoscafi , smaller
vessels employed on routes where the volume of traffic isn't
as great (at the moment this means the two 'circular routes' -
#41/42 and #51/52). On both types there's a flat-rate fare of
L6000/3.10 for any one continuous journey (unless it's a
traghetto journey in which case the fare is L3000/1.65); a
return ticket costs L10,000/5.17.
Tickets
are available from most landing stages, from tabacchi , from
shops displaying the ACTV sign, at the airport, from the main
tourist office, and from the two ACTV public offices - at
Piazzale Roma (daily: summer 6am-midnight; winter 6am-8pm),
and in Ramo dei Fuseri, close to the northwest corner of the
Piazza (Mon-Fri 7.30am-6pm, Sat 7.30am-1pm). The Ramo dei
Fuseri office is your best source of free up-to-date colour
maps of the main routes, as the tourist offices seem to run
out of them very quickly. In the remoter parts of the city,
you may not be able to find anywhere to buy a ticket,
particularly after working hours, when the booths at the
landing stages tend to close down; tickets can be bought on
board at the standard price, as long as you ask the attendant
a soon as you get on board; if you delay, you could be liable
for a L26,000/13.46 spot-fine.
TRAGHETTI
There
are only three bridges along the Canal Grande - at the train
station, Rialto and Accademia - so the traghetti (gondola
ferries) that cross it can be useful time-savers. Costing just
L700, they are also the only cheap way of getting a ride on a
gondola, albeit a stripped-down version, with none of the
trimmings and no padded seats - it's de rigueur to stand in
the traghetto gondolas. The gondola traghetti across the Canal
Grande are as follows, in summer: San Marco-Salute (daily
9am-noon & 2-6pm); Santa Maria del Giglio-Salute (Mon-Sat
9am-7pm); Ca' Rezzonico-San Samuele (Mon-Sat 7.40am-1.20pm);
San Tomà-Santo Stefano (Mon-Sat 7am-8.50pm; Sun 8am-7.50pm);
Riva del Carbon-Riva del Vin (near Rialto; Mon-Sat 8am-2pm);
Santa Sofia-Rialto (Mon-Sat 7am-8.50pm; Sun 8am-7.50pm); San
Marcuola-Fondaco dei Turchi (Mon-Sat 7.30am-1.30pm); train
station-San Simeone (Mon-Sat 7.45am-1.30pm). In the winter
months it's common for traghetti to cease operating earlier
than the times indicated above, or even to be suspended
altogether.
In
addition to these, some vaporetti and motoscafi operate as
traghetti across the Canal Grande and over to the nearer
islands: for example, if you want to go from San Zaccaria over
to San Giorgio Maggiore, you need only pay the lower traghetto
fare of L3000. If your journey is a short single-stop trip
across a body of water, a traghetto fare almost certainly
applies, even if it's not shown on the tariff list on the
ticket booth
.
GONDOLAS
The
gondola , once Venice's chief form of transport, has become an
adjunct of the tourist industry and the city's biggest cliché.
That said, the gondola is an astonishingly graceful craft,
perfectly designed for negotiating the tortuous canals, and an
hour's slow voyage through the city can give you a wholly new
perspective on the place. To hire one costs L120,000/¬62 per
fifty minutes for up to six passengers, rising to L150,000/¬77.47
between 8pm and 8am; you pay an extra L60,000/¬30.99 for
every additional 25 minutes, or L75,000/¬38.74 from 8pm to
8am. Further hefty surcharges will be levied should you
require the services of an on-board accordionist or tenor -
and a surprising number of people do, despite the strangulated
voices and hackneyed repertoire of most of the aquatic Carusos.
Even though the tariff is set by the local authorities, it's been known for some gondoliers to try to extort even higher
rates than these - if you do decide to go for a ride,
establish the charge before setting off.
To
minimize the chances of being ripped off by a private
individual making a few million lire on the side, only take a
boat from one of the following official gondola stands : west
of the Piazza at Calle Vallaresso, Campo San Moisè or Campo
Santa Maria del Giglio; immediately north of the Piazza at
Bacino Orseolo; on the Molo, in front of the Palazzo Ducale;
outside the Danieli hotel on Riva degli Schiavoni; at the
train station; at Piazzale Roma; at Campo Santa Sofia, near
the Ca' d'Oro; at San Tomà, to the east of the Frari; or by
the Rialto Bridge on Riva Carbon. Your gondolier will assume
that you'll want to be taken along the Canal Grande or across
the Bacino di San Marco, but you'll probably not be making the
best use of the opportunity if you opt for one of these: for
one thing, these major waterways look much the same from a
vaporetto as from a gondola; and for another, the gondola will
tend to get bashed around by the wash from the bigger boats.
Better to choose a quarter of the city that has struck you as
being particularly alluring, head for the gondola stand that's
nearest to it, and ask to be taken there - a gondola displaces
so little water, and the gondoliers are so skilful, that
there's hardly a canal in the city that they can't negotiate.
WATER
TAXIS
Venice's
water-taxis are sleek and speedy vehicles that can penetrate
all but the shallowest of the city's canals. Unfortunately
their use is confined to all but the owners of the deepest
pockets, for they are possibly the most expensive form of taxi
in western Europe: the base rate is L27,000/¬14 for seven
minutes, then L500/¬0.24 for every extra fifteen seconds. All
sorts of additional surcharges are levied as well - L3100/¬1.55
for each extra person if there are more than four people in
the party; L2200/¬1.04 for each piece of luggage over 50cm
long; L8500/¬4.20 for a ride between 10pm and 7am. There are
three ways of getting a taxi: go to one of the main stands (in
front of the Piazzetta and at the airport), find one in the
process of disgorging its passengers, or call one by phone (tel
041.522.2303, 041.522.8538 or 041.523.2473). If you use the
phone, the taxi will have L8000 on the clock when it arrives.
DINING
Not
long ago the reliable judges of the Accademia della Cucina
ventured that it was "a rare privilege" to eat well
in Venice, and there's more than an element of truth to
Venice's reputation as a place where mass tourism has produced
homogenized menus and slapdash standards. Venice has fewer
good moderately priced restaurants than any other major
Italian city, it has more really bad restaurants than any
other, and in some of the expensive establishments you're
paying not for a fine culinary experience but for the event of
dining in a posh Venetian restaurant. However, things have
been getting better, an improvement due in part to the efforts
of the Ristorante della Buona Accoglienza, an association of
restaurateurs determined to present the best of genuine
Venetian cuisine at sensible prices. In the Venetian context,
"sensible" means in the region of L50,000/¬25 per
person, but even in the lower price ranges there are plenty of
acceptable little places hidden away in the city's quieter
quarters - and some are rather more than merely acceptable.
And of course, pizza is a reliable standby if you're watching
your budget, though - as with all restaurants in Venice - the
general rule is that places within two hundred metres of the
Piazza get so much tourist traffic that they don't have much
incentive to make an effort.
More
than anywhere else in Italy, the division between bars and
restaurants is often difficult to draw. A distinctive aspect
of the Venetian social scene is the bácaro , which is
essentially a bar but also serves a range of snacks called
cicheti (some times spelled ciccheti ); the array will
typically include polpette (small beef and garlic meatballs),
carciofini (artichoke hearts), hard-boiled eggs, anchovies,
polipi (baby octopus or squid), and sun-dried tomatoes,
peppers and courgettes cooked in oil. Some bácari also
produce one or two more substantial dishes each day, such as
risotto or seafood pasta. Most bars of this type are
long-established places, but in recent years there's been
something of a bácaro revival, and you're more likely to find
a seating area in these newer establishments; in the older
ones it's more usual to eat standing up, or seated on stools
at a ledge. Virtually all bars will have a selection of plump
tramezzini (sandwiches) at lunch time.
As
enticing as the city's bars are its cafés and pasticcerie
(most of which also serve alcohol), where a variety of
waistline-threatening delicacies are on offer, and there
aren't too many nicer things you can do to your taste buds
than hit them with a coneful of ice cream from Paolin or Nico
. Stocking up for an alfresco lunch, you'll be spoiled for
choice at the stalls of the Rialto and the smaller markets
pitched in a number of Venice's campi, whilst there's a host
of tempting alimentari to supplement supplies.
As
elsewhere in Italy, take-away pizza is all over the place, but
most of it is pretty miserable fare in Venice - you'd be
better advised to sit down in a pizzeria or have a snack in a
bar. The widest range of take-out pizza slices ( pizza al
taglio ) and pies is offered by Cip Ciap , across the canal
from the west side of Santa Maria Formosa, at Calle Mondo
Nuovo 5799 (9am-9pm; closed Tues) - their spinach and ricotta
pie is especially tasty and filling. Next best choice is the
simple take-away place over on the other side of the Canal
Grande at Calle della Madonetta 1463, a few metres north of
Campo San Polo.
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