Enjoying Venice

We arrived in Venice, Italy, on April 8, ’04, flying from Chicago via Madrid on Iberia Airlines — excellent service, comfort and food. Luggage was handled promptly and efficiently.

One of the local security dogs (God bless them) fell in love with a piece of my wife’s luggage in Madrid and we were inspected. The inspector spoke excellent English and was polite, professional and efficient. There was nothing illegal to be found, and the inspector said it may have been that our luggage had been stored near or on some contraband or that, sometimes, women’s perfumes attract the dogs.

We took a taxi for €45 from the airport to the Ramada (Via-Orlanda 4-S Giuliano, Venezia; phone 041 5310500), located about a 5-minute drive outside of Venice proper. We stayed two nights. Including a hot breakfast, the rate for our room with a king bed was €125 (near $149) per day plus tax.

The hotel offered a shuttle service into Venice at €3.62 per person each way. A taxi would have run €15-€16 ($18-$19) each way.

Note: all buses and taxis entering Venice can go no farther than a special terminal area for parking (and private automobiles must park at yet another area farther out). This terminal area is a pleasant 10- to 15-minute walk, if you know where you’re going, from St. Mark’s Square. This terminal area also is a stop for water taxis on the canal; the stop is listed as De la Roma.

Aside from feet, the transportation in Venice is water taxis and water buses. Most signage is in Italian, but the best round trip is the “D” route on the water bus, which costs €7 per person and is available at the De la Roma stop. An unlimited tourist day pass for the water bus routes costs €10.50 each.

From St. Mark’s Square, tours are available both with and without guides and gondola. A gondola ride and a guided city walking tour booked at one of the travel agencies on the square is €35 ($42) per person. A 3½-hour excursion to Murano, Burano and Torcello isles is €18 each. A gondola serenade on the Grand Canal plus dinner is €73 each.

I find the only way to travel is with a professional guide who is licensed by the locale we are visiting. We travel with guidebooks and on our own only when we speak and read the language fluently or when we have spent considerable time in the locale.

Regarding food in Italy, it’s wonderful. What more can I say? “Better” and “best” are your choices. Plus Tuscany wines (my favorites). Life is too short for bad food and impossible with bad wine. We have not had a bad meal or bad drink in Venice.

One place we recommend is Ko Ri (Calle Larga S. Marco, 280, Venezia), a pizzeria and restaurant one block from the main St. Mark’s Square. We ask for menus to bring home from our trips, so here are a few prices at Ko Ri: pizza, €7.80-€10.80; grilled sea bass, €18.50; fried calamari, €10.80; spaghetti with clams, €10.70; the local Alla Spina Beer, €9.50 for a liter, and Chianti, €8 for 0.0375 liter or €15 for 0.750 liter.

A gratuity of 12% is added there. (Always check to see if the restaurant does this. Most do.)

In the Ramada, where we were staying, prices at La Fontanella Restaurant were slightly less: liver and onions, €8.30; spaghetti, €6.80-€12; a nice Cabernet, €15 for 0.75 liter; a Scotch and soda, €5.50; soft drink, €2.50, and cappuccino, €2.

ROBERT REECE
Kaufman, TX