Venice’s Chorus Pass — a path to revelation
A perfect way to uncover the back canals and secret campos of Venice is to buy a Chorus Pass and use it as a tool to create a random visit to this unique city. This pass provides just enough structure and a collection of specific destinations to facilitate discovery or Venice.
Historic Venetian flourmill becomes the new Hilton Molino Stucky
At the end of the Giudecca island a massive brick structure, looking almost Germanic, presides over the wide canal looking north towards the tourist heart of Venice. In these remains of one of Europe’s largest flourmills, electricity was introduced to Italy, the first Italian elevators began operation and Venice’s largest hotel and convention venue stands.
Boat, museum and church passes
Visitors to Venice have a couple of basic questions to answer when arriving. Do I purchase an unlimited boat pass? Do I buy any of the museum passes offered by the various museum and church organizations? The answer is yes to all the questions, but I’ve learned that there are more considerations.
Every church tells a story
Too many churches - not enough time. While I haven’t actually researched the figures, after more than two weeks in Venice I’d be willing to wager that Venice probably has more churches per square kilometer than any other city in Europe, including Rome. Every nook and cranny seems to have a church. One website lists 131 churches in this city and its islands.
Venice guidebook reviews
Whenever we travel, we hope to find the perfect guidebook that fits our interests and speaks to us. Unfortunately, those guidebooks are hard to find and rarely exist. In the case of Venice, with literally centuries of guidebooks to choose from, decisions are harder. My advice is to take more than one.
Venice: myths and summer discoveries
I’ve been in Venice for about two weeks now and several bits of travel article lore have been falling by the wayside. Specifically, those that claim Venice is impossibly hot, the canals are full of trash and that they stink. And, I have found, Venice has a new discovery around every corner.
My favorite Venetian restaurants
When people think of Venice, they picture San Marco and the spectacular sights and museums. My Venice includes those sights, but for everyday life, the restaurants, pizzerias and trattorias are a far more important factor.
A tale of two Venices
I’ve been in Venice for about four days now, enough to feel like an entitled local. Already, I have begun to define “my Venice” from “tourist Venice.” That is, the beautiful, tranquil, Venice where one can hear the small wavelets lapping at the sides of gondolas and the crowded, tour group packed Venice where “Joanie, Hank, Honey, Walter, come look at this!” drowns out the other city noises.
10 great European drives
On a great drive, the destination never surpasses the journey. In Europe, with the densest highway system in the world, good roads are easy to find, but great drives come once in a blue kilometer. The drives that follow are more than means to an end, more than concrete curls along countryside contours or asphalt assaulting towering peaks. They transcend the danger of the road, the thrill of driving, or the response of a well-tuned machine. Rather, they are sublime sensuous weaves of man-made and natural beauty.