Venice on a Budget

Venice is undisputedly one of the most romantic cities.  You know if you ask a lady to visit here with you, she will always say YES.

However, as memories fade, I observe that most people only tend to talk about the smell of the canals and how expensive it was!

Sadly, anywhere where tourists gather in vast numbers you tend to attract the odd local who will try and rip you off.  this depressingly is travel, but more obvious in Italy.

Some people fly in and/or arrive by train, and this is ok.  But the FIRST time you see Venice it should be from the sea arriving by boat.

We had elected to stay further inland and visit Venice using a pre-bought hop on hop off freedom public transport ticket, giving us unlimited use of buses, ferries and the Venitian Vaporetto (water buses).  Excellent idea!

the expensive water taxis and gondolas

On arrival however, we decided to break away from tradition. If you sit in St Marks Square drinking Italian coffee listening to the classical music.  Then, treat your partner to a trip on a gondola followed by a bellini cocktail in Harry's Bar,  Yes you will have ticked off some of the Big Guns, but also incurred a credit card bill to haunt you for a very long time.   These people have huge rents to cover and we are their only income.

So we strolled through St Marks Square but after loitering for a while kept going and lost ourselves in the narrow lanes - Your suppose to!!

My target, the Numerous small Venitian sandwich bars ! We hoped on and off the water buses with the locals.

the less expensive flat bottomed larger Vaporetto

Then seeking narrow ally ways looking out for bars displaying their famous sandwiches.

Here take note:

In such places do as the locals do and STAND at the bar.  You will often see a blackboard, chalked up with different Italian wines for you to choose.  But with two prices.  It works as follows.  If you stand, you are charged the budget rate.  if you sit the price doubles.  If you choose to sit outside the price will often triple or quadruple depending on the View.

We elected to stand everywhere at each bar, choosing for me either a glass of Montepulciano or Vapolicella and the wife a Soave or exceedingly dry Frescati,  accompanying each round with a famous sandwich.

It was the month of May and Asparagus season.  So the egg and white asparagus sandwiches were for me a classic.  So much so I told a young bar maid, who called over her father.  He agreed and offered to take me early the next morning to the market.

Unfortunately we were moving on the next day so I declined, leaving me with a disappointing gap in this story.

I had a whale of a time here, the wine and food amazing, and to be honest spent very little !