Venice Afloat

Venice has always been one of the places I wanna set foot in. And my dream came true when hubby and me flew there from Paris in December recently. We flew to Paris from KL via Dubai. And then flew to Venice with Easyjet a day after we arrived in Paris. Spent a nite in a hotel nearby the airport as we need to catch the early morning flight the next day. Good thing was the hotel provided us with free airport transfer. Anyway, here's our review for Venice:

Transportation :
1) Easyjet from Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) Airport to Venice Marco Polo Airport. Booked online from Malaysia (Total one way trip for Euro 40)
2) Alilaguna (Water taxi) from Venice Marco Polo Airport to hotel in Venice (Euro 12 per person one way)

Hotel :
Ca Pozzo Inn – a nice hotel located near the train station. Good location if you intend to travel out of Venice by train. They serve nice continental breakfast, have to pay for internet access though. Hotel is also an art gallery, you’ll find art prints and sculptures at every corner, on every wall. Hotel manager and front desk were pretty helpful in telling us where to go, what to avoid. Room is spacious, very well-heated, nice bathroom. (Per nite stay @ Euro123, yupp, rooms in Venice are pretty pricey!)

Do :
1) Go on a gondola, around Euro 90 per person for a boat with 2 passengers, for cheaper fare, go in a group of 4-6, you’ll pay about Euro 20 each.
2) Go around Venice on foot too – we took 4 hours to cover the whole Venice. Go into the alleys and you’ll discover lotsa little shops selling nice stuff for gifts - Murano glass accessories, lace, venetian carnival masks. There are many small markets all over Venice too. Rialto market is a must if you wanna see the locals marketing for their groceries.
3) San Marco Piazza, San Rialto bridge, Accademia area and the many, many squares they have throughout Venice.

Eat:
1) Only a few halal pizza & kebab places around – We went to the one in Accademia area, managed by an Iraqi. Euro 2.50 per big slice of pizza.
2) Salads and seafood in fast food chains. We ate lotsa McDs.
3) Buy foodstuff and snacks in Billa, a supermarket. We bought plenty of croissants (plain and with chocolate/strawberry fillings) and snacks.
4) For Ferrero Rocher fans, make sure you get hold of dark chocolate version of these rochers. They’re yummier and crunchier than the ones sold here. Me and hubby menyesal sangat tak beli banyak2 bawak balik!

Overall, Venice was okay for me. But I think the city looked dirty, perhaps it was because of the flood. We were very disheartened upon arrival because the city was flooded! It was high tide at that time and water rose up to our knees! It was for a few hours only though. We had to use the black garbage plastics as our boots to walk all the way from the jetty to the hotel. Nasib baik dekat! Lepas tu, had to buy Wellington boots. (Macam boots Phua Chu Kang tu). Luckily it was only for Euro 15 each pair. Hmm..what else? People-wise - didn’t find anyone particular friendly except the ones in the hotel. I got snubbed off by one guy for walking slowly in front of him one nite (duhhh! sight-seeing, takkan nak jalan pecut, rite?) There was another occasion when I was enquiring to buy train tickets at the train station counter but this old cashier guy, dengan pandangan menyampahnya towards me, marah2 when I asked questions. Guess I look very Asian and I think dia tak suka Asians!!!! Whatever! All-in-all, I’ll rate Venice 2/5! Next destination – Rome!