Lake Garda and / or Venice

[PeaGreene]

We're going soon. Very excited. Staying near Peschiera and will do a couple of day trips to Venice.

Come tell me all your favourite bits from your holidays there. I want top tips, best places to visit, any local knowledge etc etc.

I had a lovely waiter who gave me chlamydia

does that help at all

No.

In Garda or Venice? I fear I may need to get that thought out of my mind by ruling one out...

Garda

I went to Venice and met a lovely young man who ran a vineyard

he was disease-free

Okaaaaayyyy, so, don't shag the waiters in Garda. DH will be happy about that.

Any more?

Garda, we stayed at Riva, its beautiful. Sirmione is rather nice too. You can always do a day trip to Venice, its VERY touristy, lots of tours with folk waving umbrellas around to keep their packs together. Also you can't feed the pigeons now!

we are going too! See you there...

If you happen to be in venice on Sunday its the Vogalonga ...The big row. This involves lots of fun and serious rowers from basically all over Europe rowing and going also down the grand canal so Vaporetti willl be suspended . It is actually great fun to watch.
If coming after - if coming in by train get off walk over the scalzi bridge in front of you and walk a different way to San Marco - Its longer but quieter and you will see more of the real Venice.Wear comfortable shoes get lost its fun and if coming with dc suggest you top up on food out of San Marco area ( exp) There is a Spizzico ( Pizza /salad ) that shares with a burger King in Campo San Luca. Has free loos - ok so its fast food but it is reasonable.If you need to know anything more shout !

Hey sticky, roughly where and when are you going? We can share stories when we get back.

Rosa, sadly we won't be actually in Venice until 3rd June - my birthday. Thanks for tips though, rowing sounds amazing! I want to do a fair bit of wandering as you say but DH will want "a purpose" so we'll have to do the main sites as well.

I've read a bit about the Rialto. Is it really touristy or is there some element of real market as well?

Also, I hope to hire bikes at Garda. Is that sensible? Is it mostly flat around the south end coast of the lake?

We went there last June and our favourite bits were:

• Sirmione (so good we went there twice): it's mostly pedestrianised, with cobbled streets, a fairy tale castle (you can climb up the tower), a small beach for paddling and lots of gelateria. (Dh accidentally ordered extra-large icecream cones for our dds and passers by were stopping to take photos as they tried to eat the mammoth ice creams before they melted.) We also had a tour round Sirmione peninsula in a private motor boat, which was not very expensive and definitely worth doing

-Hruska botanic garden at Gardone Riviera: very distinctive, with lots of quirky sculptures and art. (not very accessible for pushchairs or wheelchairs, though)

• cable car to Monte Baldo

I regretted not going on a gondola in Venice; we took someone's advice to go on a water bus instead, but the water bus was crammed with people, almost all standing, we had no view because it was so crowded and the dds nearly got trampled. That was in June.

Overall it is a lovely region and great for kids.

If you want to find a bit of Venice that is filled with locals and very typically Venetian, I would recommend:

• a tiny bar called Ai Postali - it's on the edge of a canal, lovely to sit outside in the evening, and was full of locals (students?) and people just popping in to chat to the owner and have a quick drink.

• Al Nono Risorto, a lovely unpretentious restaurant, where you can sit outside in the garden under a canopy of wisteria. It had a lively, friendly atmosphere and was full of families and groups of friends. It helped to speak a bit of Italian and have a phrasebook though, because its beauty (its lack of touristi-ness) meant it was less accessible to non-Italian speakers.

(Caveat - I went five years ago).

Oooh, that's all helpful. LOL at the icecreams - we made the same mistake in Florence last year. Learned the Italian word for "small" very quickly after that.

Any more? I've got a couple of weeks of bumping still to go!

If you search the archives for venice then there is a great thread where Albert and some others gave wonderful tips here

Salo is lovely, half-way up the west side of the lake. Pretty town with nice lakefront ice-cream places.

You can get a car ferry across the lake from (maybe) Gardone - ds enjoyed that and it saves half the driving.

Second recommendation for Sirmione, too.

Hi PeaGreene,
Sounds like we are going before you if you'll be there on June 3rd? We are there week of May 26th, probably staying on the western side of the lake, near Gardone. We will also try for a day trip to Venice.

Hope you have a great trip!

Don't bother with the gondola in Venice. Touristy rip-off. If you want to go on a gondola, find one of the places where there is a gondola-traghetto which crosses the Grand Canal. You pay a small amount (not sure how much) and you stand up in the gondola while you go across the canal.

The Rialto Market is a 'real' market if you walk away from the Rialto Bridge (where the touristy stalls are) and back towards the station. Alternatively, get off the vaporetto at Rialto Mercato (but not all vaporetti stop there). Lots of fish and fruit/veg stalls. Beware of letting your dcs inspect the horse butcher's too closely. Mine are still going on about the foal salami!

Pea Greene how old is your dc ? If your dh wants structured things then I can only suggest going against the peak times. E:G or make a hell of an early start from Garda to get to venice before the main coach tours ..tend to arrive dfrom 9.30 / 10 ish onwards and vaporetti are packed. ( And again going up from 5 pm ish
Ok SO San Marco is fantastoc and the basilica impressive . But there is so much to see wandering round. The Scuola Grande di San Rocco is impressive and your dc will lovethe mirrors. The Friari next door is also good. The Rialto is ok but the best bit is the fish markets Every day not Sunday Monday until about 12 ish.
If you can get hold of Venice for Kids its great ( you can get it in book shop Goldoni just off San Luca) .

DS will be 7 and well used to being dragged round old churches. Last year, he actually took to saying "shall we go inside?" bless him.

At this rate, will need a couple of weeks in the area, not just one.

Thanks for book suggestion, but it made me laugh at myself a bit. At this rate I'll be carrying a phrase book, Rough Guide, possibly a Dictionary of Saints (can't look at all that artwork without knowing the stories) and now Venice for Kids. Plus all my holiday reading and the road map. I'll need extra luggage allowance for books

Save the hassle ...take the train it is just the same time wise far less hassle and cheaper than petrol and parking !