Venice (Italy)guide featuring 360 degree images, maps, photos, video, hotels and transport. |
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Venice is a unique place for visitors because it's a pedestrian only city with no vehicles and just boats for transport. You will probably get lost walking around Venice because the passages don't follow any sort of pattern, but that's just part of the experience! We stayed at a hotel near the train station then walked the main streets to the Rialto Bridge and then to Saint Mark's Square (see the blue "Walk" path on the map).
After you have taken a look around Venice, I highly recommend a visit to the nearby islands. You can take a tour or explore them at your own pace like we did by catching the public boat bus (Vaporetti) which is also the cheapest option. I worked out that for the best value and time to see everything was to buy a 12 hour Tourist Travel Card (ACTV vaporetto pass) for $16 (Euro) each. We went north in the morning at 9am from Venice to Murano and then Burano. That afternoon we went back south to Venice then over to San Giorgio Maggiore and then returned to Venice for dinner. You can even catch another Vaporetti to get back home along the Grand Canal before your 12 hours expire at 9pm. Gondolas are the symbol of Venice and it's no coincidence they are designed to reflect this. There used to be so many in the 16th century that all the colours made it look chaotic so they passed a law that they all must be black. The emblem on the front is a heavy metal to counterbalance the gondalier on the back. The F shape at the top represents the Doge's cap and Rialto Bridge, the six bars facing foward are the districts of Venice and the one backward is for the island just south called Giudecca. I took these photos, 360° images and videos while on holiday with my wife for a few days in May 2012. Refer to my customised Venice Google map for where we saw the main points of interest. This is part of a 6 week adventure that my wife and I took in the middle of 2012 that includes: |
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Venice videoabout 5 minutes, full HD available (1080p) which is best viewed in full screen. |
Piazza San Marco (Saint Mark's Square)[4-7 on the map]This is the most important and popular area of Venice with many impressive landmarks. Places to see include Saint Mark's Basilica, Doge's Palace and Saint Mark's Campanile (bell tower). |
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San Giorgio Maggiore[15 on the map]This island just south of the main islands of Venice has one of the best views of Venice from the San Giorgio Monastery Bell Tower. Catch a bus boat (Vaporetti) from Piazza San Marco to get there. |
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Grand Canal[near 12 on the map]The biggest canal running through the middle of Venice with bus boats (Vaporetti), taxi boats, gondolas and every other boat you can imagine. |
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Rialto Bridge[3 on the map]This architectural feature of Venice is the oldest bridge crossing the Grand Canal. The first version was built in 1181 but the current stone bridge has lasted since 1591. It has rows of shops through the middle and two sets of steps on either side. You get some of the most iconic views of Venice over the Grand Canal. |
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Murano[17-19 on the map]This series of islands 1.5km north of Venice is famous for glass making. In 1291 the glass makers were forced out of Venice to Murano due to the risk of fire. Some of the world's most famous glass brands and factories are located here. You can visit Murano Glass Museum and demonstrations of glass being made in one of the many factories in a tour or just self-guided like we did by catching a bus boat (Vaporetti) here. |
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Burano[20 & 21 on the map]Famous for the bright coloured buildings and lace, Burano is located 7km north of Venice. You can get to these four closely linked islands by bus boat (Vaporetti). It is believed that the houses were originally painted in bright colours so that the fisherman could see where to return. The colours actually go by a specific system that is controlled by the government. The island has a famous history of lace making (there is a lace museum) but doesn't produce so much now because it is very time consuming, making it expensive. |
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Big boats[near 15 on the map]These floating cities always look so dramatically massive against the relatively low-rise buildings of Venice. You often notice large groups of people walking around Venice with the same clothes (kinda like a uniform) that are branded from these ships. There are usually several ocean liners docked at the same time and they frequently come and go, maintaining the high tourist count in Venice. |
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If you are arriving in Venice by train, note that there are two stations. The first station is Venezia Mestre which is for the Venice mainland. The second station is on the famous Venice island which is called Venezia Santa Lucia.
The best way to travel around Italy (and Europe) is by train because they are very fast, frequent, safe, reliable, cheap and the stations are in the middle of the city. I prefer to book the routes individually (point to point ticket) instead of buying a pass (like Eurail or Swiss pass) because it's usually cheaper unless you are frequently travelling long distances which I don't do anyway because I want to spend more time enjoying the location than travelling to and from it. The catch with a Eurail pass is that you still need to book and pay extra for a seat reservation, whereas buying just a normal point to point ticket includes the reservation, saving time and confusion. I always buy first class tickets too because they aren't much more expensive than the normal ticket, they usually include more seating space and I feel a little more safer considering that the train company gives a little more attention to first class passengers. The main concern was for the storage and security of our luggage, having heard too many stories about bags being stolen. Many trains have a rack above the seats (so it's safe) that can easily hold a large suitcase (like those allowed for checked luggage on planes). My bag (35cm [14in] x 45cm [18in] x 70cm [27.5in]) was just below the maximum size limit for planes which was fine on all the trains during our holiday through Europe. It weighed about 19kg and you must lift your bag up on to these high racks which was fine for a tall, strong, dashing, handsome, sexy and modest young man like me, otherwise you will probably need another passenger to help you. Some trains only have storage at the end of each carriage which makes it easier to get in and out but also makes it easier for someone to steal your bags too. We took a wire cable bike combination lock to attach our bags to the rack in these cases but only used it twice and both times it probably wasn't really necessary, but gives you peace of mind so you don't need to worry about it. We also used small combination padlocks on the zippers. Having locks on your bags can draw attention because being so secure then there is probably something valuable in it worth stealing, but most criminals are just opportunistic and simply take the next bag that is easier to remove. |
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How to book European train tickets:
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This is the best way that I know of to find a hotel on the internet. I used this method for every place we stayed at for our entire six week holiday in Europe/UK/Singapore and it worked very well. The basic steps are:
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How to actually do it:
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I've been a keen photographer for over 10 years and have been creating 360° panoramic images for about that long too. I've sold some individually, for web sites, a couple of weddings and projects for clients where I work as a visualisation artist. All the panoramas on this page were taken handheld because you are not allowed to use tripods in most of the places I visited so you may find some strange gaps where the photos are stitched together because of this. | The camera used for all of these photos is a Canon 5D MkIII digital SLR with a 24-105mm L series lens. This camera works great in low light situations, has a full frame sensor to get wide angle shots and produces super sharp photos. Unfortuantely it is very big, heavy and expensive so I made the decision to choose quality over comfort. A camera store assistant once told me: A man invited a lady over to his place one night to show her his photos. She said, "Gee, they're great photos. You must have a great camera." She invited the man to her place for dinner the next night and after the meal he said "Gee, that was a great meal. You must have a great oven." |
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