Venice like a local – Best memory of Venice #8

Venice must be lived, Venice must be experienced. Venice cannot be seen in a day, but unfortunately the majority of people visiting, will be here only for one day.
Thankfully Martha Bakerjian choose not to and she wrote this lovely post telling us all about it! Another lovely guest post for The Best memory of Venice series!

My Best Memory of Venice

I have been to Venice several times but my best visit was when we rented an apartment for 12 days in the Cannaregio district. Staying in a vacation apartment gave me a whole different experience of Venice than staying in a hotel or visiting as a day trip. We visited the main sites early in the morning before they were full of tourists, we wandered along quiet canals away from the main tourist areas, and best of all we shopped in small food shops and outdoor markets to prepare some of our meals at home.

During our stay we found a small wine bar in Cannaregio that we liked and quickly became treated as regulars there. Of course it was helpful that we could communicate in Italian. Each day the owner would greet us and chat with us for a few minutes and we’d have a glass of wine or try a few cicchetti (small plates of food) for lunch. The day before we left he was closing early when we arrived but when we told him it was our last day, he invited us in for a glass of Prosecco even though the bar was closed.

Entering Saint Mark’s Square

I once read that most visitors to Venice only see the Saint Mark’s area. That’s very sad as the rest of Venice has so much to offer. Renting a vacation apartment was a great way to experience Venice and I’d highly recommend it but even if you’re only in Venice for a short visit, spend some time getting off the heavily beaten tourist track and exploring the quieter canals, squares, and neighborhoods of the city.

Bio: Martha Bakerjian writes and produces the Italy Travel site on About.com. She has traveled extensively throughout Italy, visiting every region. Her first experiences in Italy were as a member of an archeological project on the island of Sardinia where she spent five summers in the 1980’s. She and her husband own a house in northern Tuscany’s Lunigiana region and spend five to six months a year there, using it as a base to explore Italy.

Links:
Italy Travel
http://goitaly.about.com/

My Venice Travel Guide:
http://goitaly.about.com/od/veniceitaly/p/venice.htm