Greetings, all. My wife and I will make our first, short trip to Venice in February. We arrive Sunday Feb 19 at Santa Lucia station from Florence at 12:34 (remember to validate tickets!). Lodging at Agli Alboretti near Accademia in Dorsoduro two nights. Fly to Amsterdam midday Tuesday. So we have Sunday afternoon and Monday and early Tuesday in Venice, no doubt too short but all we have with which to work. We can’t prolong our stay this time.
Here is our plan, with questions that have occurred to me so far:
On arrival we would prefer to take the Grand Canal ACTV vaporetto Line 1 or 2 towards San Marco/Giardinetti to the Accademia stop and then walk to our hotel. But it being the last day of Carnivale that route might be too crowded in which case we would take the alternative vaporetto route on Line 2 to San Marco/San Zaccaria through the Guidecca Canal to the Zattere stop and walk to the hotel. Or should we splurge and take a water taxi on this first visit so we can see the Grand Canal ?
After check-in we will visit the Accademia, open until 7:15, and have dinner near the hotel. Don’t have any restaurants in mind, want somewhere comfortable but fine dining is not our thing and we don’t drink . I don’t think we have time for another stop after the museum but am open to suggestions. We will skip the Peggy Guggenheim this time.
On Monday at 9 we will meet Michael Broderick of Venicescapes at the San Toma boat stop. We are taking his 4 hour “Splendors of Piety” walk through the Frari church and Scuola San Rocco, art and history our main interests. After that we will make our way to Saint Mark’s Plaza/Church and enter the Doge’s Palace with a timed reservation. Any suggestions on how best to get there on limited time ? I am thinking of a 3:15 entry to the Palace since it closes at 5:30 that day. After the Palace we will look into the church and view the plaza then walk back to Dorsoduro. I don’t see enough time to visit the Correr or the campanile. Would a boat ride to San Giorgio after dark make sense ?
Then on Tuesday we have an Easy Jet flight at 1:35. (KLM cancelled our flights an hour earlier, this will be our first trip on Easy Jet and we hope it does not belie its name —). If we get up early we will walk the neighborhood a bit but I don’t see enough time for anything planned that morning. We welcome suggestions on how best to make the trip to the airport. The useful website of our hotel gives alternatives of the Alilaguna boat trip on the Blue Line, 90 minutes; or either vaporetto route Piazzale Roma followed by ATVO or ACTV bus to the airport. I have read unflattering reviews of Alilaguna but would prefer to make the trip without changing at the bus terminal, so would it be smart to splurge on a water taxi , especially if that would be our chance to have him take the Grand Canal route ? I assume we would need to reserve a water taxi to the airport, via our hotel, whereas at the airport one just walks up to the pier ? Is it possible to pre-arrange a shared water taxi or is that ad hoc ?
We are not planning on any Carnivale activities, we are more into art than a party or crowd scene, are we missing a cultural opportunity ? No doubt I am overlooking other issues too, thoughts on that and on our my questions would be much appreciated, thank you !