I’m only in Venice for 36 hours so I think best to have a tour guide. I’m specifically interested in the Jewish quarters. Any recommendations?
Posted by
1856 posts
I wish I could recommend a human guide for you, but I can't. If you can't find a guide, here are some alternatives;
1). Buy a "The Great Courses" history class on Venice.
2). Use Rick Steve's free audio downloads for a self tour. There are several for Venice.
3). Go online and take a "secret passages" tour of Doge's palace or similar.
Good Luck. You may have fun just educating yourself with books and videos.
Posted by
San Franciso Bay Area, USA
951 posts
If you have not visited Venice before, then I would highly recommend taking a tour of Doge’s Palace and St. Marks. We took the Secret Passages Tour from Walks of Italy (group 12 in the tour) which takes you through the prison as well as the palace and bascilica. Our guide, Paola, was amazing. A Venetian who not only knew the tour script, but was a student of architecture and history and could answer all of our questions, including those of my contractor friend who wanted details on how the bascilia was built.
For the Jewish quarter, there is a specific food tour that you may be interested in: http://foodtoursofvenice.com/jewishghettovenicefoodtour.html. We did not take this tour (it was booked), but it received great reviews on trip advisor and if you are there for only 36 hours, may be a good way to experience the Jewish quarter through its food.
For a fun bar and cicchetti tour in Venice, Alessandro’s tour is a hoot (although it is more drinking than food): http://www.schezzini.it (note that when I went to copy this link for you it was broken, hopefully it will be fixed when you investigate). This was the favorite food tour of my colleage-aged girls and it was a great introduction to the cicchetti culture.
Sandy