Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
many are lined with cafes, bars, and restaurants, and are home to the obligatory
church with an attached campanile (bell tower).
There are signs posted—in yellow—with arrows indicating the (general) direc-
tion of major sights, important areas, Grand Canal bridges, and
vaporetto
launches, but using these signs as a means of navigation is an art unto itself; you
simply have to go with the direction of the arrow as far as humanly possible.
Venetian addresses do not make any sense; each building is simply numbered
according to an unfathomable system, supplying it with an arbitrary three- or
four-digit code.
As convoluted and confusing as Venice's footpath network is, the city planners
have provided names for the plethora of streets
(calli),
be they canal-side boule-
vards
(fondamenta),
major streets
(salizzada),
larger streets
(lista),
wide lagoon-side
streets
(riva),
streets formed by filling in canals
(rio terrà),
or streets lined with
shops
(ruga),
canals
(rio),
courtyards
(corte),
or passageways
(sotoportego).
To
increase the muddle, at the intersection of certain bridges and streets are a num-
ber of seemingly conflicting signs painted on the buildings; I've stood for ages on
a bridge trying to figure out which of the signs refers to the
calle
I'm looking for.
There are only three bridges traversing the Grand Canal. The Rialto Bridge is
considered to be the geographical center of the city, and sees an almost endless
stream of tourists passing over it, often on their way to or from the popular Rialto
markets.
There are several tourist offices scattered around Venice, though none of these
is overwhelmingly helpful; they are best at dishing out maps and advertising mate-
rials, and selling dated guidebooks. For a full list of contacts, see “The ABCs of
Venice,” at the end of this chapter, or visit www.turismovenezia.it.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
As I've already mentioned, you'll be relying chiefly on your feet to get around;
there are no cars, buses, rickshaws, bicycles, carts, or horses. The only public
transport is waterborne.
Venice's public water buses are known as
vaporetti,
which run through the
Grand Canal and also circle the entire city, stopping at strategic points. There is,
as well, water transport to some of the islands of the lagoon. As with any metro
transport service,
vaporetti
services follow a number of lines (color-coded on
maps), and run in both directions; lines are numbered, but nevertheless require
some analytical skill if you don't want to find yourself heading off to some island
when you're simply trying to get back to your hotel. The lines running along the
Grand Canal are 1 and 82, the latter being the faster as it does not stop at every
landing stage; both lines continue on to the Lido (where there are buses and bicy-
cles). Many of the other
vaporetto
lines circle the city (known as a Giracittà route),
also connecting various islands around the lagoon.
The
vaporetti
are operated by the
ACTV
(
%
041-5287886; www.actv.it).
You can
purchase a variety of tickets at the booths found at most
vaporetto
stops. A single-
direction journey along the Grand Canal is a hefty
€
5; non-Grand Canal trips
are
3.50. If you're planning to make fairly regular use of the water buses, it's a
far better idea to buy a travel card. One type, which costs
€
11, allows unlimited
public transport for a 24-hour period. A 72-hour ticket is
€
€
22. These cards also
cover bus services on the Lido and to the airport.
