• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Alice Dishes

Adventures and Real Food

  • Design
  • Life
  • Recipes
  • Reviews
  • Travel

July 9, 2017

5 Favorite Things To Do in Venice

While there is no denying the magic and beauty of Venice, the other thing that is impossible to ignore is that it’s basically over-run with tourists (and yes, I know I’m a tourist too).  There are only about 55,000 permanent residents in the historic city of Venice, and thanks in large part to the cruise ships, about 60,000 visitors descend on the city each day. 

So if you want to find a way to enjoy Venice, without getting too overwhelmed by all the visitors, check out the things we enjoyed the most.

1. Eat like a local

Eating like a local might mean cooking a meal from produce picked up the Rialto Market, like we did with Gioia who runs her own small cooking school in her apartment,  or having a bite canal-side, or in a back street, at small restaurant like Il Refolo near Santa Croce.

Enjoying a Bellini at Il Refolo.

2. Watch an opera in a private palace

Surfing around the web, I found out about Musica a Palazzo (literally: music in the palace) – a tiny production company that puts on two or three different operas a week to an intimate audience. We were lucky enough to see The Barber of Seville, a comedy, which kept Monkey enthralled throughout. We moved to different rooms in the palace for different acts, and enjoyed a complimentary glass of bubbles overlooking the Grand Canal during the intermission.

The audience gathering before the start of Act 1.

The talented actors/singers took great pleasure in building a rapport with the guests. Monkey became the apple of the lead soprano’s eye, she serenaded him and even kissed him on the cheek during one act! He didn’t stop grinning for hours.

Apparently this is for tourists-only, but seeing as there were only 70 of us in attendance, it didn’t feel too touristy, and for sheer entertainment value, I’d give this a ten out of ten.

Book in advance. Tickets were 85 Euros for adults and 30 Euros for children.

3. Visit the sights at night

After around 5pm the crowds tend to clear out, partly because the cruisers go back to their ships, and partly because folks take a break before dinner. This is a great time to see some of the sights. St Mark’s Square was practically empty when we got there around 6pm. And as mentioned in my previous post, a few of the key attractions stay open as late as 11pm during the summer (check schedules), so it feels like you have an entire palace to yourself.

St Mark’s Square at 6pm.

4. Take the river bus at sunset

If you’ve bought an ACTV pass, hopping on and off the river bus feels like it’s free – and there’s no better time of day to enjoy the view of Venice from the water than around sunset.  You could plan a trip, or you could make a mistake, like we did, and hop on a boat without checking its number. We assumed that it’d stop at the last Venice-side stop: S. Elena, only to find ourselves at Lido at midnight! Fortunately, 15 minutes later here was a boat back to Venice so we weren’t stranded for the night, and we got to enjoy the twilight view twice.

Sunset near Arsenale in the Castello district.

5. Pretend you’re old money at Harry’s Bar

The people-watching at Harry’s Bar—the street-level bar of the Cipriani, made famous by peach Bellinis and Ernest Hemingway—is to die-for. Especially when you witness the old Venetian “money” strutting their stuff, and being greeted like the regulars, they unquestionably are, by the white-jacketed staff.

Harry’s Bar is immaculate. You can see your reflection in the thick lacquer of the wooden tables, that is, until 8pm when the white tablecloths come out for dinner-time. Be warned, this place is at the opposite end of the spectrum from cheap.

After our highly enjoyable opera experience, we were hungry at 11pm and found ourselves right outside Harry’s. Comforting rice and bean soup was a mere 30 Euros (#wtf,) and Monkey’s club sandwich barely raised my eyebrow at 39 Euros.

Rice and bean soup for a mere 30 Euros.

We just had to go with ka-ching sounds and enjoy the impeccable service, the convenience of the late hour dining and the scene.

Be sure to check the dress code. Dinner is served until 11pm. 

Filed Under: Reviews, Travel Tagged With: Cooking & Travelling, cruise ships, Gioia Tiozzo, Harry's Bar, Il Refolo, Musica a Palazzo, St Mark's Square, vaporetto, Venice, Venice cooking class

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

About Alice

A bit about me... I grew up in the UK and moved to Northern California in the late 1990s, drawn here, like so many others, by the lure of ...

Read More

Popular Posts

  • holey_grail_donutsThe Best Places to Eat in Hanalei, Kauai
  • 10 Things to Do in Sea Ranch, CA10 Things to Do in Sea Ranch, CA
  • When All Is Said And Done: 7 Things That Really Matter in LifeWhen All Is Said And Done: 7 Things That Really…
  • Stunning Beet and Cauliflower SoupStunning Beet and Cauliflower Soup

People are Talking About

No People Food

A Lesson in Salt From Samin Nosrat

Madeleines by Monkey

When All Is Said And Done: 7 Things That Really Matter in Life

Alice’s Favorites

101 Cookbooks
Chef on a Mission
Cook, Taste, Eat
Food Politics
Golden
Good Eggs
Healthy Cooking
Jamie Oliver Food Revolution
Mary Vance
Michael Pollan
Nina Planck
Not Without Salt
Nourish Network
Samin Nosrat
The Healthy Home Economist

alicedishes

Lover of life, Labs & horses. Visit AliceDishes.com blog for travel, recipes, design & life. Area VI #morganhorse #blacklab #eventing #interiors

Alice Dishes. Eat, Bark, Ride
A little bit of our dressage and SJ action from th A little bit of our dressage and SJ action from the weekend @twinrivershorsepark - Q and I were either great or mediocre during dressage to give us a 36.4 which made it hard to be competitive, but the goal was to finish on our dressage score and feel confident all weekend ✅. We moved up 4 places over the weekend and jumped double clear in both SJ and XC for a top 10 finish. Our rhythm and timing in SJ was probably our best yet. #eventing #areavi #comeback
The sunset was spectacular last night in Paso Robl The sunset was spectacular last night in Paso Robles! #sunset #pasorobles
So fun to watch @tommygreengard on these two speci So fun to watch @tommygreengard on these two special boys: Barry and Josh. 😍
The boy is back in town! Rogee had a blast doing X The boy is back in town! Rogee had a blast doing XC schooling for the first time since February. He was relaxed (shocker!), said yes to everything and although he wanted to shred up the track he listened and was a very good boy 😍😍😍 - so happy with him and I think he had the best day ever 🙌  Looking forward to showing him at @woodsidehorsepark in Oct! #xc #eventing #eventinghorse
My little pocket 🚀 was on 🔥today! I couldn’t have been happier. We jumped all the Training things and tackled some challenging questions. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs since losing some confidence. At one point in June I froze jumping a x-rail 🤷‍♀️. But we have fought our way back, filling in gaps and ultimately our partnership has become even stronger. I’m so proud of her. I have lots of work to do to be fully deserving of this brave girl, but after a day like today it feels like we could conquer anything! (Except dressage 😂 - but we are working on that too!) #eventing #eventinghorse #xc #morganmare #comeback
Fun working on our jumping at home today 1) no st Fun working on our jumping at home today 
1) no stirrups 2) trot verticals 3) adjust canter 4) work a related distance ✅. Felt great. She was keen and took me to the fences 😍 #eventinghorse #morganmare
🎉 New blog post alert! My first story about our 🎉 New blog post alert! My first story about our trip to the Baja peninsula is live - link in bio.  Read all about the fun we had staying and tequila tasting at  @thecapehotel, massages at @cabosurfhotel delicious food at @florafarms and @elhuertof2t  #bajacalifornia #vacationvibes #cabosanlucas #beachday @thecapehotel @florafarms @cabosurfhotel
My handsome boy. The many faces of King Arthur. #b My handsome boy. The many faces of King Arthur. #blacklab #blacklabrador
I would choose them both every time. It’s defin I would choose them both every time.  It’s definitely not easy having two horses and one rider. But I am going to make it work as long as I possibly can because they are part of me. 😍 Can you have two ❤️ horses for different reasons? Because I might have just got that lucky.
It makes me so happy to see Rogee fit, strong and It makes me so happy to see Rogee fit, strong and enjoying his rehabbed body. He’s really learning what he’s can do with himself these days physically and it’s also really rewarding to see his personality shift down a few gears to a generally more relaxed state… #goodboy
I planted these at the end of April - and finally I planted these at the end of April - and finally I get my first harvest!!
Burghley Revisited. What a terrific time we had. # Burghley Revisited. What a terrific time we had. #eventing #5* #burghleyhorsetrials
This 15.1hh stallion stole my heart. Does Q need a This 15.1hh stallion stole my heart. Does Q need a husband? 😍 I mean, that jump. Very much my ride!!!
Scenes of St Paul’s, Trafalgar Square and Fulham Scenes of St Paul’s, Trafalgar Square and Fulham Palace Road at dusk #london
After all the fun and running around of the last w After all the fun and running around of the last week, I spent my last full day in the UK at the spa with @rachaelfaulkner1 who no doubt deserved a day off way more than me! Fun times. And what an amazing week I’ve had. #spaday
Load More Follow on Instagram

Footer

A bit about me... I grew up in the UK and moved to Northern California in the late 1990s, drawn here, like so many others, by the lure of the dot.com ...

Read More

More to Explore

All Posts Archive

Stay Connected

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Never Miss a Post

Copyright© 2023 · Alice Dishes

website by lobstervine