First impression of Venice has to be
What a scruffy place
The alleyways were dirty lots of property that is in severe need of lots of TLC.

Then what kicks in is how organised Venice is at handling the millions of tourists that go there each year.
Public transport in the city is run by one company and fares are cheap and easy to understand, the buses and Vaporetto run on time.
If when you are trying to use your best School Italian you get answered in clear English making it unnecessary to struggle for the words and this speeds up the number of customers they get but you loose the connection in your mind, that you are in a strange place.

Overall my feeling was one of We've been we don't need to go again, even though if you take a turn around a different corner you see a different face of Venice that was hidden.

Shops, you can divide them into five distinct types that sell -
Murano glass - watch out for cheap Chinese copies
Venetian Masks - so beautiful but full size so expensive
Burano Lace - again so beautiful
Vellum parchments and fancy paper
Model Gondolas and tat. Total rubbish usually from market stalls most of it made in China but priced over the top

Although there were some shops and stalls that didn't fit into those categories they were few and far between. The market stall bars were a change where you can actually drink Alcohol OUTSIDE

Food Lots of food but very few fast food places (thank goodness) though most takeaways were expensive some restaurants were over priced selling poor quality food. The choice was also really good as you could get any cuisine you fancied and which suited some of your budgets

What did come across was how friendly the Venetians are and that they are helpful in the extreme which is something a good many places would do well to learn none of the staff were brusque or surly they always had a smile and as said before most had a very good grasp of English.

Bad points of OUR trip
Ignorant and rude tourists and I'm going to say American ones as all of this type we saw were American
Pigeons Saint Marks Square was full of them and woe betide you trying to eat there
The weather OK it was October and so you expect it being a little chilly but not as cold as it was
Money I began to wonder if I had a hole in my wallet but prices were higher than we expected and we KNEW that Italy was not a cheap place to visit -we actually spent as much in 2 days as we did in Mallorca in 7 days

Venice is not a place to go on a shoestring budget but can be done out of a rucksack as we did our "hotel" was really a hostel the main thing for us it was cheap and clean and the bed was comfortable. The Concierge was highly knowledgeable and really helped us with transport routes and good places to see that we might have missed otherwise.



Please note that this review is MY personal view and not of anyone else's or company I say what I see