Originally Posted by
sophiesophie
It does appear that Venice is quite large, I realize that. I figured I'd take a cab to get there - probably expensive though. I would expect it would take up a good portion of the day - there are 3 times - lunch, early dinner and later dinner. I think I would do lunch or early dinner. I would love to visit the countryside outside of Venice, too (she has horses, as do I). However, another one that looks really good - host is Massimo. He's close.
As for my hotel, not near Madonna dall'orto nor San Apostoli. Strada Nueva is not that far - so I will not walk towards that! When you say not all good, you mean tourists and not crime? I tend to avoid touristy places, although, I will have to checkout the Basilica at some point!
No crime. Venice is one of the most crime free places there is. Of course, you can get pickpocketed in a crowd during Carnevale, and stuff like that. But muggings and things like that are almost unheard of, anywhere in Venice.
Napoleon, the scourge of Venice who brought the city to its knees and stole everything (even the horses on top of San Marcos Basilica, which Venice stole from Istanbul, which Napolean took to France, that Venice eventually took back, but didn't restore on the ramparts of the Basilica but instead hid in a museum, and put fake ones back on top of the church), mowed down the streets in order to make a straight boulevard. It's ugly now, and is nothing but fake junk and cheap clothes shops. It sort of starts at Apostoli, and gets worse the closer you get to the train station. But crime? No.
No on knows why Venice is so safe. The theory is, they didn't build a bridge connecting it to the mainland until the late 1800's. It was isolated. It's small. There's nowhere for a thief to hide. They couldn't even flee on a boat. As someone who kayaks a fair amount around the waters of Venice, the water is very shallow. Most of the time your paddle is hitting the mud. If you don't read the tidal charts, you'll be stranded in the mud at low tide. So you can't just get into a boat and speed away. You have to know the channels.
Even a kid in Venice who stole soda would be seen by someone, who would pass it on, until someone saw the father passing by on a boat, and told him. It has been historically too self enclosed for crime to thrive (mafia excepted). The only two places that don't seem right are the extreme east of Castello and extreme west of Giudecca. There are no tenements or tall buildings in Venice, except there. They started building some tenements around WW2, then thankfully stopped. I never heard of anything happening around the tenements, but it doesn't feel right. Anywhere else, you can walk around at any hour with no worry.
Of course you have to go to San Marco and see the Basilica. I run through the piazza and have coffee there all the time. I start around 6:30, then have coffee around 7:30. It's empty and beautiful, all months. Same after 9PM. Also the same is true for Rialto, but I have to say that Rialto is undergoing a major restoration and is covered in tarp these days. At least on the front side. Go to the back. Not as nice, but at least it's not covered.