Visiting Venice
Doge's Palace
While known for its canal network, characteristic gondolas as well as its historic center, Venice never loses its power to enchant even return visitors who come here year after year.
Just as it is with many other major tourist destination from around the world, Venice is so much more than the main sights in the somewhat fragile “centro storico” and gondola rides around its canals, while every first-time visitor to Venice has to have those experiences, those who are enthralled by the city and return to it find out rather quickly that underneath the tourist layer there are many quiet corners that can be explored without the need for a gondola.
Venice is criss-crossed not only by canals but also by many quiet and narrow alleys, and of course not to mention the many wonderful bridges that span its canals. This means that you’re never more than a a bridge and an alley away from finding a small neighborhood wine bar or a a quaint little church.
Those who are interested in knowing more about the best time to visit Venice, one has to know that the best time or low season are relative concepts when it comes to Venice. As far as hotel discounts go these tend to be most easy to find during the hot days of August, as well as from the middle of November till the end of January. One should be aware of the fact that Venice during winter is a rather magical place, very atmospheric due to the mist that rises from the canals, however prices tend to start soaring from the beginning of February because of the Carnevale which usually runs for about three weeks during that month.
As mentioned earlier there are quite a few things to see and do while in Venice, for the first-time visitor however there are a few places that you shouldn’t miss, one of them would be the Doge’s Palace.
The city’s doges or dukes, were elected from the aristocracy, by the aristocracy; the upper mentioned Palace reflects the quintessential machinery behind what Venice used to be, it concealed its hard-nosed commercial and administrative activities behind shimmering exteriors. The inside of the place is a great demonstration of this as its huge meeting halls and formal reception rooms which feature literally acres of canvases made by Tintoretto and Veronese, you can find small narrow chambers where the city scribes and bureaucrats worked away in rather cramped settings.
