Venezia, the improbable city.

Highlights: Getting up really early one morning to go to the "Pescheria" (the Fish Market) at the Rialto -- the freshest fish I ever saw; exploring real Venice neighboorhods as far away from San Marco as possible, searching out local flavors with the locals and finding some great places to eat.... Finally on my last day, navigating as fast as a local between point A and B

Quick Tips:

Learn the Vaporetto routes and system as soon as you can. If there for 2-3 days, its probably worth it to invest in an unlimited use card (L 35,000 for 3-days) which allows you to hop on an off at will, even for a stop or two. (In reality, they'll rarely even ask to see it, but you risk a 40,000 fine without a valid ticket)

Best Way To Get Around:

Stayed here based on (high) recommendation from here, however we were *very* disappointed! Not long established, owners, father and son, Davide have only been in the hotel business a year or two. To my mind frankly they''re not suited in the least for this trade as neither possesses the type of giving/caring personality needed in service-related industry.

They obviously spent a great deal -- on renovations, and things like toiletries with logos, however what we perceived most was a general ''cheapness'' as if they are watching every penny. Cheap? Examples; you get soap with "Gaffaro". Wonderful, but just try getting another piece during your couple of days stay. Reviewer here raved about juice (which was only fair) at breakfast. However only once in four days was juice offered without having to specifically ask. Breakfast poor. Got bread with mold one morning (really!). Cheap! Service stank. Owners act as if they would prefer guests not bother them asking for breakfast. A frown is really not the kind of thing you like to see every time you come in or out.

Based on review here with photos, we requested "attic room", which had great price ($75). However attic room we got was different. This, much smaller, was so tiny you couldn''t have swung the proverbial cat. Sloping ceiling (roof): couldn''t walk upright. Was sold as a "Double": Hah! Weather was warm that day, but in our room it was like an oven. So stifling with so little airflow we actually slept with door open (no kidding). It was so bad, I couldn''t even sleep that night. They advertise "Air-Conditioned" but true to form, Papa was reluctant to actually turn on it (even though he said guests were requesting it), and never was during four days with, "You can''t just turn it on, it takes a few days". Papa was actually just not eager to spend another dollar of your $120/night on you. After we changed to larger room (L 260,000) downstairs things improved (that is we could walk upright and had an adequate air supply) but sour demeanor of our hosts remained constant every day.

Final note, Hotel Gaffaro advertises itself as a "3 star" hotel. It''s not. I checked with the Venice Hotel Assoc. and the Gaffaro is not technically classified as a "hotel", but as an 1st class "affita camere" (guest rooms, loosely translated, a B&B) which they say technically equals a "3-star" hotel. This is highly confusing, and Gaffaro shouldn''t advertise "3 starts". Be aware of this, as we were both, fooled, and disappointed by such a rating.

In sum, I highly DO NOT recommend this place. However, in the same great non touristy neighborhood there is the Hotel Falier, which looks quite nice -- we''d actually cancelled reservations there (big mistake). For less money the Hotel Iris with a terrific location, looked like a pretty good deal. Next time, I would check it out.

Sorry for long diatribe -- just want to save others our mistake.