We Open In Venice...

Venice is the most implausible, impossible, fantastical city in the world. The entire place is like a gigantic film set, or maybe a decrepit 18th-century theatre, all faded pastels and decayed surfaces. I certainly felt like a child in a dress-up box as my head recreated scenes form films as diverse as Casino Royale, Don't Look Now, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Yet it is Venice itself that is the star.

There are the three holy trinity of sites that everyone sees - St Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace, and then over the bridge to the Accademia. And indeed these are must-sees. But there are so many other things to investigate. Into Modern Art? Try the Peggy Guggenheim collection. A history buff? Visit the museum of the 18th century at Ca' Rezzonico. The many and disparate churches groan with treasures. Each district has its own identity, from plush San Marco to the hectic area around the Rialto, from the backstreets of Murano to the old Jewish ghetto. It is the wandering down interesting side-steets, crossing petite bow-backed bridges, seeing the sunlight dapple an expanse of ivy-framed plaster, and getting lost (in all senses of the phrase) amongst the squirming alleyways that is the real treat. Each turn presents a marble-sheathed chapel, the grand gates of the Arsenal, a view across the lagoon, or a glimpse of real Ventian life - a bustling enoteca, hunched old women gossiping, or a child waving from a shuttered window.

In Venice the journey is the destination. Take the vaporetto down the length of the grand canal. Travel across to Giudecca and the campanile of San Giorgio Maggiore for an aerial view of the city, haggle for glassware with the artisans of Murano. Don't neglect the surrounding hinterland - Padua makes for a stunning day-trip, and Verona is easy to reach by train. Don't be afraid to have a little splurge - the romantic gondola ride by night, the artfully-crafted glasswork souvenirs, the fine dining at Le Bistrot de Venise. However, shop around. The same mask or vase can vary in price tremendously. And in the off-season it is possible to get a hotel three-minutes from San Marco for under £40 a night.

Quick Tips:

Venice is a mecca for sight-seekers - a pilgrimage that can only increase in numbers as burgeoning wealth in the middle-east, Indian subcontinent and China create a new class of tourists. If you want to enjoy Venice in solitude visit soon. Or travel in the off-season - by the simple expedient of visiting at the tail end of November I avoided the worst of the crowds. The Lista di Spagna, Rialto, Riva degli Schiavoli would still fill up, but by taking a side-street the crowds could be avoided. Likewise, St Mark's Square is empty at 9am, before the souvenir-sellers have even set up their stalls. Visiting the Palazzo Ducale, the Basilica or the Accademia as soon as they open lets you enjoy them in peace (for a while at least until the tour groups overtake you).

It is also well-worth investing in a tourist card - if you are staying a few days the discounts can actually stack up.Being under-thirty I went for the Venice Card. There are two types - Blue, which gives free passage on all ACTV public transport (eg the Vaporetti - certainly worth it if you want to visit other islands such as Murano, Burano or San Giorgo Maggiore), and Orange, which also gives the equivalent of a Museum Card, giving free access to a number of sites, including the Palazzo Ducale, Museo Correr, Ca 'Rezzonico, glass museum on Murano. Indeed the museums of the Piazza San Marco can only be visited with a museum card. There is reduced admission to other sites such as the Peggy Guggenhein collection, the Naval History museum, the Scuola Grande and the Jewish Museum. You can also get a Chorus Pass allowing free access to 20 churches such as the Redentore, Gesuati and Miracoli for free. There are also discounts in various restaurants and retail outlets. Plus, you get a free map of Venice - much more indepth than that in any guidebook, which lists discounts on the reverse. My three-day orange card cost me €35. Not only did I make more than that in savings, but just the ease of knowing that you can just flash you card and breeze through is also invaluable. There is a €2 discount if you order over 48 hours in advance via www.venicecard.com and pick up your card in town (usually the office by the Ferrovia vaporetto stop).

Best Way To Get Around:

With a Venice card it's easy to hop onto one of the many vaporetti (water buses) that cicle the city. The most useful will be route 1 (frequent down the Grand Canal), 82 (San Zaccaria, San Giorgo, Giudecca and Dorsoduro) and 41/42 (San Zaccaria, Fondamente Nove, the Cemetary and Murano).They zig-zag across the Grand Canal so are often more useful than the tragghetti that pole you across (and which I could never find when I wanted one).

Gondolas are expensive, but worth it for the romance. Water taxis are, per mile, one of the most expensive forms of transport in the world (up there with NASA space flights and British trains) and should be avoided unless you are really desperate.

Most surprisingly, Venice is good for walking. It is not a big city, and depending on crowds and gawping you could easily walk from the train station to St Mark's Square in 20 minutes without getting your feet wet. Wandering away from the main hordes gives you new vistas, and even when lost in Santa Croce at 10 at night it is hard to be scared or threatened. Bear in mind though that the palazzi of the Canale Grande were designed to be seen from the water.

Venice is also ideally situated to visit the other cities of the Veneto. The train station has automatic ticket dispensers in a variety of languages. It costs a mere €2.70 to vist medieval Padua (or twice as much on the Intercity), €8.50 for the hour journey to oggle the Palladian architecture of Vicenza, and from there Verona, city of lovers awaits. The trains are fast, clean, and efficient.

When getting to Venice by plane a cheaper option may not be to fly to Venice direct by scheduled airlines. I flew from Liverpool to Treviso for £25 return on Ryanair. From there a bus connects with every flight and takes you straight to Piazzale Roma for €5, a journey of an hour.

I hesitate to recommend this hotel. Not that it is bad - far from it. It's just that I want this to remain my hidden secret. An en suite room, less than three minutes walk from St Mark's Square, and about six from the Rialto, for under £40 a night? I have to be joking right?

Not at all. Just off the square fronting La Fenice a doorway leads to red-carpetted stairs. My room featured a big double bed, wardrobe, TV, and an ensuite complete with sink, toilet, shower and bidet. The furniture was styled to resemble 18th-century stylings with curlicues. The reception staff/owners are friendly and helpful. There is a full complimentary breakfast - cereal, juice, hot drinks, pastries, yogurts, fruit - which I believe can be a rarity in Venice. Best of all is the location, right in the heart of the action, and the rock-bottom price.

So are there any negatives? Yes, two complaints with my room which is why I am not giving a five-star rating. Firstly my window overlooked a grimy interior courtyard - not that I could see anything of it, as scaffolding prevented me from opening my shutters. Secondly, my room was right next door to the reception desk (which is staffed 24 hours). On one occassion I was woken at 4am by a very loud American woman shouting about her flight to London. And it takes a lot to wake me. I suppose I should have asked to move rooms, but frankly I couldn't be bothered, and the place was still nice enough.

Details of the place can be seen on www.hotelmercurio.com. I usually book hotels in Italy via www.venere.com, but the prices on the hotel's own website were identical, so I booked direct with Mercurio.

The winding alleyways of Castello are wonderfully atmospheric when devoid of tourists. If San Marco yearns with intensity for the tourist dollar, here in Castello, just a few steps from Riva Degli Schiavoni, you get to see life more as it is lived by the remaining inhabitants of Venice. An old lady in a coat tottering down an enclosed alley. Burly men spilling from the doorway of an enoteca, raucous Italian echoing around a small square. Two women in headscarves sat gossiping on the benches before San Giovanni In Bragora.

The €16 set menu advertised outside this cosy little trattoria drew me in, warm amber light being thrown from the window across the angular old masonry of the Campiello. Inside the decor is simple and basic, but with a grand selection of corkscrews and bottle-openers on the walls. Deciding to go for the set menu, I first chose my starter. From the list available (lasagna, fish salad, vegetable soup) I chose Spagghetti al Vongole. This was the highlight of the meal. The clams came in a garlicky (but not too garlicky) butter sauce, messy and juicy. The main course of Venice's omnipresent fried fish - prawns, calimari rings, sardines and polpi (whole baby octopi, their tentacles splayed like fingers on a palm) - was a bit of a let down. It came with a grainy yellow block of what looked like sweet potato but proved to be my first ever taste of polenta. For dessert was amaretto gelati in a tin tray. It looked shop-bought, fresh from the freezer compartment, but the waiter assured me all desserts were homemade. I also had a half-bottle of Soave with my meal - €12, about £8. It was a perfectly nice wine, and you have to take restaurant prices into consideration, but I wouldn't have paid £8 for it in an off-license at home. £4.99 maybe, but not £8.

By this point I had got talking to an American couple at the next table. They had gone a la carte, and their antipasto of sliced meats, and whole fish for main course looked superb. I ordered a Bellini (€5) as I chatted, and they were intrigued by my gelato and ordered one themselves.

The meal was perfectly edible, not the worst I had in my time in Venice, but not the best either. For an introductory meal it taught me what to expect from set menus, and gave me a taste of typical Venetian dishes. All that was required now was to find my way back through the maze of streets!

Check it out for yourselves at www.alvecioportal.it It is closed on Tuesdays.

I am going to propose in Venice. And I am going to propose in le Bistrot de Venise.

What a superb restaurant. For someone who inclines more to the budget and economy sectors when travelling, let me just say that if you are intending to have a blowout in Venice, or if you have a certain special someone in your life, this is the place to take them.

Upon entering it is clear that this is not going to be a cheap meal. As you might spot from the name, the atmosphere aims more towards an upscale French bistro. Modern art on the walls, subdued classical music, waiting staff in black tie, and dressed up couples holding hands between courses. Across from my table the restaurant's award-winning cookbook (only available in French) was displayed. The restaurant specializes in traditional historic Venetian dishes culled from old documents and Goldoni plays. I went for the €55 menu degustazione to try a bit of everything.

1) Pre-starter. A nice thick chewy lump of octopus in a hearty mushroom sauce.

2) Starter. A flaky filo pastry crown containing prawns, grapes, and what tasted like the filling of a chicken-and-mushroom pie. The prawns were dense and juicy.

3) Zuppa. A white rice-flour soup called Bramagere that tasted quite grainy. It was flavoured with roast chicken and flaked almonds, and decorated with jewel-like pomegranite seeds that exploded tartly in the mouth.

4) Main course. Lamb. Delicious lamb. Crispy on the outside, juicy in the centre, with a light orange sauce. You could really taste the lamb's melt-in-the-mouth succulence. It came with what I thought was polenta but turned out to be pumpkin (bleeargh!) and some candied orange.

5) Pre-dessert. A test-tube style affair of delicate cream with a chewy purple thing on top (actually a walnut!)

6) Dessert. An orange mousse with a little parcel of sweet meats.

7) Aperitif. Satsuma liqueur served in a chocolate thimble.

They have a wine list thicker than a phone directory, but to be honest, for just one wine would have been overkill. A bottle of mineral water is really sufficient to cleanse the palate between courses and prepare you for the next treat.

The damage? €55 + €3 for water + €5 for a spritz + 12% tax. With a Venice card you then get a 10% discount. In total I paid almost £50. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Yes. The tastes I really like - prawns, grapes, lamb (oh God, that lamb!)- were really made the most of, and those I don't tend to care for - almonds, walnut - were so subtle that they enhanced the meal. I will be returning to Venice, once I have found the love of my life. I just hope I can keep my mind off the food!

Its website is fairly classy too - www.bistrotdevenise.com. It offers a reservation service. I was lucky enough to get in without (I turned up early) but I'd recommend making sure they have a table!

The Taverna San Trovaso does fast food - and they mean fast. I entered, was seated, served a fresh piping hot pizza, and was moved out again within thirty minutes. A mere hop, skip and a jump from the Accademia this is an ideal place for a quick lunch to recharge you before another afternoon of frantic sightseeing.

The service was a tad brusque, but the place was full, even at the tail end of November. While it looks like a hidden rustic nook from the exterior it is definitely on the tourist trail - Yorkshire and Estuary accents predominated. Maybe not surprisingly - I headed here after noticing it in my Rough Guide, one of the nearest marked restaurants to the Accademia.

The food is nothing fancy, but it's good, unfussy, and comes to your table quickly. I plumped for the Pizza San Trovaso, a crispy base topped with mozzarella, prosciutto, wurst, mushrooms, avocado and olives. It was €8.50 - and this was one of the most expensive pizzas on the menu! Refreshed, I set out again.

The trattoria is closed on Mondays, and is in a very scenic area of Dorsuduro. Continue down the Fondamente Nani while you are in the area to spot one of Venice's two remaining 'squero', or gondolier workshops, an incongruous courtyard looking like an Alpine barnyard. Great photos can be had here.

There are a plethora of eateries located down the length of the Strada Nova, Venice's 'main street' that stretches from the train station and the Lista di Spagna down to San Marco. I'm not entirely sure what drew me to Dai Peochi. I only knew that, after a day trip to Padua I wanted to find somewhere to eat before San Marco. I wandered up to the Ghetto and back down again studying menus and looking for something where I wasn't paying 'stupid tourist tax'. The menu here looked inviting with its mix of pastas, fish and meat, and though I walked on a further five minutes I didn't see anything to top it, so I retraced my steps.

I opted to sit inside the small simple dining room rather than on one of the tables outside. The restaurant was unadorned, though with rather good music - understated Massive Attack-y trip hop. I was just about to try to ask, what I assumed was the owner, what the music was when the album changed to something more cringeworthy. But curiously apt for someone reading 'The Merchant Of Venice' between courses - Dire Strait's 'Romeo And Juliet'. It was actually not as bad as I dreaded. Does a Dire Straits reappraisal begin here?

Anyway, choosing from the menu I went for the Papardelle d'Anatria for my primi Platti - thick ribbons of pasta with duck. To be honest the shredded duck wasn't much in evidence, but the delicious sauce made up for it. Enthused by the lamb I had eaten at Le Bistrot de Venise the previous night (q.v.) I went for the roast lamb, polenta and roast potatoes. However, this meat disappointed - half of it was either bone or fat, and not as succulent as I'd hoped. Plus, lacking sauce or gravy, the potatoes were too dry. If the main course was a let down, my dessert made up for it - panna cotta with frutti di bosco. Clearly homemade, the topping of berries was mouthwateringly tart.

Something I had not noticed when I entered, but realised while dining, was that my Venice Card got me a 5% discount on the price, something that confirmed my decision to step away from the usual menu turistico offerings of vegetable soup and fried fish. So for that, the pappardelle, and the panna cotta I would give this place a thumbs up (despite the, er, eclectic musical tastes exhibited). Just avoid the lamb.

The Ristorante Dalla Mora is located right on the main drag of Murano, opposite the Fondamenta dei Vetrai, and just down from the Campo San Stefano. Its website (www.ristorantedallamora.com) proudly boasts of its speciality in fish dishes and seasonal specialities. This is not just a typical feed-em-and-get-rid-of-em tourist trap though, despite its location in the midst of Murano's glass salesrooms. I went for Sunday lunch and found that the interior was full already of a loud, good-natured Italian party. They obviously knew the food here would be good. I was hence relegated to a table outside overlooking the canal. It was a bit chilly for external eating in November, but not too cold, and this didn't impact on my enjoyment of the meal. Plus I got a good view.

Well, if their specialities are seafood and seasonal produce that it what I had. And in November seasonal produce means mushrooms. And these mushrooms were lovely. For starter I had tagliatelle with scampi and porcini. For the main course a slice of fried John Dory with succulent ceps. It could have done with more in the way of vegetables, but for what I was paying I wasn't going to argue.

Memo to self: IgoUgo users put time and effort into their recommendations. Use them.

By my last night in Venice I had dined in Castello, Dorsuduro, San Marco, Cannaregio and Murano, so I thought it was time to try somewhere in the San Polo/Santa Croce area. I took details of a couple of restaurants that looked decent from the reviews (Trattoria Alla Madonna and Paradiso Perduto), but when I found them they didn't look that prepossessing. So I thought I'd wander and find somewhere that took my fancy. There then followed a classic instance of getting lost in Venice - I thought I was heading west towards the Frari; instead I ended up north of San Cassiano. After half an hour of aimless wanderings I decided I needed to stop at the next place I saw so I could get my bearings.

At this point I was accosted by a little old man in a mustard pork-pie hat. He handed me a flier for a €20 set menu. Entering up the steps into the Osteria I noticed there was only one other couple dining. I was seated, and they brought me a €30 set menu - with a glass of complimentary prosecco admittedly, but still I had to ask for the promised €20 menu.

The meal itself was unremarkable. A plate of potato gnocchi in tomato sauce (tough going). Fried fish (gritty). Panna cotta (rather nice actually). Plus €3.50 for a bottle of water. Plus €3 for service charge (so that's actually a €23 set menu then surely...?) I wasn't impressed with the food, I wasn't impressed with the ambience. And it certainly wasn't worth €26.50 of my hard-earned money (about £17!).

The restaurant is closed on Fridays, should you decide to visit regardless. Next time I'm following the recommendations!

The island of Murano sits to the north-east of Venice itself. Almost a miniature of Venice it comes complete with a Grand Canal, at least one outstanding church, and the inevitable tourists. But one thing above all attracts them - glass.

In 1291 Venice's glass furnaces were moved to Murano to contain the risk of fires. Already Venice had achieved a reputation as the paramount site for glass artifice. Practically imprisoned on Murano, the craftsmen whose wares brought such high prices were allowed to marry into nobility and wear swords, but were forbidden from leaving the island for fear that they might take the secrets of their art with them.

Their legacy lives on today. The main route up the Fondamenta dei Vetri from the Colonna veporetto stop and around to the Museo Vetrario is lined with salesrooms displaying their technicolour wares. Thankfully, sales techniques are very low-key - by coming to Murano you have already admitted that you are looking to buy. Pressure from salespersons is not very apparent. The larger finer pieces can reach astonishing prices, but you can get paperweights, clocks and bottle-stoppers from €10 up. For me the bright multicoloured souvenirs can look very garish, but there is clearly a market for them. The trick is in browsing around - prices vary. Buying direct on Murano saves you money from the prices in the showrooms around St Mark's Square in Venice, plus you are guaranteed that these are official Murano products, not cheap imports.

The Museo Vetrario (entrance free with Venice Card, €4 otherwise) showcases some of the finest works - principally the the 15th century Barovier marriage cup. Exhibits range from the delicate and simple to the ghastly and showy (mostly the more modern works). It is closed on Wednesdays.

One place not to miss, and in my opinion the second finest church in all Venice (after the Basilica) is the church of Maria e Donato up past the Museum. It is a twelfth-century Romanesque construction of warm honey-hued stone. I found the church empty, silent and peaceful, though it is obviously still a focal point of the parish. There are a couple of icons, a superb mosaic floor, and some bones hanging behind the altar - supposedly those of a dragon killed when St Donatus spat at it! There is also a stunning modern baptismal font fashioned of multicoloured Murano glass. Peering into its shiny depths is like looking into a glowing kaleidoscope. I envy any baby baptised there.

In the Byzantine style the Basilica of San Marco squats over its Piazza, a glamorous visitor from another world. A visit is quite-rightly seen as the highlight of any visit to Venice.

When I visited in November you entered via a catwalk - the waters of the lagoon had started to rise. The piazza was speckled with water forcing its way up through the drains, and inside the marble flooring of the narthex was slick and shiny with moisture. Appropriately enough mosaics of Noah and the flood, amongst other Old Testament scenes, are overhead. Once into the nave you are dazzled by gold. The domes, the arches, the walls, all have Byzantine style mosaics against a rich gilt background. It felt like being inside one of those copper jelly-moulds you see hanging in posh country kitchens (just over from the Aga). The colours were incredibly vivid, despite mostly being 12th-13th century. They reminded me of the nineteenth-century work in the Church on Spilt Blood in St Petersburg - however, despite all the gold they were not so gauche. The floor too was patterned marble, taking in geometric forms, peacocks, and some Escher-esque 3D designs.

€1.50 lets you up to the sanctuary where the high altar sits over what is supposed to be the tomb of St Mark (his relics were nicked from Alexandria in 828 by Venetian merchants, allegedly smuggled past the Muslim guards by being hidden in a confection of pork). Behind is the Pala d'Oro. As if you hadn't had enough bling this is the finest confection of worked gold and inlaid gems from Constantinople and Venice, dating from 976. And 1105. And 1209. And 1345. As well as the gold it contains 300 sapphires, 300 emeralds, 400 garnets, 15 rubies, 1300 pearls and so forth. The detail of workmanship is exquisite, forcing you to squint.

Another €3 and you can climb to the Museo Marciano. The highlights here are the elevated view straight down the nave, a closer peer at some of the mosaics, and the Doge's-eye view from the balcony over St Mark's Square. The real sell is meant to be the Roman horses of San Marco. And yes, the four steeds are very naturalistic, but they did not wow me.

Returning outside to the square you can see the first known depiction of the basilica in the mosaics above the left entrance. Follow the wall round towards the Palazzo Ducale to check out the porphyry Tetrarchs set into the angle of the wall.

Entry to the Basilica itself, is free, though I certainly recommend paying the extra fees detailed above. From Monday to Saturday it opens from 9.30am to 5pm, and from 2-4 on Sundays. I would recommend being an early bird - as I said, it is a must-see, and everyone else seems to agree. It gets busy. At rush hour you would be very lucky to get a good enough study of the Pala d'Oro.

The eighteenth century saw Venice's last brilliant flourish before it faded into irrelevancy at the hands of Napoleon. The city's Museo del Settecento Veneziano provides an interesting look at the lives enjoyed by Venice's mega-rich. Modesty clearly got you nowhere in society in those days - heroic mythic allegories relating to advantageous marriages and portraits of Papal kinsmen were all the rage.

Some of the works on display are truly breathtaking - frescos brought from the home of the artistic Tiepolo family, Pietro Longhi cartoons of Venetian life, the only two canal views by Canaletto on show to the public in Venice (the bulk of the remainder were snapped up by gentlemen of great taste during their Grand Tours and spirited back to England), and the ebony carvings of Andrea Brustolon (a sample being a console featuring Hercules and negro slaves in chains holding up vases). Most noteworthy though is an outstanding alabaster sculpture of a woman in a veil. It is solid, but seemingly transparent, the veil clinging to cheek, lip and brow, revealing the face 'underneath.' I'm blowed if I know how it was done. Never before Have I wanted to touch an exhibit so much in my life.

The upper floor houses a collection of Venetian art with nothing to make you stop and gasp.

While an interesting look at the luxury the Venetian privileged surrounded themselves with, in many ways I would say it was a missed opportunity. It simply didn't tell the whole story. How did the Rezzonico buy their way into the nobility? What was the process whereby a Venetian family would get one of their own appointed Pope? What would the daily routine of the family members have been? And how would their inevitable army of servants (and slaves?) have lived? Compared to other museums I have visited (such as the Tallinn City Museum) it really explained nothing. Still, worth it just for the woman in the veil!

Entrance is free with a Venice Card, €6.50 otherwise. There are both vaporetto and thragghetto stops right outside. It is not open on Tuesdays.

From the Piazzale a church can be seen, seemingly floating upon the surface of the lagoon. This church is that of San Giorgio Maggiore (St. George the Greater). Situated on its own speck of land its greatest claim to fame is its campanile, from which fabulous views of Venice can be obtained.

Construction of the present church commenced in 1565 to the designs of the great Vicenzan architect Andrea Palladio. The neo-classical frontage, complete with Corinthian columns, in white Istian marble, and the symmetry of the church are all keynotes of Palladio's style. Inside there is a panoply of paintings by Domenico and Jacopo Tintoretto, including a Last Supper flanking the altar, and a nativity by Jacopo Bassano, the infant Jesus glowing like a Ready-Brek kid. There are also some lovely carved stalls in the choir. Thankfully they are illuminated so you can see them.

However, the real selling point is the bell-tower. €3 whisks you to the top in an express elevator. Distant as it is from the city, the campanile gives an unmatched 360 degree view over towards the Piazza San Marco, Dosuduro and the Salute, and the smaller islands stretching south through the lagoon, the three o'clock sun glinting on the placid seas by Sacca Sessola. From here you can actually glimpse the waterways threading through Venice - as compared to the campanile at San Marco which gives an uninterrupted view of brown rooftops.

The Frari is one of the two monster churches of Venice, the other being San Zanipolo. Erected at the wishes of the Franciscan order in the fourteenth-century, the brick construct is nothing much to look at externally. However, it holds within it some fascinating works of religious art.

Any list of artwork of note would have to start off with Titian's 'Assumption', the first altarpiece to be set in portrait rather than landscape format. Mary floats up towards a warmly glowing heaven, the crowd below straining to touch her feet. To its left in the Capella Corner you will find what the Rough Guide describes as the 'superbly vivid' (ain't that the truth!) 'St Mark Enthroned' by Bartolomeo Vivarini. To the right though is my favourite work in the church - possibly in all Venice - Giovanni Bellini's triptych of 'Madonna and Child with SS Nicholas of Bari, Peter, Mark and Benedict'. No matter what angle you view it from, the Virgin appears to be three dimensional, a statue posed in an apse rather than a flat two-dimensional painting. "It is as solemn as it is gorgeous and as simple as it is deep" according to Henry James. St Benedict scowls sternly at you.

There are also some corking tombs too, mainly of Doges. There is a plain floor panel marking the grave of Monteverdi, a massive edifice housing the mortal remains of Titian, and a god-awful pyramid that is out of keeping with the rest of the church that serves as a mausoleum to the sculptor Canova. The mourning figures are good, but why the pyramid? Particularly when, for all its bulk and size, it contains only the heart of Canova? To its right stands a grisly memento mori to Doge Giovanni Pesaro.

Year-round it is open all day (9 till 6) Monday to Saturday, and Sunday afternoons. Entry is €2, or free with a Chorus Pass (which you are entitled to with an Orange Venice Card).

Yes, I know. I have been outspoken before out my hatred of faux-Irish Pubs wherever they may be, from the Andes to Andorra, from Cambridge to Cologne. However, sometimes you have to get your priorities straight - Manchester United were playing Chelsea and I needed to find somewhere likely to show the football.

The Fiddler's Elbow, just off the Strada Nova near the Ca' d'Oro has the usual characteristics of an Irish Pub, which you can take as positives or negatives as you wish - a largely Anglophone clientele, Guinness posters on the walls, battered little tables crammed into nooks, and televisions tuned to sports channels. The youthful crowd were friendly, comprised of students, the odd married couple to whom Venice was a second home, and the occasional Italian keen on the English league who asked questions concerning the points gap between the two teams, and how the end result (a 1-1 draw) affected the title race.

The drink of choice was Kilkenny at €5 a pint. A useful spot for those missing the comforts of home, but not the sort of place I would automatically recommend as one of my places to visit in Venice.

Crossing the wooden Ponte dell' Accademia from the southern tip of San Marco takes you to the pre-eminent depository of Venetian art, the Gallerie dell' Accademia. This is a local collection, not the world-spanning variety you might see at the Louvre in Paris, the Hermitage in St Petersburg or the National Gallery in London. It is perforce somewhat parochial. But the fortunes of Venice could, in their heyday, buy in the very best!

In my opinion the earlier, brighter works on display - the Veneziano icons, the brilliant Bellinis - are far superior to the dark oppressive 17th-century works that Venice is replete with, the Tintorettos and Titians. However I must give a mention to Veronese's 'Last Supper', such a big, bustling, busy, jolly affair that that the Inquisitors naturally complained. The subject of their ire was less the dwarf jester (can't say that I recall him from church) and more the German (Protestant?) mercenaries. So Veronese simply renamed the piece 'Christ In The House of Levi' and everyone was satisfied!

From here it is a long walk past several hundred dreary pastoral landscapes, Riccis and Zais's, to two fabulous cycles of paintings. 'The Miracles of the Relic of the Cross' is by various artists, depicting the 'miraculous occurences' attributed to the relic. 'The Miracle of the True Cross at the Bridge of San Lorenzo' shows a host of swimming priests bobbing about in the water trying to retrieve the cross. 'The Miracle of the Relic in Campo San Lio' has every inch of balcony, window, and roof stacked with figures.

The second cycle is Carpaccio's 'Story of St Ursula'. The story is that the Breton princess Ursula would only marry the British prince Hereus if he would convert to Christianity and accompany her troup of 11,000 virgins (!) on pilgrimage to Rome. As you will see, things start to turn slightly sticky when they reach Cologne...

There are fact sheets in different languages explaining the sights to be seen in each individual room. Sometimes they go into more detail about the allegorical meanings of the paintings - 'We can see that this is St Francis because of his x, his y, and his z...' which are really enlightening.

The museum opens at 8.15am each day, until 7.15pm (2 o'clock on Mondays). For foreigners the entrance fee is a well-worth-it €6.50, or €3.25 for discounts. It gets busy, so I would recommend visiting early in the day. The tour groups mights soon overtake you though. Leave it until the evening however and you may run out of time - there is a lot to take in!

The website (Italian only - sorry) is at www.galerieaccademia.org

A third of the population of Venice - around 50,000 people - died over 1575-76. To give thanks for the passing of the plague the Senate voted funds for the construction of a church to mark their redemption. Situated on the northern side of Giudecca, looking out towards Venice, that church came to be known as 'Il Redentore'. Every year since then during the Festa del Redentore a pontoon bridge from the Zattere on Dorsuduro has been built - originally to allow the Doge and senators to keep the city pox-free, now for the mayor to entertain the tourists. It is now celebrated on the third Sunday of July. This festival is featured in a scene of the novel 'Eustace and Hilda' by L.P.Hartley, where the jaded English tourists sail out into the canal at night to picnic and watch the fireworks. At midnight, to their astonishment, chains of fire pick out the image of a bloody weeping Christ superimposed over the face of the church as the climax to the celebrations.

The architect chosen to design the church was the neo-classicist Andrea Palladio, who had left such a lasting mark on Vicenza. The class system was writ large in his brief - to divide the church into three distinct sections. There was to be a choir for the Franciscan monks, a tribune around the altar for the great and the good (not necessarily the same thing!), and a nave, for the plebs. Palldio got round this by the use of curving screens breaking up the sightlines but still leaving the altar as the focal point of the church.

Later decoration was provided by a number of artworks. Bassano was clearly very big on nativities, his trademark being a supernaturally-glowing Christ child.

The church is €2, or free with a Chorus Pass (which costs €8 and allows access to other churches such as the Frari, the Miracoli, San Polo anf the Gesuati). It is open from 10am to 5pm, apart from Sundays, when it only opens at one.

Adjoining the Basilica stands the cornerstone of temporal power in Venice - the Palazzo Ducale. The stunning pink-patterned building with its ornate arches was described by John Ruskin as "the central building of the world", and consider how many buildings of the 14th-century still survive that were not constructed by church or king, but by republic. Admittedly the republic was a place where, in Joe Strummer's words, "all the power's in the hands of the people rich enough to buy it". But then was it not ever thus?

After nosing around the exterior of the palazzo (in particular check out the column moulding by the bridge depicting The Drunkenness of Noah), head into the palace. The central courtyard is dominated by the Scala dei Giganti. It was between Sansovino's brutish Mars and Neptune that a new doge would be crowned.

Up the Scale d'Oro you will see lots of allegorical depiction (eg. depictions of Venus: in mythology Venus was born in Cyprus: the Venetians had just bullied the Cypriot queen into handing over the keys to her kingdom). The doge's apartments reveal the taste in interior decoration possessed by the rulers of the republic - mainly redesigning the fireplace mouldings so that they prominently display your own family crest (the equivalent of scrawling 'Mocenigo woz ere' over the plasterwork). Readers will probably be as fascinated as I with the Sala dello Scudo. Two huge ornate globes are displayed, and the walls are lined with maps of the world. Note the one of North America, its interior annotated with warnings of 'anthropopaghi' - cannibals. If you've ever visited Missouri you'll understand.

Continue through the areas devoted to the power-making bodies (the Collegio and Senate) with their Veroneses and Tintorettos by the bucketload. In the armoury look for the horrific toothed chastity belt. The Sala del Maggior Consiglio is worth a long stop, dominated by a 77-year-old Tintoretto's 'Il Paradiso', the largest canvas painting in the world, containing over 500 figures. It is surmounted by a glowing Christ, Madonna, and Holy Dove. A beam of light is directed downwards towards the doge's throne. The angels and saints radiate out into the shadows, implying a diminution of God's radiance the further you are from Christ. The painting was chosen by competition, and there is an electronic screen where you can survey the candidates and vote for your favourites.

In the legal chambers there are a couple of Heironymus Bosches with great little creations - booted legs, peacock tails and a spoonbill beak under a cowl. They reappear in a depiction of Hell by Il Civetta. The Inferno looks like quite a jolly place with a wide range of ingenious torments - being imprisoned in a giant bagpipe seems the cruelest!

From the legal chambers it is down to the prison cells via the infamous Bridge of Sighs.

Entry is free with a Venice card or Museum card (€11). They get busy, so go early - it opens at 9am.

A trip down the Grand Canal is the perfect introduction to Venice, whether you are being chauffered with your loved one by a gondolier, sailing a yacht up it (sadly illegal unless you are filming a Bond film), or just cramming onto the vaporetto from the train station down to St Mark's. The vaporetto, the public transport equivalent of Metro, Tube, or Subway, gives you an unprecedented look at the wonders of Venice's main thoroughfare.

The palazzi you see were designed to present their most ostentatious faces to the canal to impress and overawe their rivals and lessers. As a result they reach heights of splendour such as the Moorish patterning of the Ca'd'Oro, reflecting the Doge's Palace at the canal's end, the rich friezes of the Palazzo Contarini-Polignac, the marble veneer of the Palazzo Dario, and the technicolour Palazzo Salviati.

Due to the demand there are not too many churches—those that do exist are located at the (unfashionable) northern end. However, one of Venice's crowning glories, the church of Santa Maria della Salute, does tip the western bank. The Salute is stunning to view, particularly when lit up by a fiery sunset, but plain and dull within.

One of the few open spaces devoid of palace or church, and thereby proving its importance to this most ostentatious of cities, is occupied by the Rialto markets: the Pescheria, Fabbriche Nuove, and Fabbriche Vecchie. The sight of the stalls being supplied by skiffs and the raucous hubbub that floats across the water create a lasting impression. The markets are even more worth visiting after dark. With all the stalls reduced to bare skeletons the market traders retreat to one of the many enotecas built into the arches below the Rialto, the orange light from within throwing distorted shadows across the flags.

The Rialto Bridge has always been a by-word for commerce—witness the number of times it is mentioned in Shakespeare's 'Merchant Of Venice'. It is also the most architecturally noteworthy of the three bridges that span the Grand Canal. The Ponte degli Scalzi by the train station is a plain stone span, but is great for your first view of the city. The Ponte degli Accademia is a looping wooden structure towards the head of the canal, arching high above the waters, and giving a great view of the Salute.

Another way to cross the canal is the traghetti—poled gondolas that cross at prescribed points from one side to the other. If your budget does not run to a full gondola experience follow one of the many signs to a crossing point where you can get a sample for 40 cents. Remember—real Venetians do it standing up!

The standard fare for a one-way vaporetto trip is €5 which is good for 90 minutes of hopping on and off down the Canal. Better value is a travel card (one day €10.50, three days €22), or a Venice card which combines these benefits.

Truly the heart of Venice is the Piazza San Marco, St Mark's Square. The city's greatest church—the Basilica of St Mark—and the Palace of the Doges is situated around the square and its smaller offshoot, the Piazzetta. Napoleon himself described the square as "The finest drawing room in Europe".

This statement should not be seen as an uncritical one however—it describes the lethargy and irrelevance that Venice had drifted into by the turn of the 19th century. A place to relax, yes, to chat and plan, yes; not a place for action. This can be seen today in the patrons supping at their over-priced coffees in the Caffes Florian, Quadri, and Lavena; the tourists slowly craning their necks up at the mosaics of the basilica, at the campanile, and trying to glimpse the 'Moors' atop the Torre dell'Orologio; and the languid couples strolling through at dusk.

Apart from the basilica and Palazzo Ducale (reviewed separately) there are other things to see. For free there is the stroll down the Piazzetta to the Molo to see the patron saints of Venice atop the twin granite columns—the winged lion of St Mark, and the city's original patron, St Theodore. Turning left down the waterfront takes you past the entrance to the Doge's Palace, to a bridge, from where you can get your compulsory photo of the Ponte dei Sospiri—the Bridge of Sighs.

Back in the Piazza, at 99m the Campanile is the tallest structure in the city. This particular version only actually dates from 1912—the original suddenly collapsed in 1902. Sixty cents allows you to ascend. The view from here has been enjoyed by many, including Galileo, Goethe, and Emperor Frederick III, who refused to dismount and instead rode his horse up to the top. For my money however a better view can be achieved by taking the vaporetto across to San Giorgio Maggiore and climbing the campanile there.

To the north of the square is the Clock Tower, or Torre dell'Orologio. You cannot visit it, and the best view comes from the front balcony of the basilica. From here you can see the two bronze statues that strike the hour, colloquially known as 'The Moors' due to the dark patina of the metal.

Surrounding the square we find the Procuratie. Essentially rather grand offices for the administration of the city when they were completed by Sansovino in the 16th century, they were converted into a palace by Napoleon's stepson upon his appointment as Viceroy of Italy, a redesign that involved tearing down Sansovino's church of San Geminiano at the square's western end and building a ballroom in its place. Nowadays, they are occupied by the Museo Correr and Museo Archeologico. Entry to these museums and the Palazzo Ducale is with the Musei di Piazza San Marco card (€11; half price for EU citizens under 30 or over 65) or the Venice Card (see Overview for details).