Timeless Venice

When you step out of your plane into a boat for the journey to your hotel, you know you cannot be in
any other city in the world but Venice. It is a magical trip across the lagoon, with the ancient walls and cupolas floating out of the watery mists.

A two-day break is great for first-time visitors. It is too short to induce serious cultural indigestion, but long enough to catch the flavour - and experience the shock - of a city where there are no cars, where buses are boats and where the graffiti is 500 year-old masterpieces.

Venice is a paradise for culture vultures, but the city is more than just a giant museum. When you've had enough sightseeing, you can go shopping for glass, lace, leather goods and wonderful clothes.

Start off at St. Mark's Square and walk into the Basilica to marvel at the voluptuous marble interior, beautiful mosaic floors, painted friezes and ornate pillars. Entrance to the church is free but it is worth paying for two side excursions. The first is to the Sanctuary to see the Pala d'ro, a vast medieval slab of sculptured gold and precious stones depicting saints, apostles and biblical scenes, which glitters behind the high altar beneath which is the sarcophagus of St. Mark. The second is to the Loggia dei Cavalli where you can climb the narrow, marble staircase for a close-up view of the Basilica's marvellous golden ceiling and wall paintings. Also, at the top is a small museum housing the original four Roman bronze horses that decorated the facade of the Basilica from the 13th century. Walk out on to the loggia for fine views over the square and down to the waterfront.

The Pallazzo Ducale (Doges' Palace) is a collection of vast echoing walls and ceilings decorated with correspondingly vast paintings by Tintoretto, Tiepolo, Vernonese and other Italian old masters.

In the corner of one of the grandest throne rooms, is a small doorway opening into a narrow passage leading to the Bridge of Sighs. On the other side, over a canal, are the cold stone cells of the Old Prison. A hundred years of mass tourism haven't lifted their atmosphere of grim despair.

The exit from the palace is on the waterfront and if you turn right and walk a few hundred yards along the water's edge you will come to the Venetian equivalent of a bus stop - in fact a boat stop. Here you can catch a vaporetto heading up the Grand Canal, which leaves from the floating pontoon named Line 1. This is a slow boat to everywhere. The boat journey allows you to get off at Academia, for perhaps an early lunch on the waterfront, before popping into the Gallerie del l'Accademia to see the finest collection of Venetian paintings in the world, dating from the 14th to the 18th century.

If you have had your fill of culture by early afternoon, turn left out of Academia, cross a bridge on the first canal and walk along to a small square. An open door set in a wall leads to a ramshackle collection of sheds where skilled craftsmen heat oak planks with blowtorches to bend them into the graceful curves of the gondola's hulls.

Take a romantic gondola ride - but be warned - it is not cheap! Nor is food and drink in Venice. Taking tea in Cafe Florian, built in 1729 in St Mark's Square, will set you back a few Euros, but with its painted ceilings, gilded mirrors, red plush banquettes and marble tables, it is a work of art itself.Nightlife in the city is limited to cafes, bars and restaurants. The most popular entertainment is a slow promenade across St. Mark's Square. When you are tired of walking in Venice, you are tired of walking.

On your second day take in the early morning colourful fish and vegetable market at the foot of the Rialto Bridge and then cross the bridge and walk to the Strada Nurova, one of the city's main shopping streets. Wander through the Palazzo Vendramin where Wagner died and on to the medieval Jewish Campo Ghetto Nuovo. It is a pleasant stroll back to the Ca' d'Oro over a grid of canals, where you can catch the vaporetto back down the Grand Canal to St Mark's Square, past a waterfront where a "new" building is unlikely to be less than 200 years old.

Venice is unique and beautiful Ð even when it rains, but when the sun shines it is heavenly.

By Pamela Wilkinson.