A wonderful long weekend with friends at Valentina Maria's apartment in Venice!
Talk about ideal ... this apartment is spotless, well furnished, and in the Dorsoduro Sestieri (district or neighborhood) right on the corner of two small rii (plural of rio, basically small canals) and only about 40 meters from the large Giudecca Canal where there is a wonderful waterfront walkway (the Fondamenta Zattere Al Ponte Lungo) with outdoor dining, grocery store, bank ATM, etc. So beautiful in the evening as the sun is setting! The Zattere Water Bus stop is right there, too.
We found the location simply perfect ... a very short walk to the Ponte dell'Accademia (Accademia Bridge) that crosses the Grand Canal over to San Marco where, with a little further walking, you are right at Saint Mark's Square. But do yourselves a favor ... don't be afraid to wander and get lost. You will find treasures around just about every corner. A bakery here, a gelato place there, some very cool shops, art all over the place ... just fun to be wandering around in this amazing place.
And let me tell you ... our host, Valentina, and her husband Dimitri were wonderful. At check-in, they gave us excellent pieces of advice to help us, including great tips with business cards of some of the local eating and drinking establishments, along with really good, acurate descriptions of what each place was like. We enjoyed several of them -- from a really nice breakfast, to an afternoon beer, to evening meals.
Valentina was always available to us by phone or text, whenever we needed anything. Quick to reply, every time. Our friends who joined us there showed up, but their luggage did not. Valentina made herself available (she lives near by) for the luggage delivery so that we could all go out and enjoy Venice without having to stay and wait for it at the apartment. This we did willingly, and definitely enjoyed this remarkable city. She also arranged for a 4:30am water taxi to take us to the airport, door-to-door ... picked us up right on the rio below the living room window, took us through the canals, then a quick transfer to a car, and about a total of 35 minutes or so later we were dropped off (sleepy but extremely happy!) at Marco Polo airport for ouf flight.
We will remember this long weekend in Venice forever, and are so grateful to have found this place, and to have such wonderful hosts that really took care of things for us. Thank you, Valentina and Dimitri!
For 2-4 people, I would recommend this place whole-heartedly. You won't regret it!