The Do’s and Don’ts of Dining in Venice

Venice is a maze of a city which is fun to explore amongst the winding alleyways and four hundred or so foot bridges, but finding a good place to eat can be tough. It has been given a bad rap when it comes to food because of all the tourist trap restaurants, but after having lived in Venice for a few years and  trying out numerous restaurants, here is some important “to do” and “not to do” dining advice if you want to eat where and as the locals do.

Tip: Beware of places that say “English menu”, “We accept credit cards”, “Tourist Menu”, or menus in more than three languages, because most likely they are catering to rookie tourists. However, if it says “Menu del giorno” (Daily menu), that is a better indication that they are most likely using fresh ingredients.

Most Venice travel guides suggest eating at an osteria (a smaller local restaurant with a tavern look and feel) or at a cicchetteria (basically a Venetian tapas & wine bar). Three popular local spots that won’t break your budget are:

1. Un Mondo di Vino: This cicchetti bar has over thirty daily dishes to choose from, including two types of baccalà (a Venetian cod dish), eggplant parmesan, shrimp skewers with sprinkles of parsley and olive oil, stuffed baby peppers, stuffed calamari, and various meatballs. It’s a smorgasbord for those who want to dine Venetian tapas-style, with each plate ranging from €2 to €5. There isn’t table service here, but just a few bar stools and ledges to eat at, so don’t expect table service.

Walking directions: From Campo San Bartolomeo with the Rialto Bridge at your back, turn left and go straight over a small bridge, past Coin. Immediately after the second bridge, turn right onto Saliz. San Canzian # 5984A. You will notice a wine barrel outside. It’s located in the Cannaregio district. Tel: +39 041 521 1093

2. Alla Vedova: This is one of the oldest surviving osterie in Venice. The name, which means “widow,” doesn’t mean it’s a sad place at all. To get the best and cheapest meal, order directly from the entrance bar. The fresh polpette (meatballs) are voted number one as their best cicchetti at €1 each, but they also have regular Venetian dishes fairly priced if you prefer to sit down for your meal. Most locals just stand at bar or gather outside the entrance to eat the finger foods washing them down with a glass of the local house wine (also priced at €1 for a small cup).

Walking directions: From the Ca’d’Oro stop, turn left at the main promenade (Strada Nova) and take an immediate right onto the first alleyway called Ramo Ca’d’Oro, which ends at Calle del Pistor #3912. Closed Thursdays. It’s located in the Cannaregio district. Tel: +39 041 528 5324 

Tip: In most Italian restaurants, an asterix (*) on a menu selection usually means that the food being prepared was frozen, so avoid those dishes if you are looking to eat fresh stuff.

3. Trattoria alla Madonna: Located in one of the most animated districts of Venice, this efficiently-run restaurant has a coat check and plenty of authentic artwork covering the walls. However, the prices are sincere and the wine selection is great. They have some of the best local dishes for both seafood and meat lovers. You can try their castraure (baby artichokes mostly grown on the agricultural lagoon island of Sant’Erasmo), seafood risotto (highly ranked amongst the locals), and/or their famous Venetian-style veal liver dish (aka fegato alla veneziana).

Walking directions: From the Rialto waterbus stop, turn left at the foot of the bridge following the Grand Canal and go toward the row of tourist restaurants. Then turn right onto Calle della Madonna #594. Open daily except Wednesdays 12pm –3pm and 7 pm–10:30pm. Call for reservations, especially for dinner on weekends. They are located in the San Polo district. Tel: +39 041 522 3824.

Tip: Venetian fishermen have Sundays off, so don’t eat at any seafood restaurants on Monday since the fish will most likely be two days old. 

While millions of tourists come through Venice a year to take in the relaxing gondola rides, romantic canals, Venice Carnival festivities, artisan masks and Murano glass creations, many don’t really realize that aside from the unique scenery, Venice also has delicious distinct dishes that you should try. A few were mentioned at the eateries above, but in case you are looking to test your palate, here are five more dishes to look out for in Venice:

• Moeche -  Soft-shelled crabs about three inches wide or smaller.
• Sarde in saor - Venetian sardine dish with sautéed onions, pine nuts, and raisins.
• Schie con polenta - A typical Venetian dish with baby shrimp and polenta (corn-flour patty).
• Frittura - Mixed fried calamari, baby octopus and shrimp.
• Bigoli in salsa - A type of whole grain spaghetti mixed with pan-fried sardines and onions.

Buon appetito!

About the Author: Bianca Reyes is the author of Venice for Rookies, an independent traveller’s city guide full of insider info, travel advice and savings tips for Venice. While she isn’t eating her way through Italy, she enjoys blogging about authentic travel and updating the world about the latest events in Venice via Facebook and Twitter @Travel4Rookies. 

Take a Twinkling Tour of London

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ... everywhere you go. Literally, everywhere you go-- you can't escape it, so why not have a cup of cheer and embrace it? This holiday season, London's cup of cheer is overflowing with Christmas street lights, markets and ice skating rinks galore!

With all of the gift giving, party hosting and decorating, we know too well that the holidays can present a problem for our wallets. Fortunately, London has done the decorating for us! For a cheap, yet festive, night out-- take a starry stroll through a few of London's more embellished streets.

If you don't mind bearing the Oxford Street pandemonium, some of the city's best lights can be seen in one outing along Carnaby Street, Regent Street, Oxford Street, St. Christopher's Place and Marylebone High Street.

To take this twinkling tour, grab a hot beverage on Carnaby Street and ogle at their whimsical arrangement.

From there, head north on Regent Street and you'll find spectacular stars and images from the animated hit, Arthur Christmas.

PhotoCredit | Time Out New York (Abigail Lelliott)

Once you come to Oxford Street, hang a left and take your time swallowing it's visual Christmas feast.

In less than half of a mile you'll reach James Street, take a right and walk north. This will lead you through the St. Christopher's Place adornments.

Continue along James Street and it will turn into Marylebone High Street, where you'll find this pleasing presentation of lights.

Photo Credit | www.ConranTalkingShop.com

Also on this high street you'll find a fantastic selection of boutiques, restaurants, pubs and coffee shops-- making this the perfect end to your tour!

More free lights:

• South Molton Street
• Covent Garden
• Imagination Building Christmas Lights
• Christmas at St Pancras International
• Christmas in Trafalgar Square

Other Seasonal Suggestions: 

• Canary Wharf Ice Rink: www.canarywharficerink.com
• Christmas carols with the English Chamber Choir: www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org
• Crafty Fox Christmas Market: http://craftyfoxmarket.blogspot.com 
• Hyde Park Winter Wonderland: www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com
• Natural History Museum Ice Rink: www.nhmskating.com
• Southbank Centre Christmas Market: www.xmas-markets.com
• Tower of London Ice Rink: www.toweroflondonicerink.com

About the Author: Alexa Blair, creator of Gallivant, blogs about her insatiable travel appetite, fervor for fashion and a fascination with the art of makeup. With her experience as a journalist, freelance MAC Makeup Artist and travel addict, she provide tips and tricks on her blog, Twitter and Facebook that will let you live the life of a professional gallivanter without ever even having to board a plane!

Top 3 Reasons Why Mazatlan is Perfect for the Indie Traveler

There are, to most people, two kinds of Mexico. There's all-inclusive resort Mexico, and there's "authentic" Mexico, and never the twain shall meet. Setting aside for a moment the complicated argument over what exactly constitutes "authentic," independent travelers in Mexico often feel like they've got to get so far off the beaten path in order to hang with the locals that a simple, relaxing trip to Mexico is anything but.

The good news is that there are places that welcome visitors with a sturdy tourist infrastructure but don't require travelers to stay in big, walled-off resorts. I was recently pleasantly surprised by Mazatlan, a city of 500,000 on the Western coast of the country that has made efforts in the last decade to reach out to more than one kind of traveler - including the ones who prefer indie travel.

Here are three reasons why independent travelers should check out Mazatlan.

1. It's cheaper than you'd expect.
Since Mazatlan isn't an entirely fabricated tourist city, it has both the all-inclusive resorts and Senor Frog's as well as small budget-friendly hotels and no-frills restaurants catering to locals. An independent traveler can easily choose the latter over the former and, depending on where else they go, not see much of the resort crowd at all. There's a small international airport in Mazatlan, and although it's sometimes easier to find cheap international airfare to the other (more popular) tourist cities in Mexico, you'll spend less once you get to Mazatlan.

2. There's an historic city right on the beach.
As mentioned above, Mazatlan isn't a city built strictly for tourists - there's an historic city right on the beach a full 30-minute drive from where the big all-inclusives are. In other popular tourist resorts you're stuck signing up for a tour or renting a car yourself if you want to check out a Mexican colonial town. In the last ten years, Mazatlan's post-colonial historic center has been undergoing a slow and steady revival, with renovated plazas and buildings and an influx of shops and local restaurants. Indie travelers who appreciate historic atmosphere can stay in one of the old town's small, family-run (and inexpensive) hotels and have all the perks of that old city - plus long stretches of sandy beaches - within a short walk of their front door. Also worth noting? Mazatlan's beaches are public and free.

3. You can drink the water.
Okay, I know that the popular tourist resorts in Mexico make it easy on the rest of us by purifying the water in the resorts and on-site restaurants so that we can enjoy Mexican sun and sand without feeling like we've left the creature comforts of home. Indie travelers, however, are more apt to seek out places where you really can't drink the water in order to get away from the resort crowds. The good news in Mazatlan is that it's not just the big all-inclusives that purify the water - even in restaurants that are mainly for locals you don't have to be paranoid about ice cubes in your Coke or pushing aside the fresh tomato. Not every place will have purified water, so if you're worried you can certainly ask, but it's nice to not have to think about it - or to feel forced into a kind of holiday you don't want to take just because you want to drink the water.

Vacationing in Mexico doesn't have to mean a choice between an all-inclusive or a "you can't drink the water" experience. Mazatlan offers the benefits of a resort city without the restrictions of one.

Full disclosure: I was invited to Mazatlan on a press trip sponsored by the Mazatlan Hotel Association, but my opinions are entirely my own.

About the Author: Portland-based travel writer Jessica Spiegel may be primarily focused on Italy most of the time, but she's always eager to test new-to-her destinations for their potential "indie travel" qualities. She was happy to find that Mazatlan had more going for it than she originally thought. You'll find Jessica's writing on many of the sites in the BootsnAll family, including WhyGo Italy.