Venice

From the airport
Bus. ACTV (yellow) bus 5 runs every 30 mns to Piazzale Roma.
Boat. The Alilaguna waterbus leaves from the dock (about 500m from Arrivals) from 6.10am - 12.10pm to stops including Murano, Fondamente Nove, Lido, San Marco and as far as Zattere from 9.15am - 9.15pm

Single journeys on waterbuses are expensive. So it is well worth buying the tickets for periods from 12 hours to seven days.

Shop
Tonolo is the pastry shop serving the best fritelle (traditional Carnival doughnuts) in town.

See 
Museo Storico Navale. The Naval History Museum brings Venice's historic relationship with the sea to life. Exhibits include a gold-encrusted boat and the private gondola of art collector Peggy Guggenheim.

The Palazzo Ducale (14th-15th century) is the example par excellence of Venetian Gothic architecture. Until 1797, the palace served as the residence of the Doge (Duke) ans as a government and court building. In the immediate vicinity stand two granite columns topped by the bronze lion of San Marco and the statue of San Teodoro, the first patron of the city. At the top of the campanile tower is a statue of the Archangel Gabriel. This tower is built on around 100 000 tree trunks. At the close of the 17th century, the Doge and the Senate decided, as their economy measure, that all gondolas would be painted black.

St Theodore (San Todaro), the city's original patron saint, was demoted when the Venetians hijacked St Mark's body from Alexandria in 828. The statue of Todaro on the pillar next to the Lion of St Mark in Piazza San Marco is a copy. The original is sheltering from the elements in the courtyard of the Doge's Palace

The two little squares by the San Giovanni Grisostomo church are called Del Milion. When Marco Polo returned to the family house after his travels, he was nicknamed the "Million" bu his sceptical fellow citizens for the number of his tall tales. The church has two beautiful altarpieces by Giovanni Bellini and Sebastiano del Piombo.

Sant'Elena at the eastern end of the city with its shaded wood of umbrella pines and cafes. Also, a few minutes away from here by waterbus 41 is the rural peace of the island of Certosa.

Day trip
Burano. This picturesque island of fishermen and boat builders in the north of the lagoon was where the Venice Carnival, which had gone into seemingly terminal decline, was spontaneously revived in the late 1970s.

Padua. Visit this ancient university town and sanctuary of St Anthony, about 30 minutes away by train. It is best to book ahead to see the Giotto frescoes at Scrovegni Chapel.