dear espresso...

a good way to loose potential customers....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ressos-liqueur-Venice-s-St-Mark-s-Square.html

 

I suppose this extract sums it up though, it would be like us going to the Savoy and expecting it to be cheap!!

What did they expect to pay in a café that is of a top level, both in service and quality, while sitting in St Mark’s Square and with an orchestra playing for them?'

Val

 

And if it was clearly marked on the menu... It's not even as if there's a mix up with the translation, as they were ITALIAN tourists!

 

I went to Venice back in the 60s, I was only a kid at the time.
But I do remember the tour guide saying dont sit down in St Mark's Square at a cafe.

They were ripping off people back then.
I know all counties do it to some extent.

 

I dont think that the view of san Marco square and its many pigeons justify such price unless this quintet was something out of this world. I would rather sit on the Amalfi coast eating a nice seafood spaghetti without music - eh eh.

 

I was in Venice a couple of years ago. I thought it was very expensive everywhere, let alone St Marks square. The only places to sit were outside cafes/bars, so one has to pay to sit. 5 Euros for a piddly cup of coffee. Fleece the tourists seems to be the motto...

 

Well, I don't think I'll be "Captive" there again

 

Oh yes, did the Gondola thing. Got a 'special' deal for 45 Euros a head. A 15 minute ride round the smelly/dirty back 'streets'.....

 

When we were in Venice we did have a coffee at Florians on St Marks square, it was very very expensive but you only do it once in a lifetime Venice is the most amazing city , when we had a meal by the Grand Canal it was like being in a picture postcard...it looked exactly like ....Venice !

 

My eldest daughter got married on a Gondola from San Marco, heading to the Gondolas
Their she was in her wedding dress, when the heavens opened, we rushed into one of the squares cafes, and just ordered eight bottles of water, to wait whilst the rain stopped
It was ONLY 80 Euros :-(

She was also robbed with the honeymoon hotel, an internet scam, I paid more money out so that the day ended well for her
Then when I got home, (At the time I was ahead of the IT game and a brilliant engineer)
I took the site out :-)
I thought that a better option than burning a top hotel in San Marco to the ground

Jack McH

 

Everything in this thread is just reassuring me that I was right all along. Venice, the flooded city, is not for me. I was in Sheffield in 2007 when it flooded. I didn't really enjoy that. I can't imagine going to a city that flooded and then the flood waters never subsided, and then re-mortgaging my house to buy a cuppa.

 

The Mrs and I went to Venice last year.
Loved it there.
But it was very very expensive. Even a basic meal cost a fortune.

Had an incident in Majorca last week when we were there.
Took the kids to a restaurant for an early dinner. The waiter comes with the bread rolls, and olives etc, but we sent it back because we wanted the kids to eat their dinner and not fill themselves up on the bread.
Bill comes, and there is an additional charge of €2.50 per person. So I call the waiter over and politely request that he removes the €10 for the bits we didn't have. He takes the bill away and I can see him talking to the manager and then he comes back with the bill and the items haven't been removed.
So I ask him what exactly I was paying this €10 for?
His reply, and I quote: "For using the knives and forks".
Clearly I did not include a tip......

 

My O.H. and I were skimmed in a posh restaurant in Kinsale Co Cork. 15 Euros for a bottle of water with our meal, we had wine as well.

 

It is common procedures in the restaurants in Italy to have the charge for the so called "coperto" as you said: napkins, cutlery etc so that everybody pays a little bit irrespective of what they order to eat (but say if it was a group of friends one wants just to drink, he will not be charged for the "coperto").