|
Hotel La Calcina
ABOVE: The Hotel La Calcina is on a wide
pedestrian promenade. INSET BELOW: The original name is still on the
façade, and the hotel has a restaurant terrace on the Giudecca Canal.
Category:
Three-star hotel.
Location: Directly on the Zattere,
facing the Giudecca Canal. Closest
Alilaguna Airport Boat
stop: Zattere. Convenient
when:
 You
want a waterfront hotel but can't afford
Riva degli Schiavoni
rates, or you need to be within walking distance of the
San Basilio
cruise pier.
The Hotel La Calcina ("The Lime House," named after a former lime works
on the site) has been welcoming travelers for a long time: The British
author John Ruskin stayed in the Pensione La Calcinia in 1876,
and a café on the site catered to a trendy crowd a
century before Ruskin arrived on the scene.
 Today,
the Pensione--now a three-star hotel--caters to hardcore
Venetophiles and others who like modern comforts served up with a side
dish of tradition. The 29 rooms have an atmosphere that's historic
without being precious (which is nice to know if your tastes run more to
mid-19th Century simplicity than to Baroque glitz or Byzantine bling).
Breakfast is served on a garden terrace facing the Giudecca Canal in
good weather, and the restaurant will serve you dinner on the roof
terrace if you want a view with your vittles.
Compare rates:
Aerial photos:
-
In the top image, you can see the
Piazza San Marco near
the right side of the frame and the
Ponte dell'Accademia,
or Accademia Bridge, leading across the Grand Canal to the
sestiere of Dorsoduro. The Hotel La Calcina is near the bottom
of the photo, behind the small white rectangle to the right of the
blue-and-white symbol for the Zattere waterbus stop.
-
In the second photo, look for the Hotel La Calcina
at bottom right, behind the white restaurant terrace and green
awning on the waterfront. (You'll notice that the hotel is close to
the Accademia Bridge and San Marco. To reach the
San
Basilio cruise terminal from the hotel, simply walk west until
you reach the pier. The pedestrian promenade is level and wide,
though you'll have to cross two small bridges on your way to the
ship.)
Note: If the Hotel
La Calcina is full, or if you're looking for something cheaper and don't
mind sharing a bathroom, try the two-star
Hotel Pensione Seguso next door.
|
