Red, October 200I

The undercover tourists

Andréa Childs

...The apartment, perhaps, gave me an unfair advantage. Part of a beautiful 14th-century palazzo in the city's ancient Castello district, it was off the tourist trail at the heart of a winding maze of streets, strung with washing and lined with balconies decorated with flowers. As we headed to and from our home-from-home, we could experience a slice of ordinary Venetian life - tinny Italian pop music drifting from a heavily laced window; old ladies carrying baskets of impossibly red, fragrant tomatoes from the market; smartly dressed men stopping off for an espresso at corner bars on their way to work.

That isn't to say our stay lacked glamour. The apartments in Palazzo Santa Giustina have the benefit of maid service, marble floors, antique furniture and chandeliers. Ours, Apartment Murano, had views across the orange-tiled rooftops to the spires and bell towers punctuating the skyline, and looked down on an arched bridge, crossed each morning by an old man with a little dog on his way to church. Entrance to the palazzo is via private water gate - our first night, we swept across the lagoon by water taxi to the blue and gold-striped poles marking the doorway, a wonderfully romantic way to arrive - or through ornately carved wooden gates opening on to a tiny courtyard and walled garden. The surroundings are magnificent, but because we were left to look after ourselves there was none of the stuffiness of some hotels...

Murano