Novel set on Jeju and in Seoul
Win a copy of “Dream of Venice” (closes 9/12/17)
26th November 2017
COMPETITION
We recently featured “Dream of Venice” on our blog, where we reviewed the book. It showcases wonderful photos by Charles Christopher and with each photo there is selected prose to highlight the dark, elusive and wondrous nature of the city – words by David Hewson, Woody Allen, Frances Mayes, Julie Christie and so many more. We also talked to the editor JoAnn Locktov about how the book came into being and that a percentage of the proceeds go to Save Venice Inc. In our post JoAnn also suggests top blogs where you can check out more about the city.
You now have a chance to win a copy of this fabulous book:
All you have to do is leave a top tip for a trip to Venice or tell us why you would like to win this copy in the Comments below (comments may take a little while to appear, they are moderated behind the scenes)! It’s as simple as that. Enter by midnight (UK time) on Saturday, 9th December and the first name out of the hat on Sunday, 10th December will be sent a copy direct from the publisher.
Competition closes midnight UK time, on 9th December, 2017. Open internationally.
Find out more about Dream of Venice on both Twitter and Facebook!
Find out more about Save Venice Inc.
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I’m just back from my ninth visit and already I’m hoping that I will be able to visit again. It is quite simply good for the soul. Venice delights,intrigues and heals with its unique,incomparable beauty. You have to delve a bit deeper and slow down to enjoy the quiet parts of Cannareggio and Dorsoduro and then pitch in to the bar in a busy chichetti spot or at the market. Most of all you have look at the light and feel the sway of the water and just be glad you get to share the beauty. This book sounds like it captures all of this and more. It seems true to Venezia.
Top Venice tip: if you go to the opera at La Fenice, remember that Italians like to dine a course at a time between acts. When the 4 act Otello ended past midnight, the last vaporetto to my accommodation in Lido had departed. I spent the night stranded, looking out for figures in red raincoats, slept in a cafe chair, but was woken by the owner and warmed up with life-giving espresso. Of course this was 1978, and all may have changed…
I would like to win this for my sister. She’s never been to Venice. She’s had a challenging cancer which she’s overcome, and has gone through a difficult divorce, which she’s trying to overcome after great loss to her sense of self. She is exhausted, has 99% caring duties for her two kids, and never gets to do anything nurturing for herself. I want to show her Venice, properly, slowly, with a stay in a beautiful boutique hotel, and lots of meanderings through the enchanting city, feeling her mysteries. I would arrange a visit to a gondola-making artisan and a boat trip to the islands. My sister would forget for a few days everything that has been difficult and she would be only in the present magical moments, wrapped in the otherworldliness of Venezia. I want to start this dream by winning the book Dream of Venice and giving it to her.
it hurts me everytime I see Viking Cruise ship ads showing their monsters pulling into the lagune, destroying the view to this beloved city!
Visited Venice for the first time this year and absolutely loved everything about it!! ❤️❤️❤️
Venice is a city that is unbelievable. It just shouldn’t exist, but it does, rising out of a shallow sea. It has substance and it inspires. One trip is never enough. I’ve started painting pictures of Venice, because I can’t get the city out of my head. The people are truly wonderful – an incredible place.
St Petersburg calls itself the Venice of the east. Amsterdam claims to be the Venice of the north. Little Venice can be found in London. But there is only one Venice and no city anywhere is like her. She is the grand old lady of the Adriatic, so respect her moods and do not rush her. Take your time and you may learn to love her every bit as much as I do.
1 Comment
Venice would be a dream come true….
I love Venice! We went this year, I would love to win this book as a reminder of all our good memories there.
Walking in Venice is always like an embrace for my soul. I love to feel the warmt of the ancient stones under my hands and smell the scent of the city.
For me, the only way to enjoying a tour in Venice is being “serenissima” like her: slowing down the speed of my walk and smile without a reason for a passing seagull.
A day trip tothe island of Murano to look around the Glass museum and all the lovely glass shops. A little more relaxed than the hectic Venice. Having recently come back from a holiday in Venice the pictures in this book will probably put mine to shame but will add to great memories.
Love this contest and love to look around at the animals on the patere and statues
It’seems a different way to know Venice and find out lions, camel, fishe’s and other magic animals
Venice haunts me. I haven’t visited it in almost 40 years, but I paint it, and collect books about it. Would love a copy of Dream of Venice for my collection!
My daughter visited Venice over the summer – we would have fun looking through this book together!
I would love to visit Venice to ride the gondolas with my hubby. So romantic!
Venice is beautiful!! Be sure to cross the canal and see Venice on both sides of the Grand Canal. Buy a day pass for the Vaporetta and ride to the other islands also.
I live in the US, so not sure if I’m eligible. I’d love to win a copy because I’ve been to Venice once and I dream of it. I can’t wait to return. It looks like a beautiful book!
1 Comment
Hi Julie, Thanks for your comment. Yes, the contest is open to everyone, worldwide!
I’ve always saved Venice for when I had a lover who would appreciate it. Single for almost 10 years, maybe I just need to go for it!
Find an apartment to rent in the Castello area around Via Garibaldi. It’s so atmospheric but much quieter than San Marco
I love to travel but have never been to Venice or Italy. I also love Pope John XXIII who served in Venice. Thanks for the chance
I’ve always wanted to go to Venice since my aunt gave me place mats of Venice by canaleto which she got with greenshield stamps at the petrol station a book about Venice would be a reminder of happy childhood times.
After 50 years of visits to Venice at least once a year, my advice is truly simple: go out of season to avoid being run down by the hordes of summer day trippers. Venice is breathtakingly beautiful in mid-winter sunshine — and, besides, many hotels offer robust discounts. Enjoy the savings, the exhibitions and the beauty, especially from November through February, in the most unique city in the world.
I’m a fan of the mystery books by Donna Leon set in Venice and winning Dream of Venice would allow me to see the places where Commissario Guido Brunetti travels in solving the crimes that come to the Questura.
My top tip about Venice – don’t worry about getting lost down all the little calli and callesella (alleys and alleyways) as it’s all part of the fun to go exploring around Venice. You will also avoid most of the other tourists, meet some locals and find some actual local shops, i.e. non-tourist shops!
Oh, 2nd top tip – always take insect repellant for the mosquitos love tourists!!!
1 Comment
Stephen – Your name came out of the hat this morning. please DM us your address and the publisher will send you out a copy!!
Venice it’ s simply an emotional tour in your heart and soul, get lost in this magical city, and you fall in love with it! It’s sensual, lovely, stunning…
Venice is forever…..
I have 2 tips: stay IN Venice, not on the mainland. It is incredible to walk around after all the tourists have left!
Go see the Squero di San Trovaso. Just go.
Get lost ! Walk, walk, turn this way, turn that way, find something unexpected; a scoula, a campo, a church, a well head or just a doorway into somewhere else. Enjoy the fog, the cold, the bright winter mornings. Water is everywhere. Use the traghetti, but to a purpose even if it’s just to get a postcard or a paper. Buy a flag from the chandlery, not the tourist shop, even without much Italian – just try. Look up, look around, feel this extraordinary, magical, living, working, impossible place that will be forever with you if you manage just one or many visits. And know you will return always in your mind and your heart.
I fell in love with Venice in 2000 when we visited for our 25th wedding anniversary. Have been back since maybe 20 times and we always stay in an apartment a different one each time so you get to know different parts of the city and learn where to shop for groceries. I love the Festa della Salute and really hope to back for it in 2018 after anticipated major surgery. I wiuld love to win Dream of venice!
Personally, I am very lucky: I get to dream of Venice everyday. I look out of the window and see the Tower bell, I cross bridges, campi and sestieri and hop on and off vaporettos. Winning a copy of the book would help me rediscover my city -yes, I live here- through new eyes and loving words.
Tip for travellers: Just enjoy it!
Venice is a magical place! My tip would be to just roam and discover new treasures tucked away in the ordinary. No tourists, just Venetians living their lives. That is the magic, the culture of life in Venice ❤️
After countless yearly visits to Venice, my understanding of ‘getting away from the crowds’ has moved a bit beyond (f.i.) Cannaregio or Giudecca. My top tip, therefore, is to get a feel of the more remote and less visited islands, such as Lazzaretto Vecchio & Nuovo, the monasteries on San Francesco del Deserto and San Lazzaro degli Armeni, and the vegetable gardens and vineyards on Sant’ Erasmo. Or take a bike ride along the fishing villages of Pellestrina…
In addition to enjoying those marvellous places with the senses, experiencing those islands puts Venice itself in a wider perspective, and adds a lot to understanding and appreciating the complexity of the laguna as a whole!
(And please, be aware of & respect its fragility!)
For those who go on their first trip to Venice I advise that you should go buy by taxi. It iscostly but it will give you that magic impression that will stay with you for the rest of your life! It is a dream when you slowly enter the Grand Cannal the palaces embracing you on both sides with fragrances of blooming secret gardens arousing your sences. Your vision is almost blurred by tears in your eyes. This was my first visit to this unbelievable city and the vision is with me forever!
Take a cheap and amazing “mini-cruise” with the vaporetto n. 1 of ACTV public transport system; try to take a seat in the rear part of the boat, relax, have your camera ready to shoot and enjoy!
Im visiting Venice every year with family,friend or aslso alone!The tip what i could give about Venice is a simple advice.Visitors of this wonderful place should use no maps or apps to discover the magic…just go around the laguna on foot through the small streets and keep your eyes open!there are everywhere treasures to make you going back home rich!I would like to win this book for my birthday on december.Thank you very much
Play a game with your travel party: Look for a distant landmark and find a way without assistance of any kind to navigate to that spot, finding less commercial gems on the way. We did the ‘leaning tower’ (don’t know its real name). And visit the Arsenale to learn how the Venetian empire was so successful using naval strength.
I’ve never been and would love to see what I’m missing. It will no doubt ensure that I visit soon.
Book if you want to go on the behind the scenes tour of the Doge’s Palace to see the cell Casanova escaped from. We didn’t book because we had a guide book that said there was no need, and then we didn’t get to do the tour. And go to Murano – the glass is beautiful, and it is like mini, less busy, version of Venice.
The most exciting thing that happened to me when I went there was coming upon the very church featured in Salley Vickers’ ‘Miss Garnet’s Angel.’ If you have read the book it’s really worth seeking it out – it was thrilling to see the murals.
I have been to Venice 4 times already. My heart belongs there so I would love to win this book. My tip would be to go and see less touristy places , ie St Marks and Rialto , and go to Canneregio and places off the beaten track .
My husband and I went to Venice as part of a rail tour. We visited in September and one tip would be to try and visit out of season but what ever time you go do use the vaporetto. It is not expensive and you will mingle with the locals and could maybe practise your Italian! We learned a little bit before we went and did try to use it when possible. Also eat as far away from St Mark’s Square as possible as it is much less expensive and the food is probably better!
For some reason my comment has failed to appear, apologies if you get countless reproductions at a later time.
The last holiday we had before my health made such things impossible. We accidently gate-crashed a Venetian couples wedding. So beautiful and, oh my goodness, the location.
1 Comment
Hi Tracy – they come into us and we have to moderate the comments before they appear (if we have disappeared off somewhere, then it can be a little while before they appear)…
The last holiday I had way back when my health allowed for such things. We accidently gate-crashed a wedding party on their way to the church. Such a beautiful couple, and, oh my goodness, what a location.
The best way to enjoy Venice is to go without any kind of map – you’ll make the best discoveries when you’re lost
Enjoyed a brief trip to Venice about 20 years ago and only managed to visit some of the more well-known sites. Winning this book would be like taking another drop-down without the crowds!
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I loved Venice in March when there were lots of pigeons but not so many tourists. It was nice weather for walking and sight seeing. The book would help me relive my memories,
I loved Venice in March when there were lots of pigeons but not so many tourists. It was nice weather for walking and sight seeing.