Venice or “The Floating City” is one of the most spectacular cities in the world.
Did you know?
The city’s base is constructed of closely spaced wood pilings made mostly from alder trees. Submerged in water, the trunks don’t decay as they would above ground and are still intact after 1,500 years !
Limestone was placed on top of the pilings and acts as the foundation for the buildings seen in Venice today. That is just one fact we learned during our Venice kids tour.
To learn more about Venice and it’s history, we booked a tour with Macacotour one sunny morning in August. The company specializes in tours for families. As many parents have discovered, it’s rare to find a tour catering to children.
Macacotour offers a variety of themed tours and creative workshops. We chose the most popular tour, Treasure Hunt “Cannaregio”. The tour took us across the less traveled calli, campielli and fondamenta (or “streets” and small squares) in the Cannaregio district to learn about Venetian Alchemy and discover tales and legends of the ancient city.
We were staying in an apartment in the Cannaregio sestiere but didn’t realize the significance of the location until we took this tour. We passed by many landmarks without recognizing these historic pieces of the Venetian past. The tour opened our eyes to the history around us.
We met with our tour operator, Chiara, at 9am (to beat the heat of the day) outside of Scuola Grande Della Misericordia.
Chiara was organized, knowledgeable and great with the kids. She even managed to get an 11 year old, K, excited and smiling! Lucy (8) was enthusiastic about the hunt, ready to run ahead and spot the next clue.
Without giving away all the treasure hunt secrets, one stop was to the Campo dei Mori or Square of the Moors. Here you will find a statue with a turban and an iron nose. There are 4 figures in the square believed to be the 3 Mastelli brothers and their servant. Back in the 12th century, the brothers were merchants selling poor quality fabric for high prices. Legend has it they were turned to stone as punishment for their greed.
Throughout the tour, we learned many interesting facts about the history of Venice. The kids were asked to search for lions while they hunted for their treasure. The lion is the symbol of Venice. You’ll find this symbol all over the city, if you keep your eyes open. A lion depicted with a book was carved in time of peace, a sword in time of war. Lucky for Venetians, there are more depictions with books than swords…
Wandering around Venice, you’ll notice “wells” located in the middle of the squares. Rainwater was collected in the wells and shared by the community. Interestingly, you could only get water from the well twice per day when bell tower rung.
After an hour exploring the quiet streets, we ended the tour at Parco Villa Groggia, a hidden gem in the middle of Venice. I never would have expected a park to be found among all the bridges and canals.
A tour with Macacotour is the perfect way for kids and adults to learn about Venice – better than you can get from a guidebook! The kids enjoyed running around during the treasure hunt and learning about Venetian Alchemy and legends. Even after the tour, the kids continued to keep a sharper eye out for the little details evident throughout Venice.
More about the tour:
Treasure Hunt “Cannaregio” is designed for groups of kids aged 6 – 11 years old with a minimum number of 3 participants or for the whole family.
Duration: 1.15 hours
Tours can be requested in English, German, Spanish and Italian.
Price: 60 euro for family or 20 euro for a child VAT inclusive
Website:
http://www.macacotour.com/home.html
Booking:
Via phone or email.
Disclosure: My family was invited on a complementary tour by Macacotour to explore Venice Italy for Kids. As always, all opinions are 100% my own and may differ from others.
“A lion depicted with a book was carved in time of peace, a sword in time of war. Lucky for Venetians, there are more depictions with books than swords…”
Not to be smug or anything, but it is actually more complicated than that … an open book signifies the republic of venice itself, a closed book means that it was under a temporary dictatorship, a raised sword (with an open book) is a symbol of justice (courts of venice; it is the same sword as in the allegory of justice, blindfolded and with scales), and raised sword with a closed book is found only outside venice proper, it is basically a tax-free zone sign (a town that fought for venice or did some favour to the republic was granted a special tax status).
More about the lions, books and swords is in this article: https://www.academia.edu/16257171/Of_Lions_and_Books_and_Swords_What_Do_Fearsome_Companions_of_St.Mark_Tell_Us_About_Venice_Peace_and_War
Sorry for a long comment, have a nice day!
V.
Thanks for the link. The discussion for the tour must be more of a simplification for kids.
Looks like a great way to see the city and keep the kids entertained. I love walking the back streets of Venice and can’t wait to go back with the kids again.
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What a cool experience for your kids!! How on earth do you have the energy to travel with them? I ask my sis-in-law how she handles my 2 nephews and niece and she said “caffeine.” 🙂 Anyhow, I love that you’re giving them the best gift they could ever have! Travel!
Ha, they can be tiring. It’s worth it to see them have such memorable experiences. I totally agree with your SIL. Caffeine (and wine) are a must 🙂
I’m an adult and I still LOVE treasure hunts! It sure looks like an amazing time to spend a day in Venice. It’s a great idea in order to explore more of the city as well. ^_^ So fun!
This tour may have been designed for children, but I would have loved it too. I have been to Venice, but only for one day. I sure wish I could have explored more and taken a tour. There’s so much we missed.
You definitely need to spend more time there.
We love Venice and Cannaregio is one of our favorite areas to stay because like you suggest, it is slightly off the tourist path. The tour with Macacotour sounds like a wonderful way to explore and learn even more about this beautiful place.
Cannaregio is the perfect place to stay. I was lucky enough to already be in the area, but the tour would be a great bonus to people that had no idea that Cannaregio district even existed.
This is such an absolutely fantastic idea! I bet your kids will remember it for long time. And I’m sure you will too. Just great
My daughter still talks about the man with the iron nose 🙂
What a fun way for children to experience and learn the history of that beautiful city
It looks like you had a beautiful sunny day and an excellent tour. When we have been it has been overcast but still enjoyable. Will be looking into Macacotour.
Venice is so stunning, I think it would be amazing freezing and flooded 🙂 We did get lucky with the weather – even though it was crazy hot for part of our trip.
How fun is that? It’s a first for me and I love that there’s a family-themed tour. You’re making memories for a lifetime.
Thank you for posting this! We’ll be back in Venice next summer and I’m always looking for great kid-oriented tours. I’m heading to their website right now!
I hope you enjoy the tour and seeing Venice again!
Great highlights and good to know about Macacotour. I really admire people who take the time to share travel and culture with their children, and looks like they do a good job at making the experience fun for any age!
Yes, they do. Even though the tour was designed for kids, my husband and I found the stories fascinating.
Venice looks like such a beautiful city. I would love to spend a few days there and really get to see what the city is life after hours when most of the day trippers are gone.
It’s the best time to see Venice. Or just hit the side streets during the day.