Venezia; Il posto piu bello!

As promised, here is a blog post dedicated specifically to Venice. I have to admit I was skeptical about visiting Venice again after having a fairly “meh” experience the first time I was there, which was compounded by the recent reports that this amazing city was crawling with tourists and it was sinking! Well, apart from the obvious issues of climate change in a city where buses are boats, and there are a LOT of tourists, I have to say that this city just truly speaks to me… and this portion of my journey was incredibile!

In February 1997 I made the terrible mistake of thinking that visiting Venice during Carnival would be “fun”. It was INSANE! I felt like I was at a soccer match for 4 days. Terrible food, crazy crowds, and every time I tried to visit a special site “la nebbia” came rolling in like a warm afternoon on campus at UCSD in May, and I couldn’t see a thing. So my first experience in Venice was, as I said before, a bit meh.

This time, as the train from Verona pulled into la stazione Santa Lucia, I just had a funny feeling things would be different. Imogen and I were going to walk to our hotel, but we realized after hitting the first bridge that the vaporetto would be a better option. Think very expensive bus, on the Canal Grande and you get the picture. We buzzed along to the Ca d’Oro stop and walked to our hotel.

This is the canal right outside our little hotel. As you can see the water was quite low while we there. Somehow I chose a hotel in a quieter area and we were not amongst the throng unless we headed into the major tourist attractions. We were only staying two nights, so we planned to walk around Venice, eat some good food and catch the vaporetto our to Murano and Burano for a visit to the glass and lace artists these two particular islands are famous for.

We buzzed around Venice taking happy snaps on that first afternoon carefully avoiding too long a visit at any of the super touristy spots (think Piazza San Marco, Bridge of Sighs, Rialto Bridge… which we stopped at but move very quickly on) and after running around like busy bees, we finally collapsed in a little square about halfway between our hotel and the restaurant we had booked. At this juncture, after the train from Verona, finding our hotel and hitting those crazy tourist spots, an Aperol Spritz was definitely a great idea! Actually, after being in Italy for just on a week, I am officially more of a Campari Spritz kind of gal. So even though both of these drinks look the same… mine’s Campari. Can you guess which one is which?

With thanks to the GF app I spoke of earlier we found a crazy expensive place to eat at for dinner. Hats off to La Vecia Cavana for taking the GF thing so seriously, it’s bread options, waiters that cared, and a really varied menu. And the food!!! In Venice I ate some amazing fish… just seriously hoping that none of it was caught locally (yikes).

This photo doesn’t really capture the grilled fish extravaganza that we shared but hopefully you get the picture. We ate fish, sipped Prosecco, and generally had an amazing time working our way through this outrageously expensive culinary adventure. And then our waiter announced that they had a special GF Tira Mi Su. YAY!!! Dessert!

After I had cleared the second mortgage with San Diego County Credit Union, and paid the bill, we decided to visit a little Jazz Bar we had seen during our earlier exploration. As you may know, Imogen is studying at a Conservatoire in London and many of her pals are jazz musicians (strange that she has made friends with so many musos... not sure why she seems so attracted to/comfortable with folks like that? Hmmm…) so we decided to check out the scene. Well, no jazz tonight, but whoever was DJ’ing that night obviously knew us. We both knew all the songs; which is quite some eclectic playlist if you consider our 39 year age difference! Another couple of Spritzes and we were singing along and grooving with the “NOT” Jazz Club vibe.

Home to the hotel and into bed only to be absolutely eaten alive by mosquitoes. Travel hint, people, when you go to Venice, take some kind of bug repellent. Yikes! I think between us we counted over 35 mozzie bites.

Next morning we buzzed (pardon the pun) into a little square near our hotel for a quick bite before the ferry out to Murano/Burano. We found “our place” quite by accident. A coffee and a pastry for Immy and coffee and polenta smothered in gorgonzola for me! My Dad would have loved this breakfast. The locals were all out on a Saturday morning with kids, dogs, newspapers, and my favorite guy with a tub of clams he had just caught. “Not for sale”, he said. I’m guessing his family was in for a treat that night.

Next stop Murano/Burano for a look at the beautiful glass/lace artist’s work. Well some are artists, and some are just plain robbers! Immy bought a piece of glass and I bought an amazing blue wrap with hand embroidered designs on it. No photos of our purchases, but here is on of the famously painted buildings in this area; brightly colored like this so that the fishermen could find their way home.

I thought this one in Burano was especially creative. Unfortunately, the building wasn’t open but the exterior tells so many stories!

Lunch was more fish in a quirky little taverna, and then we headed back on the vaporetto to our hotel. That night we ate at another restaurant recommended by the GF app. I went early to check it out and write in my journal and then Immy joined me. I wanted to try something very traditional, so I got the eel. Cooked and flavored well, but NOT my favorite. I think it was the texture.

Moving onto Slovenia was our next adventure. We packed up (which we are getting very good at now) and hit our favorite coffee place for breakfast for one last Italian meal before the train to Ljubljana. We arrived and were greeted by the staff like we were regulars! “Same as yesterday?”, the waiter asked. I suddenly felt sad to be leaving so quickly. I’ve always loved traveling where you get to stay a few days in one place to get to know the rhythm, the quirks, the do’s and don’t’s of a city/town. And now we were buzzing onto another place. And leaving my opportunity to practice my Italian behind. We sat at the little cafe, sipped our coffee, and this time the owner really went all out on my GF option.

Pistachio cheese on one side, and ham with caricofi (artichokes) on the other. Posting this picture is reminding me of the place, the taste, and the kindness of the locals in that little corner of Venice that felt so authentic and local. We sat there for a long time, listened to the local people greeting each other as they popped by for a quick bite, a coffee, and a sip of crisp white wine on that lovely Sunday morning. The church across the street started to fill up and the gentle breeze brought intermittent wafts of incense from the ancient building. The bells tolled and it was time for us to go.