Venice

 

The highlight of our Italy trip to me was Venice.  I loved Venice so much.  It was so magical in every way.  No cars, water, water everywhere, the alleys - I loved the alleys.  The cute shops and stores and the music.  The sound of those gondola singers were amazing.  Our room was right above a canal and as soon as we arrived to our hotel, we swung open our window and heard an accordion player singing in his gondola.  It was incredible.  Here is a view out our window:  

When we first arrived to Venice, we boarded a vaporetto boat ride to our hotel.

This was a thrill in itself.  Our guide rode up front with the driver.

Seeing Venice like this for the first time was almost overwhelming, it was so beautiful.

Then we took the walk through the alleys to our hotel. I love the alleys of Venice!

The weather was cooperating so our guide made the decision to do the gondola ride now. Within just hours of arriving, we were riding a gondola on the canals of Venice at sunset and it was gorgeous.  This was my "Wow" moment of the trip.  There was just so much to take in and it all happened so quickly.  Bus ride - vaporetto ride - alleys -  canal below our window with gondola and music - and now this.  Just breathtaking.

Everything about Venice was wonderful.  We met with local tour guide, Elisabetta, who was very entertaining. She told it like it is.  No beating around-the-bush and a fun sense of humor.

She took us to a local woodworker named Franco Furlanetto, one of four woodworkers in Venice, who make the oars for the gondolas and the part that holds the oar onto the boat for steering the boat. 

Elisabetta translated for us since he did not speak English.

Our guide also took us to St. Mark's Square

 and St. Mark's Basilica where we toured this 11th-century church.

You could not take photos inside but inside was decorated with gold mosaics and colored marble which was very beautiful.  From above, there were nice views of St. Mark's Square below. 

After the tour, we went for lunch at Lauren's recommendation from when she was here in 2009.  We were soon back to our old ways of pizza for lunch at Pizzeria la Perla with no regrets.

 

We spent the rest of the day walking around Venice just enjoying this beautiful city.

We ended up by the train station which was pretty far from our hotel so we took a vaporetto back to our part of town which made for a great tour of the Grand Canal.

We past under the Rialto Bridge, a major landmark of Venice that is lined with shops and tourists. It was built in 1588 but has been rebuilt three times.  Until the 1850's, it was the only bridge crossing the Grand Canal.  Now there are a total of four bridges.

If you are in an area where there is not a bridge and you need to get across the Grand Canal, you can take a traghetti (shuttle gondolas) which we did at one point.  

It makes for a cheap gondola ride but it isn't nearly as romantic, unfortunately.

Walking back to our hotel we passed the famous Harry's Bar that I mentioned in my Bellini post because this is where the bellini originated.  Some of the famous people who were regulars at Harry's Bar include Ernest Hemingway, Charlie Chapin, Truman Capote, Alfred Hitchcock to name a few. 

It is a very tiny, unassuming bar and guess what everyone was drinking?

Bellinis!

(I didn't see the "photos are discouraged"... oh well) We decided we did not want to pay 17 Euros for a bellini. I just wanted to see the Harry's Bar.  Another mission accomplished. 

We also stopped for a break during the day and sat down in St. Mark's Square to be entertained by one of the dueling cafe orchestras.  Again, more wonderful music. 

You could sit here all day enjoying this environment; people watching on St. Mark's Square, listening to the wonderful music, and having a delightful snack or beverage on a white tablecloth.  

We wouldn't pay the 17 Euros for a bellini at Harry's Bar but we'll pay the 6 Euros each for the cover charge to sit down at one of these restaurants because it was that lovely. 

We each ordered ice cream treats; mine was a frozen hot chocolate and it was delicious. But it was almost too pretty to eat as you can see.

We did get our bellini on our last night in Venice and it tasted great

along with spaghetti for dinner, another Four Food Group.

We did have another group meal in Venice at a restaurant called Vino Vino which meant a fixed menu forcing us to expand our palate.  

It really is unusual for Bruce and I to be eating the same thing all the time, honestly.  But there was something so right about eating pizza and spaghetti on this trip.  Our group dinner in Venice was one of the best meals because it was full of squiggly things, as Anna called it.  First course consisted of smoked salmon, octopus, and a popular Venetian dish of sardines called Sarde in Saor.  It is fried sardines with sweet and sour sauce with onions that is truly delicious. 

Second coarse was a seafood risotto, also popular in Venice.

And for dessert, none other than the famous tiramisu which was the best ever. Everyone's dish was completely licked clean.  Tiramisu literally means "pick me up" in Italian and it did just that on this evening.   

 So, we had to top it off with a toast of grappa, the popular Italian liquor.

Cheers to Venice, our favorite Italian adventure so far.