Venezia.... hmmm.
Trip Start
May 03, 2009
1
10
15
Trip End
Jul 30, 2009
Venice,
Veneto,
Italy
Monday, June 15, 2009
We took one more short trip to Italy to visit the city of Venice. We really love Italy, but wanted to check out other countries on this trip, so Venice was just a 4 night visit to check out an infamous city. We rented an apartment that we came across through the home exchange website from a very nice retired couple. It was a simple place, but got the job done; and was only about a 5min walk to San Marco's square in the Castello district. Our hosts lived in the same building and were very kind, offering touring info and use of their internet whenever we needed. Luckily they both spoke French as our Italian isn’t too hot. Venice is pricey, and in the time we went, packed to the rim in tourists. Renting an apartment off the main route is really a great way to go to save some money, and to get some down time from the crowds.
Venice is small enough that you can cross the whole island in about an hour
Gondola and canals
. You can only get around by foot, or by boat. The well known gondolas are for private tours, and the larger vaporettos, which run along the Grand Canal, are more like city buses. We spent most of our time just wandering the streets on foot. We walked across the Rialto Bridge to the Rialto district where we found the outdoor markets. That is where we did most of our shopping, and enjoyed some excellent dinners of homemade basil ravioli, and excellent fresh produce. There are also a lot of fish vendors selling pretty much anything you can imagine, but they don’t like having their photos taken. It’s a little tough to look at the waters around Venice and then go eat seafood. Not exactly the crystal clear seas we saw on the other side of the country. During our stay, the Bieniale Art Festival was taking place. In addition to the larger art shows, all the smaller churches were hosting free exhibits. We saw a collection of 200-300yr old violins and other similar instruments which were beautiful (sorry, no photos allowed), a collection of bizarre paintings from a couple of Moroccan artists (no photos desired), and an exhibit of replicas of the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. It was actually a very large exhibit, but here are a few of the items we saw.
Our last day we signed up for a tour of the islands of Murano (famous for glass blowing), Burano (famous for lace), and Torcello (famous for being the first inhabited in the area, but currently not much to see). In retrospect, we should have bagged the tour and just taken vaporettos on our own. We arrived at Murano, and they told us we had 30min to visit, only at the glass factory. We saw a 5min demo of glass blowing, and then were ushered into the gallery to shop
Local shops
. We never saw the island and were pretty angry about the "tour." Torcello as I said was rather pointless. It has a church that supposedly has interesting mosaics, but was in service so we just waited for the allotted 30min in the shade. Burano was the same story: 30min to see a lace demo which largely consisted of trying to get us to shop. Stopher and I left to go look at the multi-colored houses and the small town and get away from the tour. It was nice to get out on the water, but certainly something we could have done on our own. Our last night, we decided to out for dinner. We avoided it earlier as we were turned off by the hosts who will all but accost you on the street to come to their restaurants. However, each time we walked past our apartment, we noticed an off the road restaurant where the owners were speaking to all the customers, and everyone looked happy. Osteria Oliva Nera (the black olive, http://www.osteria-olivanera.com) has managed to retain its Italian charm, and the food was fantastic. Many of the people eating there come over and over again to eat with the wonderful owners. A table of Brits next to us told us that they’ve been coming to Venice for 10yrs, and always make a stop at the restaurant. Everything was excellent from the service to the food and we didn’t have loads of tourists jostling past. One of the owners used our placemats to draw the desert menu
View from Vaporetto
. My food photos were not great, but you can at least enjoy Stopher’s marscapone cheesecake. If you go to Venice, enjoy it quickly and with good planning. Save your money on water transport and walk everywhere. It’s easy to get around. Cook your own meals, or eat off the beaten path in the Rialto district for the best food, and of course have a special night out at The Black Olive.
We’ve just arrived in Sweden (half way through our trip!) and are staying with our friends Johan, Lina, and their new addition Naemi. Sweden is gorgeous and a welcome cool down from the heat of Venice. We’ll update you on what is sure to be another fantastic adventure with our local guides. Stay well and enjoy the summer sun!
XOXO,
-Stopher & Jamie
