How can you come to Venice and not go St. Mark’s Square to see if the Doge is home?
Spoiler alert: He was not!
Ludovico Manin(1726–1804) was the 120th and last Doge of Venice, ruling from 1789 until 1797. He abdicated on May 12, 1797, following Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion, which brought an end to the thousand-year-old Republic of Venice.
We did go up the tower to survey his domain, and for the spectacular views of Venice.
The Teatro Venizia is now a grocery store. The dichotomy inside is crazy!
Our first food tour of the trip is here in Venice.
We met the lady from the company Eating Europe at the agreed on meeting place and off we went. Time to explore the more than 3000 ‘streets’ and 150 canals.
We were very excited to hear more from a local – she was born in Venice! – and have small samples of food as we go.
Little did we know that in Venice the idea of ‘small sample’ does not exist.
At our first stop, Rizzo, we were going to ‘sample’ a unique Venetian version of Pizza with mortadella, buffalo cheese and pesto.
She came out with this giant slice piled about two inches high. Great, we are going to share that and we will be stuffed?
Nope. We EACH got a slice that big!
What a start to a tour.
At Osteria Why Not Bistro we got a great Prosecco – it is never too early! – and two cicchetti. One was polenta with pickled onions-and-shrimp, and the other is some kind of meatball.
One of only two bridges in the city with no railings.
There are about 178 churches here, and this is the one where Jeff Bezos decided to get married.
A rowing school for all ages!The gates of the Jewish Sector were locked every night.
Cantina Azienda Agricole delivered spectacularly with a risotto with fresh artichoke and smoked ricotta. Delightfully paired with a crisp white wine from the region.
A La Vecia Papussa’s surprise was a Spritz made with ‘Special’ which has a taste somewhere between Campari and Aperol.
For our nibbly bits they deliver eight cachetti! Eight! By now we were all so stuffed that the other two people barely ate any of it. We are not quitters and we finished everything, including their portions.
Our selection consisted of the following toppings: Cream of cod, Lard, Salami, Gorgonzola, Pumpkin&onion, Grilled vegetables, Tomato/cheese and Salmon.
The flag of Venice with the six stripes representing the six sistieri (neighborhoods?)
Our final stop mere seconds from an imminent food explosion was at one of the oldest bakeries in Venice to try their speciality: Tiramisu.
Are you going to eat that?
Final thought: We have a food tour in every city of this trip. Can we survive them all, including a seven day cruise, and still fit in our clothes on the flight back?
Stay tuned!
PS Kudos if you got the reference of the post’s title.
Venice exist only on its own terms, and does not care to compromise.
It is a city full of surprises tucked away in narrow alleys and seemingly dead ends. It is a incomprehensible maze between ancient looming structures crisscrossed with canals. A glimpse of something green behind a closed gate might indicate a very rare garden, usually in front of a palace. In the plazas you are blessed with a momentary reveal of the sky.
And, underneath all these buildings, are only wooden pilons driven into the ocean sand, and water. On top of this is built a place of wonder that would not even nature claim it.
It is pure joy to simply give yourself over to it and get lost in the magic.
First random stop for a glass of wine. A delightfully no-frills (ancient) little pizza place.
Another stop for wine. The place was so tiny you could barely get 6 people in the whole wine bar.
As Pieter yet again randomly turned into another dark and barely lit alley:
Kenn: “We are going to die!”
Pieter: “Seriously, have I ever gotten you killed?”
Gondolas in front of the Rialto bridge.
We took to heart the ‘rule’ that states: for the best meal, get away from the tourist areas and and find a place where the locals eat.
Let me give you an example: If you set a 5:30am alarm to make your 7:30am train, but you forgot to check the ‘weekdays only’ setting, guess what happens?
Since you did not realize it is Sunday, your alarm will not go off and you will sleep exhaustedly until 7:32.
And this, kids, is where our word of the day, pivot, comes in.
After a search across all possible train providers you will come to the realization that there is no available rail option that will get you to Venice in the same day.
Now what do you do to get to Venice? Can you all say together: pivot!
A more generic search reveals a flight that leaves at noon!
We pivoted.
Even though the cons of a good night’s sleep includes no train ride and a scorched credit card for last minute tickets, there are pros as well: a much shorter travel time, and a lot more time in Venice!
