A Day in Venice~Travel in Italy

May 15, 2015
Today is a day of walking in Venice because of the 24-hour vaporetto strike.
After a light breakfast of yogurt and cappuccino, we headed out of foot to the Rialto Market, Venice’s largest and most well-known market located at the Rialto Bridge. We arrived before nine and were able to see the fishmongers setting up their stalls. Many of the types of fish are foreign to me but everything was fresh.

The produce vendors’ colorful displays attracted my attention and we bought some fresh fruit to taste, some for now and some to keep for later. Too bad we wouldn’t be staying long enough to cook in an apartment. I would have liked to buy much more.

After the market we stopped on the Rialto Bridge at the jewelry shop of Marco Jovan. What a pleasure to finally meet this young man with the talented hands that create custom cameos! I will meet up with Marco later this trip when I have more time to spend with him. For now, ciao Marco.

Patty and I walked all over Venice for the next seven hours. I think we were in all the sestieri, or neighborhoods. The shops in Venice seem to have an endless selection of jewelry, hand-made with Murano glass. Normally I don’t shop so much, so I am blaming Patty for my shopping spree here, but I must say the jewelry was spectacular and the prices were good.

We made our way to St Mark’s Square and decided to have a caffè at the famous  Caffé Florian. Since 1720 this caffè has been serving customers including many famous poets, composers, writers, and movie stars. Our two cappuccinos and a pastry cost €34.50 including the €6 per person charge for supplemental music. Yes the live orchestra was a nice touch, but nothing is free in Venice. After all, this city’s history dates back to times of wealth and power and Venetians were first and foremost merchants. It’s all about the experience though.

As we walked back toward Piazzale Roma, we found a great cicchetti bar in Castello and that was where we had our lunch. I don’t have to tell you that it was delicious.

Rain was expected all day but we lucked out as the morning stayed dry until 1:00pm. We had umbrellas to protect us once it started and we got back to Casa Sant’ Andrea by late afternoon.

Since the forecast was calling for acqua alta, or high water at 9:15pm, we bought some prosciutto and cheese along with some crackers and fruit and stayed inside with our own picnic dinner. Neither of us felt like walking anymore especially with the expected flooding. So this worked out well. Buona sera.

Due to poor wi-fi connectivity I can’t upload photos to this post. Hopefully the next one will be better.