The goal was to spend 3 days in Venice Italy before heading over to Slovenia. Unfortunately 3 days was not to be.
By the way, I specify Italy when referencing Venice as I was telling someone in Florida how I was going to my first opera in Venice. They commented that they weren’t aware that Venice had an opera house. Remembering where I was, I clarified, Venice Italy not Venice Florida. 😂
Saturday, October 5
Well today I was supposed to be touring Venice and going on a food tour, but instead I woke up in an AC hotel in Atlanta. After sitting on the plane last night for over 3 hours while they tried to fix the air conditioning packs, the pilots timed out and couldn’t fly any longer. Delta put us up in hotels and created a new flight with a different plane leaving Atlanta at 3:45 pm today. Once we finally took off, everyone cheered! I however was nervous about my luggage. They never handed it back to us and the Delta app did not show that it was on the plane. My seat neighbor said his app was working. I ended up chatting with customer service and then baggage support for the first hour or so. They assured me it was on the plane and that it would be delivered on the carousel when I arrived.
Sunday, October 6
Landed at 7 am and as promised, my luggage was there! The airport was pretty easy to navigate. ATM was right by baggage claim as was the ticket machine for public transportation. Since I missed the shared taxi, I decided to take the #2 ATVO Bus to Piazzale Roma and then the vaporetto Line 5.1 to get to my hotel. My other option was to take the Alilaguna which was a little cheaper, but 10 to 20 minutes longer. The bus option was much better. Not crowded at all and I am sure I was the only US person on the bus. Once I got to P. Le Roma, I transferred to the boat. Timing couldn’t have been better. It was sunny out and the views from the boat were amazing!
After a power nap, I headed out to wonder the streets. I walked around to find the meeting points for my two tours. The first was easy to find. The second was a little harder so I wondered and got turned around. GPS was very helpful otherwise I would have never found it. The city is beautiful. All the bridges and canals. As I was on my way back to the hotel to get ready for my first tour, I decided to go by the Rialto bridge. I stumbled on the Hard Rock and got myself a t-shirt and then got some pictures of the bridge.
First tour was of St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace. On my walk to the meeting place, I hadn’t counted on high tide which flooded the streets and made it tricky to get to there without walking through water. On my earlier walk I had seen raised platforms in various areas of the city. I now realized they were there to keep you out of the water during high tide. I saw som tourists with plastic boots that went over their shoes and pants. Clever! Once I made it to the meeting point, they told us that we would not be able to see the basilica because the bishop was having a private event. Bummer! I did get to walk through the Doge’s palace and over the Bridge of Sighs. The palace was formerly the Doge’s (Duke’s) residence and the seat of Venetian government. Built in Venetian Gothic style in 1340, it has been modified and expanded over the centuries. The history of the palace can be found here. The Bridge of Sighs has been associated with romance, but it was quite the opposite. The sighing was from the prisoner crossing the bridge, passing the windows, and having his last look at the world outside. From there it was all downhill (literally) to life in the new jail.
From there we got a tour of the city and walked over to the Rialto. I was then able to have a pretty easy walk to the meeting point for the food tour, which was a blast. It was held by Do Eat Better Experience and was the Venice Bacaro Food tour. We stopped at 5 places that were picked from our guide based on where he would hang out in the evening with his friends when he was 18, which I don’t think was that long ago. 😂 We had spritzes, Bellini, local red wine, Prosecco and many tasty items starting with crostini, to fried mozzarella sandwiches, and ending with gelato. Had such a lovely time. I would highly recommend. It was dark on my walk back to my hotel which was near St Mark’s square. The square was all lit up and very beautiful!
Monday, October 7
This morning I headed out by 8 am to take pictures of St Mark’s square. It was cloudy today so not as nice of pictures, but fewer people. I then headed over to Mazzorbo, Burano and Murano. My first stop was Mazzorbo, the wine and artichoke island. I took the boat to Burano and when everyone went left, I headed right to take the bridge to Mazzorbo. Fewer than 300 people live on the island and it is the least visited island so there were no crowds. The houses were just as colorful as Burano.
The entrance to the Venissa winery property was near the bridge. Not only does the property have Dorona grape, it also has a Michelin star restaurant, an osteria and boutique hotel within the walls of an ancient monastery. I walked through the grounds and past the osteria. I thought about having lunch there, but walked past and walked through the canals looking at the brightly painted houses. As I was walking around I decided that I was going to treat myself for lunch at the osteria. So on my way back I stoped and had a 1 1/2 hour lunch. It was amazing! I started with a grilled cucumber cicchetti. And then had the blue crab spaghetti. I paired it with their specialty wine, Venissa Bianco, 2019 which is made with Dorona grapes grown on the property. The winery is the only place in the world that farms the Dorona di Venezia grape. This varietal, documented in the 15th century and exclusive to the Venice area, was considered extinct until recently. The oro part of the grape’s name comes from the Italian word for gold, in this case the golden green color of the ripening grape and the color of the wine. Dorona is also known as Uva d’Oro, the golden grape.
After my amazing lunch, I walked around Burano. They are known for their colorful buildings and lace. I walked around taking pictures, but not buying lace items. Not really my thing. The tide was high when I was there and the sidewalk on one side of the canal was covered with water. Every island has a church and my guid yesterday said the towers are all leaning. The church tower in Burano was leaning pretty bad. Guess I didn’t have to go to Pisa to see leaning towers. 😊
From Burano I headed over to Murano, which is known for blown glass. I wondered around looking at all the shops with beautiful glass and thought I may find some glass earrings, so I started walking through some of the stores. Instead of earrings, I ended up purchasing a beautiful dolphin statue. I have wanted a have wanted a glass dolphin for over 10 years so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
In the evening, I went to see my first opera, La Traviata. It was preformed in an old palace (Musica a Palazzo) and they performed each of the three acts in a different room. The first room I was a little far back and couldn’t see well. I saw there were chairs set up on the side with no obstructed view. Hmmm, how do I get one of those? After the first act they served us Prosecco and then had us go in a new room. Being early in the room, I was able to grab a seat in front and had a great view. For the third act I wasn’t as lucky but I could see better than the first act. While I had no idea what was going on, I loved it! I saw some people with programs that had the English translation. Wish I would have saw those. Would have been a great souvenir and I would have known what was going on. Now I know for the next time.
