Venice Day 2-6
On our first day we wandered the area south and east of where we are staying. We found the Campo Santa Margherita and had a pretty good, but expensive, light lunch at Bistro Bollicine. Then again this is Venice and there is nothing inexpensive. We then trekked to the Campo Santa Barnaba and kept going what was southeast and picked up a bottle of wine at the Osteria al Pugni for the apartment. Wandering some more we came across a little place, Al Vecio Marangon on the Calle Toletta.
Margaret had recommended the Osteria al Bifora on the Santa Margherita for dinner but it was packed when we went by and we didn't feel like eating at the other places on the campo so we found our way back to Al Vecio Marangon and after waiting for a large party of about 12 to clear out got a table. The place is small, maybe seating 24. We found the food to be good and service was excellent, perhaps because the large group had left. It's near a university site, there's dozens of them in Venice, scattered all around the city. The Architecture school was near the apartment we were staying at. It's right across the canal from San Maria Maggiore which is closed and now serves as part of the carciere, or prison.
On 12/28 we headed to the Piazza San Marco. That night,12/28, we ate at Cafe Sportivi on the Campo Santa Margherita. I won't rave about the food but it was OK. I had Callimari Venezia, squid in sepia sauce, with a side of polenta. It was good but a bit salty. Rachel had pollo limone, and Cathy had chicken Milanese with a side of fries. We had a decent bottle of local Merlot and Rae had tartuffo that was still icy from the freezer. I doubt we'll be back.
This afternoon, 12/29, the owner of the apartment we're renting took us on a tour of Venice in his personal boat. We had to pay but it beat the cost of a gondola ride. Nick owns 5 apartments in Venice plus the palazzo he lives in. Dude must be connected since he also owns a flat in Monaco and a house in Austria. After the boat tour we wandered the streets.
Today we hit the Bollicine again for lunch and will try to get to the Osteria al Bifora for dinner in a few minutes. We need to eat early since we are getting up to walk with Rachel to the Piazzelle Romana so she can catch a cab to the airport for her flight at 6:20 to go to London and then on to Iceland to meet Jess and Mike on their way from Canada to Malta for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
12/30-Got Rae to the cab stand OK. On the way there we saw where someone had climbed out of the Rio Nuova canal and we followed the wet footprints all the way to the Piazalle Romana where you catch buses and cabs to the mainland. Must have sobered up real fast after he hit the water.
On the 30th we caught the vapporetto to Murano and wandered the back lanes of the island. It's a beautiful place but pretty isolated. After returning to Venice we had dinner at the Trattoria Tre Ponti near the bus stops. Great food at reasonable, for Venice, prices. I'd definitely recommend it. The service was excellent and since I spoke some Italian and made jokes with the waiter/maitre'd we got better service and limoncello while a German couple did not. We split an orata (gilthead or sea bream) had some potatoes and I added a plate of the Faggato d' Venasia, the local version of liver and onions. It was delicious.
We arrived back at the Piazza Romana after dark via the vaporetto but it gave a chance to capture some good sunset shots.
On New Year's Eve afternoon we walked around the Dorsoduro to where the entrance of the Grand Canal is located at the Punta de Dogana to check out a place to watch the fireworks on the San Marco Basin. Came back and made dinner for the first time.
In the evening we headed back out about 10:30 to get to the point and found a place near the front of the crowd. We ran into a couple from Matthews Beach, they were standing next to us and heard American English, not that British, Irish or Canadian stuff. Great show. It lasted 20 minutes but the fireworks in Seattle at the Fourth on Lake Union are more imaginative. Pretty standard types of displays, although there were a LOT of them. I didn't get photos, instead I did videos on my iPhone
I've got hundreds of photos but this stinking mobile app won't let me use them. BORING!
Oh well, we're eating in again tonight. Need to save a little money but there are some restaurants we have targeted to try so it looks like eating out till we leave.
Sorry to be a short, sad blog posting covering so many days but once we get back to Sicily and the laptop I'll edit this and add photos.
Ciao for now.