To Venezia

Day 17, August 19: Off to Venezia! We had breakfast then headed for the train station. It would be a straight shot in three hours with a few stops along the way. Kind of a shame since it wastes daytime but better than transferring three times on a night train.

So I learned that Venice proper is the ghetto city and the Venice that everyone goes to visit with the water canals is Venezia Santa Lucia. When we got off the train it was 3ish in the afternoon and hot as hell.

Our hotel was over a mile away. The jerks who drive water taxis are again, out to screw you. They wanted to charge €40 to take us to our hotel. There was mention about a charge for our bag too. We didn't bother to check the public boat fares but we did take that on the way back. It's €6.50 per person for a one hour ticket.


So we walked through the narrow alleyways crammed with little stores and past other tourists. The walk was rather pleasant aside from the brutal heat that caused us to sweat profusely. I actually had sweat dripping down my nose from my sunglasses. It was nice to walk through and get a sense of the roads. And there were no cars or scooters to dodge here, just slow or clueless people. =)

We finally arrived at our hotel, Ca'Del Campo which was a nice little place not far from San Marco Square. We had plenty of time to explore and have a late lunch. We asked the clerk at the front desk about places to eat, gondola prices, and how to check out a Murano factory the next day. He gave us lots of good information. Too bad it wasn't all accurate.

We walked out to Campo San Paolo and the pizzeria the clerk suggested was closed until dinner so we went across the square to another pizzeria that was very good. I had a very rich lemon gelato dessert with limoncello gel swirls in it. I'm sure it was terrible for me but it was SO worth it.

We went back and talked to the guy again, asking details about going to Murano. He said we could talk to the manager the next morning and he could call a factory they have an agreement with so we could tour the place and see how Murano glass is made!

So we went back up to the room, had a quick little nap and decided even though it's expensive, we would do a gondola ride to say we've done it. This is where the clerk left out some critical information. There is a gondola stop right outside our hotel so we talk to the oldest gentleman there, Esteban. We were told the price is €80 for a 30 minute ride (that would be $120 US for those of you doing conversion) and it turns out that's just the 'day' rate. After 7PM it goes up!


Esteban agrees to take us for the day rate since it's right after 7 PM and we were unaware of the rate hike. He's been doing this for 30 years so he was an excellent guide. It was amazing how he and the rest of his fellow gondoliers can steer through these canals passing things with two inches to spare. He explained some of the buildings, like the one Casanova used to reside in (or escape from if he was in trouble). The legend is at midnight you can sometimes see his ghost return to the place.


We also learned that each man owns his gondola but works for a company who runs the whole thing. They now have to pass a test whereas in previous generations just being the son of a gondolier meant you could become one too. Unfortunately, his son is one of those water taxi drivers, his enemy. Now as wonderful a novelty as it is, I can safely say I have no interest in doing a Gondola ride again. We don't even think we got the full time we paid for and it's so expensive just for a little ride around in the water.


We then walked out to San Marco Square. The place is covered with pidgeons and people. Cafés have huge setups of tables and chairs as well as amazing musicians playing beautiful music to draw people in. But that is the scene I would picture for Italy.


We wandered along a few store fronts with beautiful glass sculptures and that just got us more excited for our tour tomorrow. Everything is so amazing. We managed to find a few beautiful sets of jewelry for ladies in our lives and then headed off to Mascaron for dinner since it was recommended by both our clerk and Esteban. The place is again, typical Italian setup, crammed, busy, loud. But it's also affordable.

We finally got seated with menus and the Italian one is the only current one, filled in everyday depending on what they get for fresh fish. Jason settled on grilled sole and octopus salad while I went with cuttlefish, Venitian style. I don't know what that means but I believe it means it's prepared in squid ink because the dish is a plate of black sauce with slices of cuttlefish chopped up in it. They also use a tomato infused olive oil but you can't see it. The dish was really good.

Gelato was in order after that. Places were already shutting down so we had to move fast. Finally, we found a place near us and enjoyed a really delicious flavor that was like butterscotch! Then we casually window shopped on our way back.