Venice, Italy Sept. 9 - 23, 2017

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The bus arrived on the edge of Venice around 6pm, leaving us a bit of a distance out of Venice proper. It is a short walk over to the People-Mover where you buy a transit ticket from a machine, then climb stairs or use the elevator up to the platform to board the mini rapid-transit. This takes you from Tronchetta Island, where the cars and buses park, to a stop at the cruise ship terminal, then on to Venice.





Our walking route took us over the large and busy bridge towards the front of the train station and into the crowds. Luckily our small and lightweight High Sierra rolling backpacks served us well, making it much easier this year to walk a distance with our luggage.





The sights and sounds of Venice immediately and overwhelmingly assaulted our senses and brought back a flood of good memories. I had some directions from our hosts and started to recognize the route from past trips so we found our way to our apartment easily, in the Cannaregio “neighbourhood”, or “Sestiere”, less than 15 minutes walk past the train station.





It was dark by the time we picked up our keys at the small hotel next door and a relief after a day of travelling to get settled into our home for the next couple of weeks. By Venice standards, our apartment was spacious and other than internet, it provided us with all of the comforts we required.





Our last trip here, four years ago, we stayed at the opposite end of Venice, in a quiet residential neighbourhood. This time, although we were off the “street”, down a tunnel passageway facing onto an inner courtyard, we were very close to shops and restaurants and crowds of tourists.





Our passageway tunnel opens onto a walkway along a canal and just steps from a bridge crossing it back towards the train station. Our usual morning routine was for me to run out to buy a couple of fresh croissants while Chris made the coffee. Then after breakfast we would head out walking to see some particular site or more commonly, to wander and explore all the hidden corners of Venice.





Another interesting feature of our flat location was the fish market that set up every morning right at the entrance to our passageway. We had all sorts of fresh daily catch on display for us every day and we certainly took advantage of trying out the local fish. Local markets is one of Chris' favourite things throughout Europe. And Venice is no exception with various sizes of markets set up in the streets or more permanently in shops around every corner. Perhaps the largest, and most famous, of the local markets is the Rialto market near the well-known Rialto bridge. Although we didn't shop there on this trip, we did pay it a visit and it was also included on a Rick Steves walking tour that we followed through that area to learn a bit more about the history and various shops and buildings that we were seeing.





Many people are unaware, that in addition to global warming increasing high tide flooding in parts of Venice, the island of Venice is also sinking ! Or at least part of it is. At certain times of year they extend wooden boardwalks thoughout the tourist areas to allow people to move around without wading through flood waters. I was startled one morning when flood waters were overtop of our walkway along the canal, making it necessary to walk through an inch of water to get out of our passageway.





We had a Vaporetto stop right near us that could take us to Lido, the beach island a short distance away that is also known for the location of the Venice International Film Festival. We bought a ticket and headed over early one day to explore this island for the first time. Our vaporetto route completely circled Venice, providing us with a tour of the coastline, before heading across for about a 15 minute trip.





The two ferry terminals are on the built-up side of this long, skinny island facing Venice, while the opposite side is a long stretch of beach and the film festival facilities near one end. The first thing that surprised us is that Lido has real streets! With cars! As the film festival ended the previous week, and we were just entering the Fall and cooler weather, Lido was nearly deserted.





We walked around the island, explored the beaches and the many resort areas with several rows of hundreds of little cabañas facing the beach. Apparently the locals usually rent one for the summer season, with just enough room in them to hold their chairs and beach supplies, often with a little porch roof allowing you to sit or barbecue under cover. We stopped for lunch in one of the few restaurants still open, then made our way back to the ferry. Lido would likely be a lot more exciting in the height of the summer.





On another day, we walked the length of Venice to return to the wonderful Trattoria dai Tosi in the Castello Sistiere where we stayed four years ago. Surprisingly, Logan, the son greeting and serving us, remembered us from four years ago and Mama’s pasta was as good as we recalled.





On our way to and from the restaurant, we walked past our apartment from four years ago and I noticed that the windows were open. A strange part of home exchange vacations is that you seldom actually meet each other in person, although our friends who greeted them on their stay in our home told us how nice they were. Later this day I emailed the couple to ask who was in their Venice flat and she immediately replied that it was them staying there right now and we quickly arranged to meet again the next day.





Meeting Giovanna and Angelo in their/our apartment was wonderful. They were every bit as nice as our friends had reported and it was fun sitting around our old apartment and getting to know them. We visited for a while then they showed us around the neighbourhood that we thought we knew so well, but there are always new things to see in Venice. The Biennale art displays were in progress while we were here and they brought us to see one nearby. Four years ago when we were here we visited at least a dozen different art installations but only briefly saw three this time.





Another first for us was visiting the department store T Fondaco dei Tedeschi by DFS. This high-end store is full of luxury names with enough staff to offer everyone personal service. This is a beautifully restored 11th century building with some amazing history, with about 5 floors, each actually an open terrace around the four sides, surrounding an open central area with more shopping and a coffee shop on the floor below. The real reason to go here is for the free roof-top view over the Rialto bridge and across Venice. Access is strictly controlled, allowing only 20 to 30 people at a time, so the lineups can be lengthy. But the view is absolutely worth the wait.





Another interesting thing to see, if you got out and about early enough, was all of the goods being delivered to the shops around the city. Boats piled HIGH with boxes would be stopped at every available location and then they would be unloaded, then reloaded, onto hand carts. Strong men and boys would then push these handcarts up and down every little alleyway and up and down bridges to reach all of the shops and businesses; with mobs of tourists getting in their way all of the time!





Most of our days in Venice were spent walking through areas we remembered, but discovering little alleyways, shops and restaurants that were new to us. Getting “lost” in Venice is the best way to really experience this one of a kind city. We revisited the Jewish ghetto, lingering by and reading the memorials to this horrible time in history. We also stepped into some of the spectacular churches we remembered from our last visit. San Geremia church was very close to our flat and we enjoyed rediscovering it, it’s history, and the relic of Saint Lucy of Syracuse housed inside. We also discovered a few "hidden" public parks, accessible down small alleyways, or one even through an abandoned school to reach it.





Besides trying out the Gelato at various shops around Venice, we also stopped in at the Magnum store. Any fans of this ice cream bar MUST check this out if you are ever in Venice. The Magnum shop is directly across the bridge in front of the train station. For 5.00 Euro you get to custom make your own magnum bar! You choose which ice cream and toppings and they make it while you wait. For an extra 0.50 you can have an espresso with it.





In our last few days here, we discovered a really nice restaurant just a couple of minutes from our flat, along our canal. Laguna Libre offers a nice selection of seafood and pasta all made with local and organic ingredients. The hostess Juliette, originally from Uganda, was a delight and she completely sold us on stopping for lunch as we walked by. We returned that same evening for dinner when they had a local student jazz band, then again a couple days later to see the professional jazz “4tet” Raf Ferrari. Raf is the pianist and composer for all of their music although the drummer, knowing a little bit of English, was the only one who spoke to the crowd. The music was great (we bought a CD) and the meals were all fantastic!





We caught a late morning train on Sept. 23 for Rome. Our third trip to Venice was anything but boring, we are still in love with the city and the people and we will likely be back again some day.





There are a lot more photos here if you scroll down right to the bottom and then also click to see the additional pages.

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Photos

Biennale Art installation
Giovanna and Angelo brought us to a nearby park to see a dozen of these lifelike sculptures.