We left Firenze without issue three days ago (including today). The drive was nice, and without any hiccup. Arriving in Venezia is really cool, as you have to understand that it's a series of man-made islands connected to land only through one long bridge. Once across, parking was a little nuts to figure out, as things are just not clearly directed. You're basically spat off the highway into a large parking area. It's really ground zero for entering the city, as the main water transit stops are there, along with hotels, and baggage boats that take your stuff to the hotels, etc... We finally parked on the top floor of a lot, where we counted ourselves lucky to find a great open spot. Almost every empty space was double-parked by some idiot driver, who then forced everyone else to double park, eliminating tons of spots. Anyways, we found a spot, so I won't complain. Taking our luggage, we trekked down to the ground zero, following my GPS to direct us to our nearby hotel. I had chosen a hotel close beside ground zero for two reasons: it's cheaper, and it's close to the car. It's on the outskirts of Venice, but it only takes about half an hour to walk from one end of the city to the other, which we both agreed was so worth it. We got to experience the full city throughout our walks, I wouldn't have had it any other way.
We checked in to the hotel, got some lunch, and explored. We made no plans on what to see and where to go, other than to head towards St. Mark's Square - which without a map is impossible, lol. We tried to go by our sense of direction and ended up going in a giant U-shape, lol! It was all good though. We finally cracked and checked the map dumbfounded at how far off the path we'd gotten. Correcting our course, we continued to travel through the endless maze of alleyways that are the streets of Venice. The other amazing thing about the city is that are obviously no cars beyond ground zero, meaning walking or boats are your only means of transportation. It's so peaceful that way.
People have complained ad nauseum about the stench from the city when they visited. I can honestly say that in March, the stink is next to nothing. Yeah, you smell an odor like you would down by most waterfronts along Lake Ontario, but the septic sewery stench is next to nothing. Every once in awhile it would waft up, and you be like, "oh man, I can taste it, eugh", but it would pass quickly. Thus, I can completely imagine what the city must smell like during the high season when the temperature really warms up; however, March is clearly the time to see Venice. The crowds were super tame and minimal compared to what I'm sure they are during the high season, which gave us a more intimate vision of the city, and it doesn't smell.
We ended up seeing alot in our first afternoon in the city. We made our way to the Ponte di Rialto, crossing it into the San Marco region of the city. The Rialto is much like the Ponte Vecchio in that it's a bridge with shops, however is far more beautiful as it offers an incredible sweeping image of the Grand Canal, and also offers more reasonable tourist shopping - although it is only tourist crap, so it's not exactly a win.
That's the view from the Rialto, it was like stumbling upon what had always been my romanticized classic vision of what Venice would look like. It was amazing to see that parts of the city actually really looked that way.
We continued into St. Mark's Square, which is just beyond what I had imagined it would look like. It's such a beautiful Piazza, lined with a couple of famous cafes, and some of the most incredible places to shop for jewellry, glass, masks, etc... We made the decision to go up the Campanile bell tower in the square for the view, and were pleasantly surprised to find that they had an elevator! WOO HOO! We've climbed enough stairs for one lifetime, and welcomed the change :-) The view that it offered over the whole city was INCREDIBLE! We were also up there as the sun was making its descent, which cast a beautifully bright hue over the cityscape. We could see the bridge that we came across, all the wonderful windy streets, as well as a great perspective of St. Mark's Square below. The bell tower is really fascinating, as we learned that the original tower collapsed back in the early 1900's. One evening a giant CRACK was heard throughout the square, and it could be seen streaked up the side of the tower. The square was evacuated, and the tower collapsed in on itself the following morning. The reason this happened is because Venice is built on a marshy bed, and the whole city is basically un-level and improperly supported - some of the buildings are hilarious to look at, as they're almost diagonal. Anywho, the new bell tower re-used as much of the old as it could, and is now built on special supports that can actually be shifted mechanically to keep it level. Crazy.
We continued walking around that area, which is basically downtown Venice, before heading for dinner, and then back to our hotel. We ate at this place recommended by Frommers, and it was okay. We chose it because it was cheap but had a good review, and almost every restaurant in Venice is expennnnsive. You can't get a cheap meal in Venice, unless you're not eating much and then it's still relatively expensive considering what you get. The one cool thing about the restaurant we chose, was that I had a whole fish for the first time in my life. I wasn't expecting it until I noticed the gentleman next to us having the same thing. I studied him carefully, as he clearly knew what he was doing in cutting up the fish. Once mine came, I employed the surgical techniques I had memorized with much success. The result was actually a really tasty fish, with a fun story to tell. I didn't eat its head or anything, as it was clearly looking at me.
Our next day (yesterday) brought us back into St. Mark's Square, where we went into St. Mark's church, along with the Doge's Palace next to it. It was a nice church, very much in the Byzantine style, but after St. Peter's Basilica I don't know if I'll ever be in awe of any church's architecture. The Palace was pretty cool, but they were really strict about taking pictures inside, which was a buzzkill. The best part of the palace was a stairwell whose ceiling was entirely laced with real gold. It was fantastic!
We continued to the Bridge of Sighs, a famous bridge that connects the palace to the old prison next to it. The palace held a court that would judge the guilty, and they'd be sent to the prison next to it. The bridge has some cool windows with stone lattace, offering a cool view that was said to make prisoners sigh as they went to their dungeon-like prison cells. Pretty cool stuff!
Afterward, in the afternoon, we decided to enjoy one of the famous outdoor cafes in St. Mark's sqaure, an experience that was worth every penny. It's like afternoon tea, and they have a small orchestral band that plays most of the afternoon. You pay through the nose though, like $50 or so for some hot drinks and dessert, but it's so worth it - especially since it was another beautiful day.
We browsed through the city on our way back to the hotel, and then got ready to go to dinner at a place that sounded fantastic. We headed out to find the restaurant, only to be completely stumped. We looked everywhere for this place according to the map in Frommers, with no luck whatsoever. We settled for a restaurant along the Grand Canal beside the Ponte di Rialto, and it was expensive and lack-luster. The food in Venice is not great, and it's expensive - but you know what, you deal with it.
Today was just perfect. If today had been our last day in Europe, we would go home feeling complete - which really makes the next three days seem like bonus days. It was a relaxing day filled with a couple of art galleries, some nice walks through the city, some fun shopping around St. Mark's Square, and an unforgettable evening that borders on the most fantastic I've ever had. Our evening started by deciding to take a water bus over to St. Mark's Square, where our dinner reservations were. You see, we chose not to pay ridiculous amounts of money for a Gondola ride while we were here. I appreciate that it's an experience, but it wasn't one that Lindsay and I felt was worth having. The result was that we hadn't been on any boat rides, and so thought it would be cool to at least get out onto the water for our last night here. We sat outside at the front of boat, in the frigid cold of night, and laughed, took pictures, and just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves despite the ridiculous cold.
We chose to go to a restaurant that was both recommended by Frommers, and we had noticed looked great on the first night we were here. We didn't go the first night because it also looked too expensive, but damn it everywhere here is expensive! So we said screw it, it's our last night here and the food looks as though it might actually be worthy of the price tag. Ristorante Do Leoni is an absolute must if you visit Venice. No choice, go there on your last night. It was fantastic. Second most expensive meal of our lives, and quite rightly the second best meal of our lives. (Far Niente in Toronto still holds the number one spot for both of those categories) Here's a breakdown of the meal:
Starter: A single little cherry tomato stuffed with a ricotta cheese and pesto mix
Antipasta: Carpaccio of beef with a green salad in a parmasen cheese crusted bowl
Primi: Vegetarian Lasagna (Lindsay) and Risotto with Cuttlefish Ink and bits of Cuttlefish (me)
Secondi: Sliced grilled beef with potatoes (Lindsay) and Roasted Duck Breast (me)
Fantastic. Some good wine, an incredible waiting staff, and an opulent interior... just amazing. Our evening didn't end there though. I brought our bottle of cognac that we've been drinking since visiting Cognac, along with two snifters and a Cuban cohiba cigar that I bought this afternoon at a smoke shop in St. Mark's Square. Virtually empty, we went to St. Mark's Square and grabbed a table at the cafe we had afternoon tea at (which was closed at that point in the evening). Although a bit chilly, we shared the cigar while enjoying our cognac, just taking stock of everything that we've experienced so far on the trip. It was such a perfect experience.
Afterward, we chatted with a few of the illegals trying to hawk their wares in the square, one of whom was all the way from Senegal in Africa. Craziness. These people seem barely human anymore, instead even when trying to just talk with them, they attempt to sell you their wares without cessation, almost robotically. It was interesting to say the least, not nearly as insane as the markets in Dominican Republic, but still kinda nuts. After another walk through the city, our last here, we're now back at the hotel packed up to go tomorrow morning. We're making about a six hour drive to Geneva, where we'll chill for the afternoon and next day, then make a second six hour drive to Paris before leaving. I've posted pictures between two albums for Venice, with THIS ONE, and ALSO THIS ONE. Hope you enjoy, talk to y'all soon!
p.s. We actually found the restaurant today that we had looked for last night. Frommer's messed up bigtime, they had it marked on the wrong side of the Grand Canal, and we only managed to find the place after asking one of "Gondola, Gondola!" guys this afternoon about it's location. I plan to write Frommer's when we get back to complain about that little tidbit. I figure they'd want to know.
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