We started our Italian Foodie 2018 adventure in Venice, in the northeastern corner of the boot. You can see an overview and a map of the trip in the page above this one, just follow that Italian Foodie 2018 link above, or click the Up botton at the bottom of this story.
On Saturday, 23 June 2018, we flew from Dublin to Venice, and en route we saw amazing views of the Alps. I recommend a daytime flight and a window seat!
The Marco Polo Airport is like lots of other airports, except that you have to take a boat to the city. You have some options, of which the most expensive and the best is a private water taxi. Here's why: There were three of us, so it would have cost €45 plus an extra €3 x 3 fee for our bags that had been checked for the flight (you get a free carry-on). The private water taxi cost €109 with no extra fees, so the water taxi cost us an extra €55. What did we get for paying the premium?
Saved a lot of trouble: It was a hot June day, and the streets of old Venice are narrow, cobbled, crowded, and you often have to cross bridges that are steep and narrow. Dragging our luggage through those crowded uneven streets would guarantee arriving hot, sweaty, tired, and probably irritable. And of course in a private water taxi you don't have to remain vigilant for pickpockets and con men, so you can relax and enjoy arriving in style. - It's fun, and you can take all the photos you want without someone being in the way.
Time to explore Venice: The Alilaguna water bus departs about every two hours during the day, and it takes about 90 minutes to get across the lagoon and through the canals to the Piazza San Marco, making other stops before and after. Our flight landed and we had our bags by 11:00, so we would have taken the 11:30 water bus, arriving at Piazza San Marco around 13:00. From the Piazza San Marco boat terminal, Google Maps declares a 7 minute walk for about a third of a mile, but that's not necessarily so when there are five (!) cruise ships in town and the famous Piazza is swarming with tourists! I'd figure 10-15 minutes on a crowded day, if you don't get lost in the labyrinth.
Taking the private water taxi, we arrived at the hotel on the canal 23 minutes after boarding, at 11:30, an hour and 40 minutes or so ahead of the water bus method, and we arrived fresh and exhilarated and ready to explore. We agreed the €55 premium that we paid was a sound investment.
We stayed at the Hotel Colombina, which is a nice but expensive hotel on a canal not far from the Piazza San Marco about the same distance in the opposite direction from the Rialto.
Then we went exploring. We first visited the famous Piazza San Marco, and then worked out way up to the Rialto and across the San Polo neighborhood to some shops we remembered from a previous visit, then down to the Dorsodouro neighborhood and across the Grand Canal back to the San Marco neighborhood. Our route was very meandering and full of side trips, eating and drinking, shopping and other distractions, but it went more or less like this.
In the Piazza San Marco, we had to stop at the Frey Wille jewelry shop, makers of some of Lorna's favorite rings. The Piazza is an enormous box, with the Doge's Palace on one end and a collonade with shops and restaurants around the outside. It's hard to get outside the box; while Lorna and Melissa looks at jewelry I made my way to Harry's Bar, but it was a long way with poor signage. I didn't stay for a drink at that iconic establishment, because of course it was swarmed. The whole piazza was swarming with people, and most of the establishments were very touristy (all the cruise ship people were there); I didn't like it nearly as well as I liked the rest of the city.
From the Piazza San Marco, we wended our way out of the throng and into some quiet side streets, where we discovered a shop of wonderful whimsical marzipan confections in far more variety than we ever see here. This whole quarter was naturally the most touristy in the city, between two of the city's most well-known attractions. We got to and over the Rialto as quickly as possible, to get to the quieter streets of San Polo.
We shopped and dined and dined and shopped; these were some highlights:
- A top priority was the enchanting Atelier Marega for handmade masks. We saw shops of the rival maskmaker La Bauta everywhere, but we didn't care for their quality in many cases, nor in their artistic vision in many cases. Everything at Atelier Marega made us smile.
There was a glass shop that we had seen before and could not remember the name of. We found it by following our feet, and it's good that we did, because the shop will close soon - the owner is retiring after 41 years in the same location! So I didn't bother to record the name, since we'll never see it again. - I bought a very good, durable, cool Panama Hat for €59 that is still in great condition despite some serious abuse.
We had one near-disaster in the evening. When we finally found the Atelier Marega, it was 15 minutes to closing time. Lorna's Visa card was declined by Visa! Even though I had told our credit union that we'd be in Italy, somehow that was not recorded for her card. Then to complicate matters, the phone number on record was our home phone, not her cell phone. Sure enough when we got home there was a message from the credit union asking if we wanted to authorize an expenditure in Italy. We called the credit union from the street and got it worked out, and had no more trouble after that.
Adding up receipts, the three of us spent €114 dining at:
La Rivetta: We had done more shopping than dining and we were getting faint with hunger by the time we had sense enough to stop and take a break. La Rivetta is a nice little establishment with indoor and outdoor seating, the latter by a little canal with a gondola stop. We opened with a caprese and a bottle of Dolcetto d'Alba. Melissa had a light pasta dish with fresh chives, Lorna had a Sole Meuniere filleted tableside by Alex (read the TripAdvisor review linked above for the adventure!), and I had a long-anticipated Venetian specialty, the startlingly black Seppie Nero (cuttlefish in a sauce of its ink) with polenta. This was our big meal of the day.
Osteria al Vecio Forno: After the credit card fiasco, we needed to calm down and regroup. This was handled with panache at the Osteria al Vecio Forno, where Melissa became addicted to the classic Venetian Aperol Spritz, Lorna did the same with a classic Venetian Bellini, and they split an excellent tiramisu. I didn't really need anything, but the owner gave me a little glass with a special strange greenish concoction of his own that was both refreshing and added to the mystique and charm that are Venice.
Trattoria Pizzeria de Gioa: As the sun set, we needed some sort of dinner, so we stopped at a crowded place that promised classical Venetian fare. We were back in the Piazza San Marco gravity well, so the tourist effect could not be ruled out. The grilled vegetables and the burrata caprese were both good, but not special. The star was a Granseola alla Veneziana - another classic Venetian dish of a local crab salad served in its shell. 
Finally back at the Hotel Colombina, Lorna and Melissa examined their treasures while I went down to examine the hotel bar. A friendly Englishman tipped me off that Florin the bartender makes a fine Sidecar, so I unwound with that, sitting on the dock at the back door watching the lights on the canal.
As I mentioned above, we stayed at the Hotel Colombina. We liked the hotel and would stay there again if we could afford it - it was about €475 for three people, but it's right on a canal so it fit right into the whole "opening the adventure with a bang!" idea, and the helpful staff ensured that we had no headaches on our first day. The bar was very good, the common area was nice. The breakfast was generous, delicious, and included. And in Venice, there's no car noise!
In the morning we took another private water taxi to the train station, to continue our adventure in Florence.