This post is dedicated to the Shick Family. They gave me the opportunity to visit this amazing city – a thank you is truly not enough. I also dedicate this to Adam Ponsi and Linda Gomes – their honeymoon in 2017 will take them to this magical city. #stayinspired
Venice: The medieval city is postcard-perfect. It flourishes with Gothic, Byzantine, Rococo and Neo-Classical architecture. Its intricate network of canals winding through ancient cobbled alleys and under bridges is sublime. Venice is a window into the Italy of the 5th century. Nestled in a crook in northern Italy on the edge of the Adriatic Sea, it is laced with 170-odd waterways, which are spanned by 400-odd bridges. You can see the gondolas which replace workaday motorboats on the canals – you will not see a single car or even a bike.
Venice is built on top of an unstable lagoon. Read: its sinking, and worsening. Recurring floods have only sped up the structural damage inflicted on Venice’s low-lying brick buildings and the priceless St. Mark’s Basilica. A mere 3.3-foot rise in sea levels would put the city underwater—a reality that focuses not on “if” but “when.”
What does this mean -> Go see it now!
General Info:
- Currency: Euro
- Tipping: Most restaurants include a service charge, but 10-15% is appreciated
Hotels:
- Hotel Villa Braida: Super cozy hotel outside of the actual city (25 min drive and arrangements can be made with hotel staff)
- Aman Canal Grande: Set beside the Grand Canal – magnificent.
- Metropole Hotel: A walk from St. Mark’s Basilica. It’s also home to the Michelin starred Met Restaurant (pan-friend scallops coated with black bread crumbs!)
Dining:
A Venetian meal has many courses, and it can take a few hours to work your way through them all—from an antipasto seafood platter (or the classic sarde in saor, Venetian sweet-and-sour sardines) through spaghetti alle vongole (with clams) or risi e bisi (rice and peas) and grilled catch of the day to a cheese platter or tiramisú for dessert. Side note: I loved them ALL!
There are several great places to eat between Piazza San Marco and Ca’ d’Oro. I recommend either the simple yet hearty and authentic fare at Austria La Campana hidden in plain sight on the main drag (or, a bit out of the way, Trattoria Cea), or splashing out on lunch at the excellent Bistrot de Venise, many of its recipes from Renaissance-era Italian and French cookbooks.
If you prefer quick, cheap bites, there are two excellent tavola calda joints selling hot, prepared foods near the Rialto Bridge.
More places to Eat:
- Caffe del Doge: Coffee snobs paradise near the Rialto Bridge.
- Rialto Fish Market: Medieval market is open-sided and offers everything from crabs, octopus, squid, monkfish and more. There is also a horse butcher next door….
- All’Arco: A neighborhood osteria (casual tavern) that serves wine and cicchetti finger food. Armed with ingredients from the nearby Rialto market, this family run tavern is a must stop!
- Osteria di Santa Marina: Local eatery with delicious tuna tartare with shaved truffle and tagliatelle with cuttlefish and pistachio pesto….oh and plenty of wine.
- Antiche Carampane: No fuss, seafood focused trattoria. Sign on the door” No pizza, no lasagna, no menu turistico” Get the soft shell crabs that are deep fried and the tagliolini with baby octopus.
- Quadri: One of the city’s most highly regarded restaurants. 7 courses…. and so utterly romantic.
Drinking:
- 1930’s era Harry’s Bar – 1948 Giuseppe Cipriani christened his signature peach bellini cocktail – must have if visiting Venice.
- Gritti Palace’s Longhi Bar: Decorated with beautiful Venetian art, Murano glass and overlooking the stunning Grand Canal.
- La Birra di Meni: 300 beers on tap
- Caffe Florian: Hot chocolate!
- Hotel Danieli’s Bar Dandolo: Sean Connery drank here during the filming of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. You can’t help but feel like James Bond here 🙂
Must See / Excursions:
- Ponte dell’Accademia (at sunrise)
- The Grand Canal
- Piazza San Marco: The famous square is flanked by grand municipal buildings with a triumvirate of tower, church and palace at the end. This was where Venice announced itself to the world. One of the shops bears a statue of St. Theordore, the city’s dragon-slaying patron before St. Mark, and the other a winged lion, the symbol of the city and it’s 1000 year rebuttal of autocratic rule. Prisoners were executed between the columns – yikes!
- Santa Maria della Salute: Built in the 1600’s to celebrate the end of the city’s last great plague.
- Saint Mark’s Basilica: Kill two birds with one stone by being at the Basilica di San Marco before it opens at 9:45am; that way you (a) get to see its treasures and the thousands of square feet of glittering mosaics, and (b) won’t have to wait in a long line, which can stretch the wait to as long as an hour or more later in the day. It consists of onion domes and Gothic spires, statues and gold mosaics. This was an expression of power vs. faith.
- Pala d’Oro: Do pay the small, separate admission fees to see the Pala d’Oro altarpiece and to visit the Marciana Museum upstairs (great close-up view of the mosaics from the balcony level).
- Libreria Acqua Alta: “The most beautiful bookstore in the world”. It’s not, but it’s an experience in itself.
- Doge’s Palace: Be there before 11:35am to take your (pre-booked) “Secret Itineraries” tour, which in 90 minutes gives you an amazing insider’s glimpse into the hidden offices, courtrooms, archives, and prisons from which the true Venetian Republic ruled for 900 years.
- San Marco Campanile: The bell tower which actually opens before the basilica itself. Hit this one first for city panoramas from the top.
- Ca’d’Oro: Venice’s Ca’ d’Oro (Golden House) is a gorgeous 15th century palatial home housing the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti museum. Ca’ d’Oro is one of the best preserved and most impressive of the hundreds of patrician palazzi lining the Grand Canal.
- Rialto Bridge: Cross over the Grand Canal to the bridge. It’s a Renaissance stone span lined by shops…and food! Take a few minutes to wander the stalls of the Rialto Bridge on the far (S. Polo) side, then thread your way south through the S. Polo district to the Scuola Grande di San Rocco.
- A Cicchetti Crawl: Cicchetti (proucounced “chee-KET-tee”) are Venice’s verison of tapas. These are finger foods from bars called bacari traditionally washed down with an ombra (shadow), a small glass of wine. Cichetti run the gamut of, well, pretty much anything you can stick on a toothpick: calamari (in rings, or just tiny whole octopi), fried olives, cheese, sarde in soar (sweet-and-sour sardines), potato croquettes, polpette (meatballs—of beef or tuna), grilled polenta squares, salami…the list goes on. On the calories I accumulated.
- Casino di Venezia: Since the 1600’s people have been invited to throw their money around in elegant surroundings. With the slot machines juxtaposed with Renaiissance art, it’s quite a decandent experience. Caution, you will most likely walk in with more money than you walk out.
- Take a Gondola Ride
- Other Trips from Venice:
- Murano Glass: There was a time when the trade of glassblowing was an elite pursuit dominated by craftsmen in the Venetian Republic, most notably on the island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon. It’s a must see. The products are breathtaking and $$$. I totally bought gold glasses. It’s the Italian in me.
- Giudecca: Run down area home to prisoners and exiles (Michaelangelo spent a few years here in the 1520’s) but it feels like Brooklyn.
- Shoreditch: artists and musicials – Elton John has a place here.
There is so much here that seems on the brink of falling apart or melting away. While many buildings have been restored, many are still crumbling. This is part of Venice’s appeal. The city dates back to the 5th Century, and emerged as a major world power in the 10th century. It looks it’s age…and that’s what makes it fabulous.
La Dolce Vita! An Italian Adventure. – Three Quarters There
January 10, 2017[…] Chapter 1: Venice […]
efcaxdszdfszgd
July 29, 2020Title
[…]the time to study or go to the content material or sites we have linked to below the[…]
m980u9oy9y98o8y9pm
July 30, 2020Title
[…]Here is a great Blog You may Uncover Exciting that we Encourage You[…]
m90uojmuy7hjhhhh
August 1, 2020Title
[…]please take a look at the websites we comply with, such as this a single, as it represents our picks through the web[…]
rxc43rw435tr53t453t
August 2, 2020Title
[…]Sites of interest we’ve a link to[…]
Airport Eagles customer login
August 11, 2020Title
[…]although web-sites we backlink to beneath are considerably not associated to ours, we feel they’re actually really worth a go as a result of, so possess a look[…]
to heathrow
August 11, 2020Title
[…]check below, are some entirely unrelated internet sites to ours, even so, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[…]
Sports Leggings
August 30, 2020Title
[…]here are some links to internet sites that we link to simply because we consider they are worth visiting[…]
cxqw234xracrwcr4
August 31, 2020Title
[…]please stop by the web sites we stick to, including this 1, because it represents our picks through the web[…]
xdsffx4crta4rtxa34w
September 1, 2020Title
[…]usually posts some pretty fascinating stuff like this. If you are new to this site[…]
uscojufm9r4tue4urtse4
November 4, 2020Title
[…]The details talked about within the post are several of the most effective readily available […]
baden-württemberg
November 7, 2020Title
[…]one of our visitors recently suggested the following website[…]
hạt macca úc 500g
November 7, 2020Title
[…]although sites we backlink to beneath are considerably not related to ours, we really feel they’re really really worth a go by way of, so possess a look[…]
https://www.manytube.net/
November 9, 2020Title
[…]please take a look at the web pages we follow, including this a single, because it represents our picks from the web[…]
https://royalcbd.com/product/cbd-capsules-25mg/
November 9, 2020Title
[…]The information mentioned in the post are several of the most effective available […]
cbd products
November 9, 2020Title
[…]below you will obtain the link to some web sites that we think it is best to visit[…]
https://royalcbd.com/product/cbd-gummies-10mg/
November 10, 2020Title
[…]Here is a good Blog You may Discover Interesting that we Encourage You[…]
https://royalcbd.com/product/cbd-cream/
November 10, 2020Title
[…]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a handful of unrelated data, nevertheless definitely really worth taking a search, whoa did 1 understand about Mid East has got additional problerms too […]
best cbd oil for pain
November 10, 2020Title
[…]that could be the finish of this report. Right here you’ll find some sites that we assume you’ll enjoy, just click the hyperlinks over[…]
https://royalcbd.com/product/cbd-oil-1000mg/
November 10, 2020Title
[…]The info talked about inside the report are several of the top out there […]
https://royalcbd.com/product/cbd-roll-on-gel/
November 10, 2020Title
[…]The facts mentioned inside the post are a few of the most effective available […]
seo company in usa
November 10, 2020Title
[…]although internet sites we backlink to beneath are considerably not connected to ours, we really feel they are really worth a go as a result of, so possess a look[…]
cbd oil for sale
November 10, 2020Title
[…]below you’ll discover the link to some websites that we consider you must visit[…]
sàn mitrade lừa đảo
November 14, 2020Title
[…]one of our guests recently recommended the following website[…]
about canada pharmacy
November 18, 2020Title
[…]here are some links to websites that we link to simply because we assume they’re really worth visiting[…]
canada pharmacy
November 19, 2020Title
[…]below you will discover the link to some web-sites that we believe you need to visit[…]
pardon applications canada
November 20, 2020Title
[…]although sites we backlink to below are considerably not connected to ours, we feel they may be really really worth a go by, so possess a look[…]
Victor Metlege
November 25, 2020Title
[…]Sites of interest we’ve a link to[…]
proven reviews
November 28, 2020Title
[…]just beneath, are various completely not connected websites to ours, however, they may be surely worth going over[…]
proven supplement reviews
November 28, 2020Title
[…]The information mentioned within the post are some of the most effective out there […]
proven reviews
December 1, 2020Title
[…]Sites of interest we have a link to[…]
nutravesta proven reviews
December 1, 2020Title
[…]one of our visitors not too long ago encouraged the following website[…]
Proven Reviews
December 2, 2020Title
[…]we like to honor numerous other world-wide-web web-sites around the web, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Beneath are some webpages worth checking out[…]
Nutravesta Proven
December 2, 2020Title
[…]below you’ll uncover the link to some sites that we assume you ought to visit[…]
sports sunglasses, women's sun glasses, sports sunglasses, running sunglasses, blue light filter sunglasses
December 9, 2020Title
[…]check beneath, are some totally unrelated sites to ours, however, they may be most trustworthy sources that we use[…]
Loozap Egypt
December 10, 2020Title
[…]The information and facts mentioned inside the write-up are a number of the best accessible […]
mega888 original
December 11, 2020Title
[…]Sites of interest we have a link to[…]
xe88 kiosk
December 11, 2020Title
[…]just beneath, are quite a few totally not related internet sites to ours, even so, they are certainly really worth going over[…]
rev transcription
December 15, 2020Title
[…]the time to study or go to the material or internet sites we’ve linked to beneath the[…]
sàn forex
December 15, 2020Title
[…]usually posts some quite exciting stuff like this. If you are new to this site[…]
https://www.calimesadental.org/
December 19, 2020Title
[…]we came across a cool website that you may well enjoy. Take a look should you want[…]
silencil review
December 19, 2020Title
[…]Sites of interest we have a link to[…]
Preschool in Fleetwood Surrey Phone: (604) 500-3523
December 21, 2020Title
[…]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine some unrelated information, nonetheless actually really worth taking a search, whoa did a single understand about Mid East has got more problerms too […]
shrooms canada
December 21, 2020Title
[…]here are some hyperlinks to web pages that we link to for the reason that we think they may be worth visiting[…]
buy magic mushrooms canada
December 21, 2020Title
[…]check below, are some totally unrelated web sites to ours, however, they’re most trustworthy sources that we use[…]
moving burnaby Phone: (604) 721-4555
December 21, 2020Title
[…]check beneath, are some totally unrelated websites to ours, having said that, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[…]
Eli Dangerfield Teddy Briggs
December 22, 2020Title
[…]we came across a cool internet site that you may well delight in. Take a appear when you want[…]
cracker barrel front porch employee
January 2, 2021Title
[…]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not associated to ours, we really feel they are in fact really worth a go by means of, so have a look[…]
genesis library
January 2, 2021Title
[…]although web-sites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we really feel they’re basically worth a go as a result of, so possess a look[…]
Drucker Leasing fürs Büro'
January 4, 2021Title
[…]we came across a cool web-site that you simply could possibly take pleasure in. Take a look if you want[…]
Ben marks Mackay
January 4, 2021Title
[…]Here are a few of the web-sites we advise for our visitors[…]
delta xl vape juice
January 12, 2021Title
[…]below you’ll uncover the link to some sites that we feel you should visit[…]
one shot keto
January 14, 2021Title
[…]we came across a cool internet site that you just might get pleasure from. Take a appear for those who want[…]
34cr4rxq3crq34rq3r4
January 14, 2021content
[…]This is very interesting[…]
Dealership Marketing
January 15, 2021Title
[…]Here is a good Blog You may Locate Fascinating that we Encourage You[…]
lite blue
January 19, 2021Title
[…]just beneath, are various totally not connected internet sites to ours, on the other hand, they may be surely worth going over[…]
expensive sex toys
January 21, 2021Title
[…]Sites of interest we have a link to[…]
homemade sexy toys
January 21, 2021Title
[…]Sites of interest we’ve a link to[…]
stray kids merchandise
January 23, 2021Title
[…]very handful of web-sites that take place to become comprehensive below, from our point of view are undoubtedly nicely really worth checking out[…]
c34r54wxw4r34c3
January 24, 2021content
[…]This is very interesting[…]
Locksmith Denver Near Me
January 27, 2021Title
[…]usually posts some really exciting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[…]
Tamarind Google images results
January 27, 2021Title
[…]please go to the web-sites we stick to, like this one particular, because it represents our picks from the web[…]
cat earrings studs
January 28, 2021Title
[…]the time to read or stop by the material or web-sites we have linked to beneath the[…]