From Verona to Venice

We had another great breakfast again today, along with Simone's signature tasty and healthy smoothie.   We're leaving Verona this morning, and I feel like there was so much more to see.  Hopefully, we'll be back.

Simone gave us directions to get out of the hills and find the main road to Venice, our next destination.  It wasn't a long drive to Venice, but we missed the correct exit and went some miles out of our way before we could turn around.   We were dropping the car off right outside of the city of Venice, and the traffic got pretty congested the closer we got to the rental office.  It was located near the train station. From that point on, it's just boats.  No more cars, buses or trains, so almost everyone is coming into the city at that same point, unless they're coming from the airport, which is in a different direction.

We saw the Europcar office, but couldn't figure out how to get to it without going into an area we weren't allowed to enter.   A policewoman was directing traffic.  We explained that we needed to get to the rental office, and she nicely allowed us to go through.  We were directed to park the car on the 10th floor of the adjacent parking garage.  This was Holy Saturday, and a few other people were in town too.  Parking was crazy, but finally we found a spot and got the car checked in.

There was a water bus (vaporetto) stop very near the rental office, and we hopped the boat.  It took us down the Grand Canal to our stop, the Rialto.  And there, straight ahead of us, was the famous Rialto Bridge.

This was actually taken from a gondola, but you can see the bridge as well as three of the vaporetti

Catherina and Marco preceded us to Venice, and stayed at the Hotel al Codega while they were in town.  We were staying at the same place, and got to the hotel by means of what Catherina calls "girl directions".  When using this means of giving directions, no street names or numbers are ever used.  Directions are based on landmarks that we can identify with, like, for instance, turn right at that cute nail place.  Or, turn left at the place I got that horrible perm.  Or, turn at that place with the good shrimp salad.  Or, in a strange city, we'd use names of stores, rather than the streets where they're located.

So we followed Catherina's directions to the hotel by turning right at Goldenpoint Leggings, left at Guess, keeping left at H&M and turning right at Giorgio Armani.  No problem.  We used those landmarks every time we left our hotel for the next three days!  What street were we on?  Who knows!

We got checked into our hotel, the Hotel al Codega, which was a very nice, small hotel.  The rooms are nicely decorated, with all the modern conveniences, but the building is old, and located in a quaint little square.  It's a peaceful little corner in the busy city.  The staff was very friendly and helpful, and knew what rooms we were in every time we stopped at the desk, from the minute we checked in.

The Hotel al Codega.  It was early in the season, so they were just putting flowers in the window boxes.  The little bumpout isn't the entrance, but a tiny chapel in the courtyard.

A narrow lane in Venezia

We had a good (late) lunch at Ostaria a la Campana, not far from our hotel.  The place was packed with locals, and the pizzas looked great, so that's what we had.  I hate for you to think we ate pizza so often, but it was such good pizza!  Always thin crust, and they always seem to be baked in a wood-burning brick oven.

We walked over to Piazza San Marco after lunch.  The weather was warm and sunny, and the square and the streets on the way over were crowded.  As I mentioned before, it was Holy Saturday, and there were plenty of visitors in town.

Near Piazza San Marco

We went back to the hotel to put our feet up for a few minutes, and decided this would be a good day to take a ride on a gondola.  The cost was 80 euros before 7, and went up to 100 euros after 7, for a 40-minute ride.  A singing gondolier costs a bit more.  It was about 7:30 when we stopped at one of the bridges where some gondolas were gathered.  It must have been a slow time of day, since the gondolier offered to take us out for daytime prices.  He didn't sing to us, but we had a fun ride through part of the grand canal, and along some of the smaller canals.  We really got to see what it would be like if your front door opened right onto the canal.  We passed a few hotels and restaurants where the entrance was on the canal.

Bucket List: A ride on a gondola, in Venice, on the Grand Canal.  Check.

Museum on the Grand Canal

Another gondola on the Grand Canal

We stopped at the Ristorante al Teatro Goldoni for a light supper on our way back to the hotel.  Dinner was good, but nothing amazing, but they did bring us each a little glass of limoncello afterward, on the house.  It's the little things that count.