Ricardo and I ventured out early to get pastries for breakfast. The holiday weekend was over, so stores were back on their normal schedule.
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| Produce boat along the canal |
Ricardo bought some tomatoes from a boat along the canal. He used them to make bruschetta, with some baguettes, for breakfast, along with the beautiful fresh cornetti and biscotti.
Principessa and Giovanni went out to take a gondola ride after breakfast..
We all went out for a late lunch before our walking tour and pub crawl. TripAdvisor isn't always accurate, we discovered. A place in our neighborhood rated very high for lunch turned out to be closed, and aside from that, it was only a lunch counter with no place to sit. We had snaked our way through the streets and over the bridges to find it, and were very hungry, besides. On the plus side, we saw the gondola-building shop, famous in Venice. It was across the canal, but still fun to see. We could smell the shellac fumes pretty strongly, so may not have wanted to eat right there anyway.
We fought our way across the crowded Rialto Bridge, to get to the little square (campo) where we would meet Alessandro for our walking tour and pub crawl.
Not having had lunch, we were all hungry, so before the tour we stopped for a drink at a bar, Cafe Vergnano, near our meeting point. We would have eaten more, but the waitress told us that sadly, there was no food available at this hour of the afternoon. Potato chips would have to suffice. Cheerful travelers all, we felt revived by the meager repast.
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| Cornetti (croissants) and biscotti (cookies) for breakfast |
Principessa and Giovanni went out to take a gondola ride after breakfast..
We all went out for a late lunch before our walking tour and pub crawl. TripAdvisor isn't always accurate, we discovered. A place in our neighborhood rated very high for lunch turned out to be closed, and aside from that, it was only a lunch counter with no place to sit. We had snaked our way through the streets and over the bridges to find it, and were very hungry, besides. On the plus side, we saw the gondola-building shop, famous in Venice. It was across the canal, but still fun to see. We could smell the shellac fumes pretty strongly, so may not have wanted to eat right there anyway.
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| Gondola-building shop in Venice |
Not having had lunch, we were all hungry, so before the tour we stopped for a drink at a bar, Cafe Vergnano, near our meeting point. We would have eaten more, but the waitress told us that sadly, there was no food available at this hour of the afternoon. Potato chips would have to suffice. Cheerful travelers all, we felt revived by the meager repast.
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| Eight of the ten of us, getting a drink and some chips before the walking tour. |
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Our meeting place for the walking tour, in Campo Giacomo, in front of the San Giacomo di Rialto church |
Our Walking Tour started at 4:30, with Alessandro (alessandro@schezzini.it). He was recommended in Rick Steves' guide book on Italy, and also his Venice city guide. There are lots of reviews of Alessandro's "offbeat" tours on TripAdvisor too. Most reviewers enjoyed his commentary and introduction to the San Polo area, and also his pub crawl. We all agreed that he was entertaining, and introduced us to some elements of Venice we wouldn't have found on our own, and at a leisurely pace. The offbeat tour was 20 euros per person for about 1-1/2 hours, and the pub crawl, which included wine and food, was 35 euros per person, and took about 2 hours.
Our group of 10 were the only customers for his walking tour. We walked through little scenic streets, and along canals. He told us that "calle" means street in Spanish and Venetian, and in Venice is used to name streets that were built where canals had been. "Campo" means square, and the surface of each square slopes gently toward drain holes in the middle where rain water for the city was collected and stored in cisterns, then filtered through sand before using it in local homes and businesses. These cisterns were in use for centuries.
We saw some great palazzos along the Grand Canal, and a surprising sculpture.
We all thought this sculpture was very fun, but Alessandro said it isn't admired by the Venetians! He mentioned that the island has been a tourist destination for centuries, and though the crowds are tiresome, and prices are too high for the locals, tourism is what keeps the city alive. He said Venice currently gets about 25 million visitors per year.
We walked down very picturesque calles, and had lots of photo ops.
Alessandro told us about the culture of the gondolas and the gondoliers. There are about 400 licensed gondolas in Venice, in addition to the many private boats plying the canals. But, there were 8,000 - 10,000 gondolas during the 17th and 18th centuries. They were mostly to carry tourists, even then. The cost is currently 38,000 euros to buy a gondola. There is only 1 female gondolier, her father and grandfather having both been gondoliers, and a gondolier can earn up to $150,000 per year. I think it's interesting that with so many gondolas on the water, we never saw very many in one area.
For the pub crawl, we were joined by 8 other people. We stopped at 3 different bars, and were served wine and a few cicchetti - little appetizers, like tapas. The wine and cicchetti were simple, but the experience was fun. We had tried to visit a "bacari" (typical Venetian bar) on our last trip, and couldn't even get in the door, the place was so crowded, so having a guide take us around was a nice low-stress way to experience this very Venetian custom. We bid arrivederci to Alessandro and the other pub crawlers, and agreed we'd had a fun experience with both the Offbeat Tour and the Pub Crawl.Our group of 10 were the only customers for his walking tour. We walked through little scenic streets, and along canals. He told us that "calle" means street in Spanish and Venetian, and in Venice is used to name streets that were built where canals had been. "Campo" means square, and the surface of each square slopes gently toward drain holes in the middle where rain water for the city was collected and stored in cisterns, then filtered through sand before using it in local homes and businesses. These cisterns were in use for centuries.
We saw some great palazzos along the Grand Canal, and a surprising sculpture.
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| Two gigantic hands coming out of the water and supporting the building |
We all thought this sculpture was very fun, but Alessandro said it isn't admired by the Venetians! He mentioned that the island has been a tourist destination for centuries, and though the crowds are tiresome, and prices are too high for the locals, tourism is what keeps the city alive. He said Venice currently gets about 25 million visitors per year.
We walked down very picturesque calles, and had lots of photo ops.
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| A great picture around every corner |
Alessandro told us about the culture of the gondolas and the gondoliers. There are about 400 licensed gondolas in Venice, in addition to the many private boats plying the canals. But, there were 8,000 - 10,000 gondolas during the 17th and 18th centuries. They were mostly to carry tourists, even then. The cost is currently 38,000 euros to buy a gondola. There is only 1 female gondolier, her father and grandfather having both been gondoliers, and a gondolier can earn up to $150,000 per year. I think it's interesting that with so many gondolas on the water, we never saw very many in one area.
We were still hungry for dinner after the little bites of food we'd had during the pub crawl, so found another place in our neighborhood to eat. Though we had to split up into two groups at Agli Alboretti, we all enjoyed a tasty meal. Giuliana had a fun dessert with a crispy meringue "roof" over lemon sorbet. Dinner for the 10 of us was 306 euros, and that included 4 bottles of wine and desserts for most of the group. Tipping in Italy is a little mystifying. I've read so many times that tipping is not necessary in Italy. No tip. Nothing. Nada. Waiters are paid a good wage and don't need tips to supplement a meager salary, like they would in the U.S. Some writers say if the service is exceptional maybe round up your bill and leave a few euros in cash for the server. We always left a tip, and always in cash, but nowhere near what we would leave in the U.S.
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| Agli Alboretti Restaurant in Dorsoduro, Venice |
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| Inside of Agli Alboretti Restaurant |
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| A favorite sculpture along our walking tour route. I don't know what the inscription says, but we can probably guess! |
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