Gondolier Slippers in Venice

After our usual nice breakfast, we decided we needed a return visit to Murano. We didn't have enough time to shop seriously yesterday. We thought going early would be a good idea because it was a nice day, and Friday, and bound to be busy on the boats, as well as on the islands.

Every time we cross Accademia bridge we need to take a picture!

Instead of taking the vaporetto from our closest stop, Zattere, and going around the island the long way, we decided to walk to the Fondamente Nove stop where the boat heads out into the lagoon straight to Murano. The walk was 30 minutes and the vaporetto ride would have been probably 45 minutes with stops, and we would have been waiting for the next scheduled boat at our stop too. We saved a bit of time this way and got to Murano just when the stores were opening.

We needed to stop for a coffee and pastry first, and then B.J. found some fun Murano glass pendants to take home, and we were on our way back to Venice before lunch. Of course, on our way back, we found the boat that would have been the fastest coming from Venice, and would have dropped us at Piazza San Marco, closer to our neighborhood. By the next time either of us visit Venice again we will have forgotten all we learned about this!

On our walks through town, we've seen many gondolas plying the canals, and gondoliers sitting around waiting for customers. I kept seeing shops advertising gondolier shoes, and I thought that would be a fun souvenir. We checked the footwear of the gondoliers we passed, and not one of them was wearing these velvet slippers! Too bad. It would have added to the mystique!

Cute "official" gondolier shoes, but not much grip!

The gondoliers all wear a uniform of a striped shirt or sweater and black pants though, and sometimes wear straw hats with ribbons too, so they do have a certain style! And the velvet slippers have been worn, not only by gondoliers, but also by style-conscious Venetians for decades. Their popularity continues today!

Gondola parking lot

Gondoliers in action

On our way back to the hotel we passed through Campo San Maurizio set up for their monthly antique market. Luckily, we didn't see anything we needed, and I'm not sure the design of renaissance sculpture or rococo lamps would look that great after we paid to ship them home anyway.

Mercatino Antiquariato Campo San Maurizio

For lunch we walked over to a little place across a canal from a gondola factory. It was packed with customers inside and out, but we managed to grab a seat just as someone else was vacating theirs.

Building gondolas across the canal. Maybe a slight scent of varnish in the air.

An Aperol Spritz and some great cichetti at Osteria Al Squero in Dorsoduro

After a bit of a rest, we headed out for our last dinner in Venice. The first place we tried was closed for a special event, so we went back to Trattoria Ai Cugnai, where we had lunch a few days ago. B.J. kept seeing other diners, at more than one restaurant, getting a dish with crispy seafood piled high. He ordered it here for dinner, and according to our waiter it's a classic Venitian dish.

Tomorrow, we catch the train to Florence!