I had never been to Venice before and after 3 days realized I need to return. We just started to explore. Loved that transportation was only on the water. While there are many, and many types of boats, not all have motors. So stand up rowing, like with gondolas, is typical. We spent the last 2 nights in a renovated villa where the owner Norberto lives and rents 3 rooms. Lovely to have him host us and to enjoy evenings in his garden with him regaling his stories in a mix of German (he's from Bolsano IT) and English.
Once at our hotel (Hotel Papadopoli), we exited the dock on the canal to board our water taxi tour of the city. WOW!! Everything is done on the water. Moving van - on a boat, beer supplier - on a boat, kids going to soccer practice - via boat, police and ambulance - on boats. There is no straight route to anywhere because Venice is basically a bunch of random islands that sometimes have meandering streets connected with bridges. Sometimes the connection is a boat - but only when the boat guy shows up!
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| our water taxi/chariott |
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| aptly named |
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| here we go! |
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| Santa Maria della Salute |
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| beautiful buildings-used to be villas, now hotels |
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| the Doge from Grand Canal |
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| St Marks from Canal |
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| going to soccer |
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| DHL delivers! |
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| more beautiful buildings |
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| gondola repair shop |
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| fish soup for lunch |
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| Cichetti lunch |
We visited the Jewish Ghetto - where the term 'ghetto' originated.
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| ready for Jewish NYr |
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| why in English?? |
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| Rialto Bridge |
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| waiting for business |
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| Basilica in St. Marks |
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| night at St. Marks |
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| music coordinated between venues |
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| canals at night |
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| fashion shoot St Marks |
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| Library of St. Mark |
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| young female police |
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| Part of Doge Palace |
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| mouth hole for snitches |
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| Doge ornate ceilings |
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| paintings everywhere |
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| prisoner graffiti in jail |
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| Bridge of Sighs to the jail |
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| heavy duty iron bars |
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| ready for flooding |
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| high tide bubbles up manholes |
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| from Basilica balcony overlooking St. Marks to Grand Canal |
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| mosaic bible stories, gold |
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| side chapel dome |
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| stunning domes |
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| marble from everywhere |
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| looking to front altar |
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| entering Basilica |
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| bronze horses from Istanbul |
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| awaiting gondolas next to St. Marks |
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| da Vinci inventions |
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| da Vinci machine gun |
Glass on island of Murano!
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| special huge, elevator with velvet sofa at: Palazzo Barovier & Toso. opened 1295 |
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| specialize in lighting |
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| hand blown glass 4 stories |
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| assortment of hand blown glass |
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| several stories tall |
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| blue room lighting |
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| our villa with heads on wall! |
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| Norberto (who renovated villa: Cinqueteste Luxury Home) + Mark in garden |
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| room lighting, cat head |
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| many Venetian glass lights |
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| original terrazzo floor, personal collection glass, pottery |
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| doin' some yoga on the canal...and random guy behind me started doing same! |
We rented a car, drove north from Venice toward Cortina. On the way, we arranged a wine tasting at a small winery in the Prosecco DOC region at Azienda Agricola Rechsteiner winery. This winery was purchased several generations ago by an Austrian diplomat living in Venice. It has remained in the family, and now the young great grandson of this diplomat has moved down from Vienna to run the winery and grow the business with his young family.
We arrived early for the tasting and he directed us to visit a nearby coffee shop until his events manager arrived to give us a tour. We of course got lost and ended up in a small town of Odenzo where we visited the Coop grocery to buy some fruit. We had not been successful in buying fruit as no checkout clerk would accept our selection to purchase and we couldnt figure out why.
A shopper heard us discussing a fruit and said in English - hi! You are American, so am I - from Pensacola FL! He had moved there 10 years earlier with his Italian wife to help with the family business. We found out that there were 8 Americans living in town and they would regularly get together socially. He raved about how nice this town and the lifestyle were. The town reminded us of a quiet Napa Valley with residents on bikes and walking, tree lined streets, surrounded by vineyards and farmland providing fresh fruits and vegetables.
While we were talking, in walk 2 of the other Americans who immediately stopped to talk. No one seemed rushed to get their grocery shopping done. They encouraged us to move there! We then realized we were now LATE for our tasting and had to find our way back to the winery. But not until we successfully purchased our first fruit. the secret: #1 put on plastic gloves (provided) #2 select item and place in plastic bag #3 find the sku code with identifying number #4 weigh item on electronic scale and enter the identifying number to get the price. Sticky label prints out and goes on the bag.
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| official plastic gloves |
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| electronic scale with item# |
Rechsteiner winery: we learned about the local ancient grape Raboso that doesnt get harvested until November, late in the season. This increases the intensity of the wine providing what we thought was a well rounded full flavor. They also grow the Prosecco grape called Gelera. This region is special for Prosecco wine because of the mineral deposits left via the Piavon River originating in the Dolomites that provide unique flavor for the sparkling wine.
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| local roads |
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| kiwis grown on property |
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| Raboso grape, tight clusters |
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| our guide with her Dunedin cap |
After our tasting it was lunch time. Our host suggested we eat at their restaurant nearby. We didnt realize that everyone eats out on Sunday lunch and it lasts for 3 hours! The Austrian wine owner kindly provided us a table and extended the kitchen hours for us to have a farm to table meal. In fact, we met the 'buddies' of our lunch. It was one of the best meals we had on the trip. We ate next to the extended family of the winery and relaxed before driving to the Dolomites.
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| owners son plays with milk providers |
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| sitting outside - meal was better than Turk's face! |
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| Semifreddo - delish! |
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