Venice: Part 1

To celebrate our tenth anniversary, Mark and I decided to take a Mediterranean cruise. We flew into Venice on a Friday morning and spent the net 36 hours exploring the city before hopping aboard the Royal Caribbean ship “Splendour of the Seas”. From Venice we sailed to Split, Croatia and then to Corfu, Athens, Mykonos, and Katakolon Greece. We also spent one whole day at sea before arriving back in Venice early Saturday morning. We flew home that day stopping in Lyon and Paris, France. It was 10pm before we finally arrived back home a full ten days after we’d left.

I will be uploading pictures here on the blog and also on Flickr, as I have the time. Check back for updates!

When we arrived in Venice on Friday morning we’d been traveling all night. Mark managed to sleep on the plane for a bit, but I had not and we were both very tired. All my guidebooks and on-line research had stressed the importance of a detailed map of the city. I thought I was prepared. I was wrong! We found our way from Marco Polo airport across the lagoon to the city with no issue thanks to the wonderful bus service. Once in the Piazza le Roma, however, we were directionless. I knew the address of our hotel, but street addresses in Venice are not like any other addresses in the world. We finally had to call the hotel and ask for directions.

The hotel was a very short walk from the Piazza (which is the last place you can drive to or park in Venice) and, bonus, located just off the Grand Canal. They offered luggage storage so we didn’t have to drag our luggage around the city while we explored. (We couldn’t check in until 2pm.)

By this point we were starving and set out to find what the guide book called “the best neighborhood pizzeria in Venice”. As we walked, we learned more about how Venetians designated where they live and how to get around. There’s a very good reason they fought off the Turks and neighboring Italian states for all those centuries: visitors and invaders are constantly lost! We did finally find the pizzeria. It was everything the guide book promised and more. Favored by the locals and situated off the main tourist track, Al Sportivi Pizzeria was the best possible introduction to Venice cuisine and the city inhabitants.

Mark's pizza had onions and spicy salami. Mine was covered with buffalo mozzarella, proscuitto and arugula.

A Venitian-style deliery truck loaded with fresh vegetables and fruits.

Check back for the tale of our first visit to St. Mark's and the dinner from hell!