Monday – November 7, 2011
What a difference a day makes! Finally, a sunny morning! What a difference the sun makes!! We were so excited about the sun shining that we skipped the hotel breakfast and went out to greet the day! We were surprised to see the highest alta aqua of the week! The entire area of Piazza San Marco was flooded.
Alta Aqua in Piazza San Marco
There were a few tourists out, along with Venetians rushing to work, all balancing their way on the elevated platforms across the piazza. The morning line to visit the magnificent Basilica had started on another walkway.
Early Morning Shoppers or Waders?
There was water everywhere! The restaurant chairs were knee-deep in water. It was funny to see a couple of seagulls swimming in the middle of the Piazza San Marco.
Reflection
Alta Aqua Everywhere
The Grand Canal
The shops sold everything that tourists need to survive wind, rain, and alta aqua: umbrellas, plastic ponchos, raincoats, and rubber boots for 15 Euros.
We made our way on the elevated walkways to the San Marco vaporetto station. First we noticed there was no line to board the boat/bus, then we saw the lighted sign alternating between Italian and English:
Vaporetto Station Sign
My first thought was, “Do we get a 24 hour extension on our 7-Day vaporetto pass?” :-) We had used public transportation frequently when were too tired to walk, or needed a break, or just to see Venice from the water. Then the thought of the challenge of getting around Venice without the vaporettos arose in my consciousness. My “map brain” was in full gear!
The Grand Canal
Unfortunately, the clouds were moving in again but the temperature was comfortable and the sunlight was brighter than it had been for days. We walked toward the Realto Bridge trying new pathways. We stopped at a Venetian coffee shop for delicious stand-up cappuccinos and pastries with the locals. No English spoken, but we did OK!
Window of the Famous Millinery Shop
Then we accidentally found Guiliana Longo’s hat shop. We had read about her famous shop before we left New York and it was one of our planned destinations. However, it’s so difficult to find any specific place in Venice that we had almost abandoned the idea. Then, we were walking along and there it was!
Gondoliers’ Hats
Guiliana Longo makes all the hats for the gondoliers! She makes the funny straw summer hats with colorful ribbons and the warmer wool winter berets for all the 400 plus gondoliers who work in Venice. I wondered what the different color ribbons mean. Her small shop was also full of men’s and women’s colorful custom-made hats.
Gondolier
Traffic Jam
We were happy that it wasn’t raining but the bright sunny light was fading. Still, we walked along the narrow alleyways and small canals, taking pictures as we went.
Boat-Load of Tourists
One of Guiliana Longo’s Hats
I love the way the gondoliers toss their straw hats anywhere in the boats. Every part of the gondolas are made by hand, including the lovely small carved chairs with tasseled cushion.
Venetian Delivery Service
This is a typical Venetian scene near the Ponte San Giovanni Grisostomo (bridge) with a mix of locals, tourists, and deliverymen hauling their goods with specially designed hand trucks.
Balancing Act
Cheese Shop
We could smell the strong fragrant cheeses as we passed this cheese shop in the Cannaregio Sestiere (district). We decided not to take a hunk of smelly cheese back to the hotel room!
Corner Fruits & Vegetables
News Stand
We tried to get away from the tourist paths to see where the Venetians lived. We found some quiet, clean alleyways with European-style family shops.
We crossed a small bridge and arrived at a rather large piazza: the Campo di Gesuiti with the Baroque-style Jesuit Church on the right. We could see the lagoon at the end of the street.
Campo di Gesuiti
We sat on one of the benches to rest since we had been walking for quite a while. The streets were empty of people but we could hear music echoing off the stone buildings. Wonderful smells of onions and garlic cooking somewhere near, reminded us that it was past lunch time.
Isola di San Michele
Fondamenta Nove Vaporetto Station
We walked out to the long quay known as Fondamenta Nove in this part of Cannaregio. The Allaguna boats from the airport and the vaporettos to Murano and Burano have stations here. Since we were tired from walking, on another day we would have taken a vaporetto somewhere for lunch, but we were reminded that there was a public workers strike and the boats weren’t running. I hoped they were having a nice day.
Campo San Apostoli in the Rain
As we walked back toward the Rialto and San Marco, it started to rain. We stopped under an awning near the lovely Campo San Apostoli to watch some gondoliers hand out umbrellas to their passengers and put on their rain jackets.
Gondola in the Rain
It was getting windy and chilly and we were tired from walking. We luckily found a fabulous restaurant for lunch named Fiaschetteria Toscana. It had been listed in Venice Zagats and received high reviews; it even had a Michelin note. It has been rated as the best seafood restaurant in Venice. In olden days the building had been a Tuscan wine distribution center, hence the name of the restaurant. “Fiaschetteria” is supposed to mean a flask or other wine carrying container.
Wine Delivery to Fiaschetteria Toscana
We were given a warm welcome and seated in the front room. The waiter, who spoke fluent English, was chatty and friendly and we felt at ease. For an appetizer, we shared the famous Venetian dish of fish “in soar ” which is marinated fish, usually sardines. It was unbelievable! Jeff had lasagna in a mushroom sauce for a main course. I had tortillini pasta with squid cooked in squid ink. Delicious!! We had a nice conversation with two women who sat at the next table, who were visiting from Norway. They spoke fluent Italian and English and this was their seventh time in Venice. They said Fiaschetteria Toscana was the best restaurant in Venice!
Another Straw Hat
After lunch we walked back toward the Rialto Bridge. To help tourists from getting too lost in the labyrinth of alleys and canals, there are signs on the buildings pointing to San Marco and Rialto.
Rialto Bridge
We crossed the bridge which, similar to the Ponte Vecchio across the Arno River in Florence, has shops along the steps in the middle. The outer sides of the bridge is taken over by tourists taking photos of themselves on the Rialto.
View From the Top of the Rialto Bridge Looking North
Shops On the Rialto Bridge
The Southern View From the Bridge
We had stayed in the San Polo Sestiere the last time we visited Venice, so this district immediately looked familiar.
Gondola Station
There are more signs around Venice telling people where they are which is sometimes helpful. I think visitors just have to spend time in Venice (and return frequently) to have a true feeling of the city.
District Sign
I had made a wager with Jeff that I could find the building we had stayed in during our previous visit. We had stayed at a lovely family-owned B & B on the Grand Canal which had been almost impossible to find from the Silvestri vaporetto station. Every time we went out, we wondered if we would be able to find it later when we wanted to return, especially in the dark! It became our private joke that we would have to sleep on the streets because we couldn’t find our way back to the B & B.
Along the Grand Canal
As it turned out, I was able to find the tiny back streets that led to the B & B, but Jeff remembered the final little twists and turns that brought us to the entrance of the building. So typically Venice!!
Local Osteria
Like old Venetians, we walked along familiar streets and noted the changes to the San Polo Sestiere since our last visit. The shops seemed to be more prosperous, but there were also many more tourist shops selling everything from cheap souvenirs and postcards to lovely handmade crafts. It seemed to be a more artsy district with more cafes and small restaurants than the San Marco Sestiere.
Campo San Polo
Poster Shop
We remembered a traghetto station near the San Silvestri vaporetto station, so we looked for it. We wondered if they were on strike also. Traghettos are slightly larger gondola-type boats which cross the Grand Canal between the Rialto and Accademia bridges. There are two operators in the traghetto and they make it easier for local people to get around for a cheap price of .50 euros.
San Silvestri Traghetto
We found the traghetto, which was running despite the vaporetto strike, and we paid our .50 euros each and stood up like the locals, for the ride across the canal.
By the time we had our peaceful ride across the canal, it started to rain again. It was a relatively short walk back to the hotel but it was chilly and raining heavily. We put our digital cameras away and stopped at a corner shop called The American Cafe. We thought we could resort to the familiar containers of hot carry-out tea but were thwarted by Italian customs. They had paper cups but no tops!
Small Painting on a Building
We returned to our hotel to warm up and rest before venturing out again for dinner. Later, the rain continued and we quickly walked to Campo San Filippo e San Giacomo and the Ristorante Aciugheta. There was lots of activity in the streets, people were out and the restaurants were busy. It sure doesn’t look like Kansas, Toto!