Arrival in Venice

A very smooth 4 hour train trip to Venice, and we are enchanted as arrival here always makes you feel! We took a vaporetto to Ca’ d’Oro near our hotel as Amr’s bag would be rather hard to drag far…found our little hotel tucked in a small corner. Our room is in a separate building nearby, and thankfully our man carried the big bag up the 2 flights of stairs!! Charming room, looking over a little campo and we are in heaven…

Set off straightaway as we needed to walk after such a long sit, and wandered and got a bit lost, and found ourselves, walked to S. Marco piazza and along the riva Schiavoni, beyond where the thickest crowds are…it is milling with people in the main popular areas, and very slow moving along the narrow streets…just have to be patient and enjoy. We realise we have only been here in winter when crowds are definitely limited. But it is fun and gorgeous. We found and booked our favourite restaurant - still going strong - where we used to come frequently…asked for an 8pm booking, but could only get 8.30 (glad we thought to book!)…but we will never starve - there are so many eateries everywhere, and specially round where we are staying. It is not raining, and in fact there is high cloud with small blue patches and brightness shining through, making a magic light. Just lovely.

Now back from a perfect dinner at A La Rivetta…Amr first went there in 1983 and we have been there every visit since and it never disappoints. We have booked again for Saturday. (Paul you will have been there with us in 1991 if you can remember!)…after a bit of a break in our room we set off at 7.30 and walked back to S Marco and through and on past the very expensive upmarket shops and found the route to La Fenice where we have a concert booked on Friday. Then walked further towards the Accademia, before turning back to the restaurant. The Piazza S Marco looked much better at night - less people, and the scaffolding on part of the basilica hardly shows at night…we took some art photos, and Amr did some art canal night photos.

Got to the restaurant at 8.30 and it was bustling…such fun. To my delight I spotted baby cuttlefish a la griglia on the menu - I guessed it was the Venetian equivalent of my Spanish favourite - chiperones a la plancha, and it was…perfect…Amr had bacalao with polenta, and we had buttered spinach and bean and onion salad…SOO good. And even ended with an amazing panna cotta, with caramel crunchiness scattered over - MasterChef worthy! I think we are going to enjoy our time in Venice.Read more