Venice...it's been a while

We walked to a nearby Pasticceria for a very drinkable cappuccino and pistachio filled croissants - these have become a favourite.

It was time to do some sightseeing - I'm sure there won't be many tourists at San Marcos! We took the vaporetto from Lido to San Marcos, and the tourist hordes had already arrived in their vast numbers. I don't recall there being this many in 1997! Even with so many people following their tour guides' little flags, bumping into us while intently listening to their audio tours, Piazza San Marco remains a special place.

Photos were taken of
Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace) and, of course, Saint Mark's Basilica
Basilica di San Marco. We wandered the narrow streets of Castello, trying to find quieter places, but there were few. We took photos of bemused tourists on gondola - paying €90 per head for the privilege.

We crossed the grand Canal over Ponte di Rialto, amused with the selfies - the view is better of the bridge than from it! We walked through San Paolo's streets to the fish market, a hive of noisy activity. We were getting hungry, so we stopped for lunch at Ristorante Vini Da Pinto, an Odyssey recommendation 😢 We had seafood, of course, with Gayle having tagliatelle with prawns and scampi and I had vongola (clams) with botargo (cured fish roe).

After stuffing ourselves, we walked to the grand Canal where we took a vaporetto back to Lido, with great views of this beautiful city. We arrived at the hotel and did our bike fitting - these ebikes are very high quality - it's going to be fun!

In the afternoon, I wandered down to the hotel bar whilst Gayle was making herself even more beautiful! I chatted to Liz and Russ, some of our fellow cyclists, our Odyssey Venetians adventurers! We popped around the corner to La Sferetta Srl for a prosecco and negroni. They ran out of vermouth for my second drink, so I had a campari spritz - this may be a new favourite 😍

Dinner was a simple pizza and some Vino Rosso dela casa at a local Pizzeria, Stella!もっと詳しく