A Typical Venetian Experience

Hello from outside of Venice. On Friday we left the Abano area near Padua. It is an area that has been an important thermal centre for more than 2000 years. I can’t explain the geothermal dynamics ( it is close to some ancient volcanoes) but we did enjoy the warm waters at our resort and left very refreshed. Friday’s ride took us, first, into central Padua - another beautiful city which has one of the world’s oldest universities, arcaded streets and many canals and bridges.
We spent much of our ride tracing the Brenta River seeing all kinds of agriculture along the way. The ride was flat but complicated because of the increasing number of canals, locks and rivers as we approached Venice. The Venetian Lagoon is a large, enclosed bay off of the Adriatic Sea. Venice the city sits a ways off of the mainland of Italy and consists of 118 small islands. But our hotel was on the mainland in an area called Mestre - where many of the tourists stay. It is less expensive but the logistics of getting to and from Venice - proper are considerable. The people we know who have stayed in Venice rather than outside have never regretted it. But we are at the mercy of our biking company and they parked us way out in the burbs.
Last night we headed by bus and tram into the city in search of cicchetti - or small venetian tapas. Everywhere that we went was packed but we managed to get some cicchetti and wine and joined the crowds hanging about the walls of the canals. It was a bit too busy to try too many spots but we enjoyed the idea of it. We then went on to have a very ho hum dinner at one of the restaurants. Helen tried the cuttlefish , per our instructions from Laura, but , unfortunately, it looked like a black, inky mess and was rather tasteless. We’ve eaten very well on this trip and we were not surprised that when you hit the major tourist areas you’ll get bog standard stuff. I did at least encounter a very good Soave white!
Having struggled with getting transportation into Venice from our lodgings, we were even more challenged to get back last night and ended up on the wrong bus far from our hotel. We did a cross-country route march back because none of us had Uber on our phones. Note to self.
Today we launched back into the city with the rest of the 30,000 people that visit Venice daily. I know this city is on everyone’s bucket list , and certainly at the risk of sounding ungrateful for the opportunity to travel, Venice is beautiful but overwhelming with the masses of people who come here. You are constantly in a line up or jostling for position on a boat. Within an hour MIke had lost his money and some bus tickets to a crafty pick-pocket. Fortunately, nothing major like credit cards or passport. We had all been to Venice before and tried to out-run the crowds by heading to the lagoon island of Burano. It was very picturesque and slightly less busy. The pretty coloured houses in the pictures were painted to guide the fishermen home in the lagoon fogs. Tonight we had a very low-key evening with dinner at the local Italian version of St. Hubert’s chicken. There was so much roast chicken that we’ll be taking some for lunch tomorrow. The crowds were thick watching the European Cup.
Tomorrow we’re back on our bikes for a second week as we head back into Venice and then immediately cross the lagoon on a ferry. WE’ll bike towards the east along the outer islands to a place called Caorle.
The weather will be a bit cooler for a few days which will be a welcome change.
Night, night all,

Heather/Mom/ GrandmaRead more