Today is National Virtual Vacation Day. And as we’re navigating this crazy COVID-19 situation and are living under the Safer at Home order here in CA, I’m dreaming of the day when our friends and family are safe, and we can travel in real life again. So, in honor of the holiday, let’s continue our virtual vacation in Italy!

A trip to the north of Italy would not be complete without a visit to the iconic city of Venice! We enjoyed strolling along the canals, taking in all the history, and being out on the water. The timing was right for us – it wasn’t hot & humid, and it wasn’t raining – just perfect weather! 

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Venice

For those of you that haven’t been there before, you cannot bring your car into Venice – there are no streets! Therefore, we planned to park our car in the Tronchetto parking lot. It worked out well, although if I was staying longer I would have turned the car in and ordered a new one for after Venice. We spent €42,00 (€21,00 per day) to keep it there. It goes by entry time, so we entered early afternoon on Sunday and left about 4 hours short of 48 hours on Tuesday. When you park, go to the end – it’s closer to where you’ll grab the water taxi or water bus. I think we parked in E2 and we were happy with our location. Here’s the info on the lot.

And the rates there, when we went:

Long story short, we planned to take a water taxi to our hotel, but after finding out about the €80 price tag on the taxi, ended up doing a very confusing shared ride on a big boat for €40.

In retrospect, we should have just taken the water bus for only a few euros, as the big boat dropped us off in the same spot as the bus stop. Had we taken the water taxi, we would have been dropped off at the front door of the hotel. Unfortunately, the big boat couldn’t go in the canals. 

The water bus is €7,50 per trip, or you can buy a pass: 24 hours for €20 or 48 hours for €30. They may have longer passes available, but we were only there 2 nights. The pass starts from your purchase time and allows unlimited travel.

The 24 hour pass worked out well for us, as we used it to get to the islands of Murano and Burano, to cruise the Grande Canal back and forth, and to get back to the parking structure. The “AVM Venezia” app allows you to look up the time tables (in English!) so you can plan your routes as well. 

Be careful! We were told that the water bus is a common spot for pickpocketers to target tourists, especially when it’s busy and the boats are shoulder-to-shoulder. The gentleman in the office at our hotel said, “they look like millionaires” – so you never expect them to be the thieves. He suggested no backpacks on your back – in front of you at all times, which is actually the boat requirement anyways – and keep your pockets protected. Never put your phone or wallet in your back pocket. My husband always kept things in his front pockets and kept his hands in those pockets as much as possible. I had a small crossbody purse and would always keep it in front of me with my hands on it.

Palazzo Schiavoni, Venice (4.5/5)

To start, this hotel was great about sending instructions and information ahead of time. SUPER helpful when planning where to park and how to get there!

The location was pretty convenient. Close enough that the walk with luggage from the dock was only about 5 minutes, but far enough away from the main attractions that it was quieter and slower paced, and felt safe. The walk to the main attractions seems far on a map, but really isn’t. Max about 15 minutes anywhere we wanted to go if we didn’t get distracted and stop or change plans.

When arriving, we just buzzed the desk at the door and they let us in and told us to go to the 2nd floor. Check in was quick and painless, and she gave us a map, suggestions, and all sorts of helpful information. In fact, 2 of the 3 people we dealt with in the office were fantastic. Great recommendations, very helpful with any questions, etc. The third was fine, just didn’t really provide any extra information other than answers to specific questions we had.

We were given the “I Leoncini” room, which we were told means “little lion,” right next to the office. It’s a regular key on a keychain – very common in Italy’s smaller B&B’s/hotels. At night, there’s a code to get in the front door and a code to enter the area on the 2nd floor. They’re different codes and they provided them on a sticky note, which we took a photo of in case we lost it. Getting in/out was very easy with the codes – we had zero issues.

The view from our room was very nice – over a small canal – but not really visible unless standing & looking out/down the window.

The room had an older style to it, with paintings on the ceiling and older wooden furniture. It was very clean and pretty roomy – a large armoire, a mini fridge and free bottle of water, a small table and chairs set, dresser, etc. They had 2 luggage racks, which isn’t common and nice to see. I also appreciated the USB plugs they had on top of the dresser, which meant we didn’t have to trade off on using our travel adapter to charge things. Air conditioning worked great!

The bed and pillows were not very comfortable for us. A little saggy on the mattress and the pillows were quite flat. Not the best sleep of the trip for us unfortunately, but we are honestly a little picky when it comes to that stuff.

The bathroom is small and the shower was VERY small. Just enough room to stand and turn around. This wasn’t the only hotel with a shower like this, and we really didn’t have any issues, but you should be aware if you don’t like small spaces. The water did get nice and hot, though!

Breakfast was fine – a super cute little room and helpful staff. They had meat, cheese, croissants, fruit, cereal & yogurt – typical hotel breakfasts that we found on our trip. Hubby didn’t like the coffee, but he’s a coffee connoisseur. I thought it was fine. Breakfast starts at 8, which was a little late for us on our 2nd and final morning, so we only ate there once. We were told, however, that the croissants are freshly baked! And they did smell very yummy when we woke up to the smell in the morning!

Osteria Oliva Nera (5/5)

This restaurant was a recommendation from the office at our hotel. As we always do, we asked for a local place that she would eat at herself, and this was her suggestion. It was only about a 3-minute walk from our hotel and we were extremely happy with our dinner. It was in the top 5 meals we had on the entire trip!

Make sure you make a reservation, which we did. It was packed quickly after we arrived and people had to wait or were turned away. The owner was taking our orders that evening as they were short handed, but it turned out great because we got to chat with her a little and get her recommendations. Her daughter and son both work there as well.

We ordered:

• Wine, recommended by the owner, who then thanked us for trusting her recommendation. I don’t know what it was, but it was good!
• Raw fish appetizer – the sauces were a fun variation and paired so well with the fish!
• Hubby ordered the daily special of spaghetti with clams, with ginger.
• I ordered the daily special of braised veal cheeks over polenta, which absolutely melted in my mouth. I didn’t even have to really chew. YUM!
• For dessert, the gentleman did a cute drawing to explain the “menu.” We got the panna cotta, which was a favorite on the reviews online.

Believe it or not, we also tried our neighbor’s lasagna… it’s a long story, but they were also from California and we got to chatting and they ended up sharing! 🙂 It was good, but we were happy with our choices after comparing.

The restaurant also gifted us a small bottle of olive oil with the check, which was very nice!

It turns out the owners have a VRBO as well, with several 5 star reviews. It was actually directly across the canal from our hotel! You can see the opposite balconies from your own balcony. Therefore, I would recommend the location.

Note that they are closed on Wednesdays.

Piazza San Marco

Of course, we spent some time in this popular plaza. At night, there are several cafes that have live music. There’s nothing like a glass of wine and a live quartet in an Italian plaza like this!

Pasta & Pasta! (3.5/5)

This is a to-go pasta restaurant and I saw in the window that they had Gluten free pasta, so we had to stop! I got the pesto for a late night snack – €9 total. Decent for a quick stop and kinda fun. 

Monday, September 30

Murano & Burano Islands

Thanks to a recommendation of a friend of mine, we decided to visit the islands of Murano and Burano. I didn’t realize how far they were from the main area of Venice – the Water Bus was about 30 minutes to Murano, and once we moved to Burano, about 45 minutes back from Burano! It was well worth it, though. It was nice to be on the water, and the little island was so cute! It was also a nice change of scenery from typical Venice.

Murano wasn’t as exciting for us – we looked at the glass, grabbed an Italian soda, and got on the boat to Burano within 45 mins. Many people we talked to did enjoy it, and came back to the boat with lovely glass gifts.

We really enjoyed a couple of hours on Burano, though! Colorful homes, little alleys and a main canal. Burano is also famous for their lace (we didn’t buy anything).

Riva Rosa Ristorante, Burano (4/5)

We wanted to find a small local place but they were mostly closed. This place had a table outside and touted risotto, which hubby had been craving. Prices were high, but we were hungry (this was another Michelin-recommended spot, but not rated). Food was pretty good, dessert was great! Service was excellent and we received wonderful food recommendations.

A saxophone player visited the little patio for a while during lunch for tips, which was nice and added charm to the ambience.

We ordered:

• Aperol spritz
• Risotto di “Go”
• Spaghetti al Nero di seppia
• Tiramisu

Venice

Gondola Ride, Venice (4/5)

For the obligatory gondola ride, our hotel suggested sometime between 5:30-6:30 as it’s a nice time and supposedly not as busy. We were not enthused about paying €80 for 30 minutes… but all of the gondoliers’ signs had the same prices posted everywhere. I was convinced that we could find someone else to split the boat with, but hubby thought it would be awkward to ask people. We were told by our hotel that if it’s a really slow time, the gondoliers might negotiate with us, but when we were walking around that night, everyone was very busy so be abandoned that idea quickly. We also wanted to catch a gondola near the Grand Canal so that we could do both that as well as the small canals.

We were SO lucky that when we were eyeing a specific gondola spot, the couple in front of us asked us if we wanted to split it! They were from Spain and only spoke a bit of English, and we tried the tiny bit of Spanish we knew to work together. We enjoyed the ride with them and spent only €40, plus both couples had someone else to take pictures for them instead of relying only on selfies. YAY! The only bummer was that the route ended up being only about 20-25 minutes, so I did feel a little shorted. Oh well.

Trattoria Al Gazzettino (5/5)

After the gondola ride, we had planned to eat dinner along the Grand Canal, but in looking at the available restaurants, were underwhelmed by the options and felt it was too touristy and pricey simply because of the location. So we went wandering!

We came across this little place and I saw a canal through the back window. Next to the menu was a sign suggesting to check out Yelp. Since Yelp is not very popular in other countries, lots of good reviews on Yelp was a surprise and so we committed. We were the first seating for the evening in the small room along the canal and we were offered the seats next to the window (turns out there are two dining rooms – the other is much bigger, but no view).

We received a lovely welcome drink on the house – a local wine that seemed similar to a Lambrusco. We ended up ordering a glass for each of us. Then we received a complimentary appetizer – some sort of a fried rice type of dish. To my surprise and complete delight, the menu (confirmed with the server) highlighted the multiple pasta options for home made gluten free! They included tortellini, tagliolini, gnocchi, and of course, gluten free bread. The server was helpful with ordering the best options and we fully enjoyed our entire meal!

At the end, we were gifted a dessert sampler and some grappa, as well as some cookies to go. They came with a card reminding us to review them on Yelp & Trip Advisor, which we were happy to do! The only surprise was that the service fee, instead of a seating fee, was 12%, which was about €10 for us. More than typical for our dinner since it’s based on a %, but for people who didn’t order as much as we did, probably not a big difference from the typical €2-€4 seating fee.

There’s also a cute little story about the restaurant, which they have on paper to read through. When we were leaving, a group of ladies came in with 2 gluten free eaters and said they were back for the 2nd night because they loved it so much the previous night.

Here’s what we ordered:

• House wine
• Antipasto Mixed fish appetizer (scallops, razor clams, polenta)
• Hubby got the Tagliatelle with spider crab
• And then he ordered an entire additional plate of razor clams…
• I got the gluten free Gnocchi with scampi & zucchini

Compliments of the House:

• Welcome house wine
• Fried rice dish
• Dessert sampler
• Grappa
• Cookies to go

We would also absolutely go back, as this was one of our favorite meals of the trip, was reasonably priced, and I had the ability to eat almost everything on the menu. In fact, we recommended it to a friend who was in Venice a few days after us!

We departed early the next morning and took the Water Bus back to Tronchetto to get our car. Because we left early, the boat was pretty empty and we easily fit our luggage – it worked out well!

I think 2 days in Venice was a good amount of time for us, as we stayed busy, but also felt like we covered most of what we wanted to do. If you are someone who spends time inside museums and cathedrals, you will definitely need longer.

Next, we ventured away from the coast a bit for some unique experiences! Looking forward to sharing those with you in the next blog!

Until then, stay safe, wash your hands, and tell someone you love them!

XO,

J