GrapeHops Blog

A sad morning as it was time for everyone to depart. Megan was the first to go, catching a flight to Barcelona. You can follow her continuing travels at Drunkenly Aware.

Then Palma and Brad (who had flown in the night before) left for their tour of Bologna. Palma leads groups there through Palmabella’s Italy.

Then we escorted Nancy, from a Wine Lover’s Wanderings, and Jill and Kevin of The Fletchers’ Travels to their respective lodgings for the remainders of their trips via the crowded vaporetti.

It was sad saying good-bye to everyone but soon it would be time to move on Spain and our next groups.

We have a few things on the agenda today, but to start we return to the Rialto Market. Shannon is preparing dinner this evening (I’m the sous chef – lots of slicing and dicing for me), so we want to pick up things at the market. Some of the group decides to join us, and of course, after we finish, we must have a post-market spritz!

Jill & Kevin enjoying a spritz

Then we drop our bags back at the Palazzo and head out for our last bit of touring. We head out to the Ghetto to show them the small area that was once home to 5000 Jews. Afterward, it’s time for a bit of “fortification” so we stop for some cicchetti and ombra before moving on to Santa Maria Miracoli and San Giovani e Paolo.

After our “culture” requirement for the day is full-filled, we return to the Palazzo where our group splits yet again, some resting, some packing and some do some last minute shopping.

Later in the afternoon Shannon and I begin to prep dinner.

It’s a multi-course affair, and I’ll try to remember what we served.

For starters there was:

Proscuitto and melon
Sardines e Saur
Burrata (flown fresh from Puglia that morning!)
A huge mixed green salad

Enjoying Dinner

For our main course, an assortment of sausages and grapes with a side of steamed asparagus and shaved parmigiano.

For dessert, we were fortunate as one of our guests is a wonderful cook and she offered to make Nutella Panna Cotta for us – yum!

We washed it all down with some 12 bottles of wine (yikes!). We sat, and talked and laughed for several hours; it was a great evening!

Dead Soldiers

We’re winding down now in our travels and we’ve covered a lot of ground (in all, sights, food, wine and spritzes – oh and Kevin held up the beer end for us nicely too), so we decided on a lazy morning before we hopped onto the vaporetto for the 30 minute ride to Castello.

Campanile outside St. Pietro di Castello

There we visited St. Pietro di Castello (the first basilica of Venice), housed on its own little island. From there we walked over to Via Garibaldi – a canal filled in, to create a wide (probably one of the widest if not the widest thoroughfares in Venezia).

The Group Getting Fortified

Of course we needed to fortify ourselves with tramezzini and spritz before everyone split up for an hour or so to stroll the via and visit the gardens.

Outside of the Clock Tower

We regrouped (and after a bit more “fortification”) headed over to the Correr Museum where we met our guide for a wonderful tour of the Clock Tower.

View from Inside the Tower

"Digital Clock" from inside the Tower

The tour lasts about 55 minutes and provides interesting tidbits about the history of the tower as well as some great vistas but be warned, it’s stairs only, winding, narrow and high. On the plus side though, you do stop at every level for some more history so there’s plenty of time to catch your breath.

One of the "Moorish" Bell Ringers (and our guide)

View from the Top of the Tower

Our Group (those that made it to the top)

After the tower, our group split up again, some headed back for an afternoon rest, while others strolled through the streets, enjoying “fortification” along the way.

Dog at Wine Bar (A Face Only a Mother Could Love)

Dinner was at a local wine bar where we had amazing antipasti, seafood and grilled meats!

Antipasti Platter

Seafood Platter

This morning we headed over to the Rialto Mercato, where we met Nan, of Living Venice and author of Italy: Instructions for Use as well as Lolo, President of the Fish Market (please don’t ask me his real title in Italian). The combo teamed up to give us a frenetic tour (it’s hard nailing Lolo down for a picture) of the market, explaining the different types of fish, where it comes from, what to buy, when to buy, etc.

Rialto Fish Market

Lolo and the Group

Afterward, the group went for an amazing seafood lunch at Lolo’s restaurant (actually, the lunch is his wife’s idea. Lolo likes to refer to her as, “the boss of the owner.”).

The afternoon was spent in free time for the group and later we all gathered to meet up with some fellow travelers from Slow Travel Talk.

Everyone was on their own for dinner Wednesday night and we went to hunt down some of Shannon’s favorite Pinot Nero at a local pizza place.

Today was our mainland day.  We got to the station early (in time for a round of espresso/cappuccino) before catching our train to Verona.

There our guide met us and took us for a lovely day visiting a small winery (producing some amazing Valpolicella Ripasso and Amarone) for a tour and tasting, followed by lunch at a local trattoria (the type that will never make it into a guide book but has amazing food), followed by a drive and stroll around the cute town of Bassano del Grappa.

We returned to Venice in the evening and snacked on assorted “antipasti” before calling it a night.

Touring the Vineyards

Pouring the Wine

Wine Tasting

Risotto with Amarone in a Parmigiano Crust

Bassano del Grappa

We lucked out today. Original forecasts called for rain but it was a gorgeously clear morning. So clear, we could see mountains in the distance. I’d been to Venice about five times and had never seen mountains!

Can you see the snow-capped mountains in the distance?

We spent the day tooling around the lagoon in an open boat, meandering through the “grand canal of Murano”, by Burano, landing on Torcello (to visit the cathedral) and then enjoying a picnic lunch (including wine and prosecco) on the open waters before returning to Venezia.

A totally beautiful day!

Along Murano's Grand Canal

Burano

Preparing our Picnic Lunch

Our Group on the Boat

Well, no one likes rain when they travel but luckily this seems to be the only day we’ll experience in Venice and probably couldn’t pick a better day.

First though, it held off until after breakfast so we were able to enjoy our first breakfast together on the veranda but once that was done, it started to pour and pretty much continued on that way until after dinner.

We headed over on the crowded vaporetto to Piazza San Marco, where we wound our way through the crowds to visit the Correr museum for just under two hours. It worked out well, with some of the group wandering off on their own while others stayed together, we all met up at the entrance at the agreed upon time so we could head to lunch at a local taverna.

Piazza San Marco in the Rain

Pasa w/ Pesto, Green Beans & Potatoes

Right, on a rainy day in Venice, that’s what you do, have a long leisurely lunch. A few shared salads and many pasta dishes later (I had a pasta genovese – pesto, potatoes and beans, which now that I think about it, might have been a bit “traitorish” given Venice’s history with Genoa – oh well), but some had lasagna, some pasta with mussels (I believe) and I think someone enjoyed liver.

After lunch, the group split up, with some opting for naps and relaxing while others headed over to an exhibit of photos of/by Hemingway from his time in Paris.

We reconvened about 6:30, heading out for drinks followed by pizza for dinner – yum.

Pre-dinner drinks

It was a relatively quiet, lazy but good Sunday!