On A Grand Tour

It’s hard to know where to even start with Venice. The extra excitement of this being our first trip across borders as Europe relaxed some of its restrictions this summer notwithstanding, we had a magical time in Venice. I fell in love with this city, which is at once magnificent and crumbling, opulent and decaying. Nothing happens in a straight line in Venice—not the alleys, or the canals, or the bridges, or even the towers rising above the buildings. It is a gloriously crooked city. While these wonderful elements do point to issues related to climate change, the detriments of overtourism, a dwindling population, and challenges in funding for historic architecture preservation, for now we will simply enjoy Venice’s beauty for what it is.

After seven hours of train travel from Geneva, we stepped into the dazzling sunlight of Venice’s Grand Canal. What was supposed to be a 30-minute walk from the train station to our hotel in San Marco turned into an hour of being lost in the tiny alleyways of central Venice, which, honestly, was perfectly fine by us. We stayed in a great hotel just one piazza over from Piazza San Marco. Just one bridge and a wave at the Bridge of Sighs and we were in the middle of Piazza San Marco, marveling at Saint Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace.

Because it was midafternoon and we had already had a long day of travel, it was time to take part in one of our favorite Venetian traditions: cicchetti. These small plates of yumminess similar to Spanish Tapas pair perfectly with an aperitif and make for the best midafternoon break; this quickly became a daily ritual for us! We enjoyed wandering the waterfront in the opposite direction of the rest of the tourists, watched the sun set over the city, and had a long and delightful dinner on Via Garibaldi. What a wonderful first taste of Venice, and we were most definitely ready for more!

Day 2 dawned hot and sunny, and after breakfasting like the Italians on cappuccinos and croissants, we headed over to the Doge’s Palace for a little dose of Venetian Republic history. We spent hours gaping at the opulence of the interior and basking in the Venetian Renaissance colors of Tintoretto, Veronese, and Titian. We shared the same sigh that prisoners made as they glimpsed their final views of Venice as they were taken from the Doge’s palace over the Bridge of Sighs (hence the name) to prison.

As if all this art wasn’t enough, we next made our way across Venice to the Gallerie dell’Accademia, grabbing arancini and focaccia on the way, and enjoyed an afternoon strolling among the Venetian masters. I must say, Kurt is such a good sport for supporting my art history love!

As the Gallerie had taken us to the out-of-the-way neighborhood of Dorsoduro, we decided to stick around and explore a bit. We soon were in a part of Venice that actually felt like a real city, where very few tourists were wandering, kids were playing soccer in the small piazzettas, and laundry was hanging from clotheslines above our heads.  It was so enjoyable to wander in the quiet, turning down whatever alleyway looked pleasing, stumbling upon Gothic churches, and making figure-eights through the neighborhoods.

We stopped for our daily cicchetti, happened upon the empty cruise terminal (one of the many pluses of being in Venice right now), and strolled the waterfront until we found a tiny restaurant right on the harbor with incredible food.

Venetian food is great—heavy on the seafood and steeped in its history as a seafaring nation. I was pretty certain that I would not enjoy the sarde in saor (sardines marinated in vinegar, onions, and raisins) or baccala (creamed dried cod served on bread or polenta), but both were actually really good! Even the traditional biscuit, or baicoli, speaks to a time when sailors and fisherman needed food that would last on long voyages (and is also delicious with coffee). Eating traditional Venetian food is part of the multisensory experience of Venice’s history.  

To finish the night off, we hopped on a vaporetto, the public transportation boat network, for a cruise of the Grand Canal from start to finish. This is the best-value ticket in town! And the 13^th– to 15^th-century Venetian Gothic palazzos lining the Grand Canal were especially lovely at night. After being dropped off at the San Marco stop, we took one last late-night stroll around Piazza San Marco sans other tourists and then dragged our weary feet to our hotel.

Stay tuned for the rest of our trip, there was just too much fun to fit into one blog post!