Our visit to Venice, Florence, and Rome
Venice - Monday
Our plan for Monday was to tour the merchant area around the Rialto bridge,
then head up to Borano for some sightseeing, and then some closing events
back here in Venice.Finding Rialto bridge was no problem at all, though
the most direct route was via Traghetto - a very short-range
gondola ride, basically just across the main canal.And only about
35 cents US, a bargain. You get to stand in the gondola - potentially an
interesting experience in rough seas (especially considering we had about
20 people on board), but no problem on a gorgeous day like this.
Ther was lots of interesting stuff in the merchant area - all kinds
of produce, some meat, and lots of touristy-type stuff. the area was pleasantly
crowded, and generally provided lots of interesting sights (and therefore
photo opportunities).
After traversing the various parallel streets, and dozens of vendor booths
working their way up and across the bridge, we caught the Tragetto back
across to the north side of the canal, and then worked our way up to the
Vapparetto station for Borano.
The ride to Borano was about 40 minutes, on a boat more like a ferry than
the usual bus-like Vapparettos. Like the Vapparettos, ticketing was on
the honor system - you'd get your ticket time-stamped before boarding but
there was no mechanism to check whether you actually had one. Theoretically,
you could be asked to producte your ticket (and pay a $50 or so fine if
you didn't have one), but we never saw that happen.. There were numerous
kids on board; we guessed that school in Venice had just let out, and they
were headed home to Morano, Borano, and Torcello, some of he stops for
this Vapparetto.
Borano historically was known for lace-making, thought the primary
industry these days seems to be separating money from tourists. But in
a nice way. Most of the lace offered for sale, all interesting, but none
quite enough for us to actually purchase, is imported these days. Though
Borano has a central 'strip' full of shops and restaurants, it seems like
its primary function in contemporary times is as a bedroom community to
Venice. Actually, the location and relaxed 'feel' in contrast to 'downtown'
Venice reminded me a bit of the island communities in the Puget sound near
Seattle, Washington.
Though not offering major sightseeing, Borano did provide us with a peaceful
afternoon interesting architecture, pretty roses, and a fine couple of
pizzas. (I still haven't found the ham and pineapple 'hawaiian pizza' so
popular back in the states.) We did get a brief look at a water ambulance,
responding to a minor emergency - the pilot did a very impressive job of
maneuvering in the canal. A leisurely walk back to the Vapparetto station
and ride back to Venice deposited us in our hotel room, for a bit of rest
before the evening's activities.
The night's mission was a visit to the clock tower at St. Mark's square
(we were told it provided some great vistas), and then a meander toward
the San Toro restaurant in San Polo, that Judie had selected from the tour
guide. We tried a slightly different rout to St. Marks, and were disappointed
to find the clock tower closed for the evening, so we headed west toward
the restaurant.
The San Polo area is in the southwest part of Venice, across the grand
canal from where we were. I'd charted out a route to a Tragetto dock that
would drop us almost at the restaurant's front door, but after a long,
confusing walk to that dock, we found the Tragetto abandoned.
So, we doubled back, worked our way further south toward another Tragetto,
and found that one abandoned as well. At this point, it began to dawn on
us that these things don't exactly run 24 hours a day. So... another walk
further south, again meandering through the challenging maze of streets
that is all of Venice, to a bridge that spanned the canal. At least that
wasn't closed for the night. Then a similarly long meandering walk north
on the other side of the canal, to San Toma square and the restaurant.
And you know something? The walk was worth it! The place was really
nice - peaceful and quiet, partly due to being in an open square that seemed
eerily abandoned. Great food, the owner was a delight to talk with, and
reasonably priced to boot. A perfect end to the day.
I'd originally planned to walk back along the west side of canal up
to Rialto bridge and then back to the hotel, but puzzling through unknown
(to us) territory late at night (by now it was past 11), seemed less than
optimal, so we sprung the few bucks and took the Vapparetto (apparently
they do run 24 hours) four stops to within 500 meters of
the hotel. And then to bed! (but not before some foot massages)
