Leah & Julian in The World

Typical Venice

Venice is a city living on borrowed time.  Its buildings are in various states of repair, many badly in need of a paint job or replastering.  Its streets are narrow and often you’ll be confounded by a dead end.  It is slowly but surely sinking.  And I absolutely loved it!  Something about Venice just spoke to me.  If you avoid the most crowded streets and places until later in the evening, it is really quite quiet.

We were blessed to find a fantastic b&b close to the train station but in the Santa Croce district.  Al Gallion B&B was wonderful – Daniela is the owner and speaks excellent English and was amazingly helpful.   Breakfast included home made apple cake and jams.   A bargain at only €90 a night!

Grand Canal

Daniela leant us “The Secret Venice of Corto Maltese,” a guidebook featuring a series of food-oriented walking itineries (how appropriate!).  Our first morning in Venice we ventured off on her recommended Orient Door itinerary.  It was a wonderful, relatively quiet way to see the real Venice.

Of course, we couldn’t leave Venice without a gondola ride, however overpriced!  Julian played the gondalier and he offered us a €10 discount.  We floated peacefully down the canals as the sky turned pink and watched Venice light up as night fell.  How romantic!

Venice from the water

We also checked out the seafood market – amazing!  We wished we were staying somewhere self-contained so we could take some home to cook.  Instead, we did our research and had dinner at Osteria al Mascaron, known for its seafood pasta.  After a bit of confusion with the menu (the English version doesn’t really match up with the Italian, and pasta was listed as €28, minimum of 2 people – did that mean €14 each?) we shared the scampi spaghetti.  Words cannot adequately describe how amazing this was, so I’ll just leave you with a picture.

Best shrimp spaghetti ever!