Italian Holiday

Italy 2023

#2, Venice Arrival

Our smooth flight from London arrived at Marco Polo airport on the mainland of Venice. After our arrival we exchanged $ for € (dollars for Euros) and bought bus tickets into Venice. [Venice, in Northeastern Italy and on the Adriatic Sea is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges]. 

Considering that there are no cars, trucks or motorbikes on the Venetian Islands, once in Venice we boarded a Vaporetto, a canal boat, that would take us to the dock nearest to our hotel. Vaporettos are like city buses. There are water taxis also, which we did not use. During our stay in Venice we used the Vaporetto extensively traveling from place to place. Learning the system and time schedules was a bit tricky but we managed to get to all the places we wanted traveling by this conveyance. The vaporetto are fairly large, with one covered area with bench seats, a front section with seats and in the middle the standing room only area where people entered and exited. We used the vaporetto several times for longer distances and when visiting islands further away.

Night had fallen as we boarded our Vaporetto on the way to our destination dock. Even in the dark, the Grand Canal was busy with other motorized boats plying its waters. Building lights shone from windows along the canal, their reflections magnified upon the water. We passed beneath bridges, other motorized boats passing by, and while catching sight of lighted church domes, and shimmering crystal chandeliers from inside upper story apartments it all started to bring us into the reality of having arrived in this historic place. 

Though tired after the long day’s travel, there was an excitement and anticipation in the air as Venice drew us in wrapping its intrigue around us.

Disembarking at the Giglio dock, we walked down a narrow alleyway to the Do Pozzi Hotel. Mark, Pat and John had previously stayed at the Do Pozzi several years ago and found that a remodel had changed its character from charming and unique to sterile and dull. For me with no prior exposure to the place, I found there was a bit of charm with two comfortable beds, wooden shuttered windows overlooking a courtyard below, a tacky glass chandelier, an adequate bathroom and a mini sized elevator that managed to hold about 2 people with some luggage taking us up from the lobby to our rooms.

Checked in, we dropped our luggage in our rooms and then proceeded to explore the nearby area. Since the other three had visited Venice in the past, they acted as guides for me. Given that there is only foot traffic (and gondolas on the small canals), the “streets” were the byways around Venice. Some were like narrow alleyways and others for main traffic were wider. For reference, I will typically use “alleyways” as the word to describe where we walked. It was indeed pleasant to just walk along these streets, seemingly even the narrowest of them all had various shops and restaurants along the way. The wide street near our hotel was lined with many high end stores; Gucci, Prada, Cartier, Armani, Versace, Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, etc. Brightly lit shop window displays were colorful and creative creating a very pleasant atmosphere as we wandered about amongst the ancient buildings and across the bridges over the canals. It was a slow pace relaxing feeling to just stroll in the evening. Along the way we dropped into one of the restaurants and had our first Italian cuisine, Mark and I sharing a Friarielli Pizza (mozzarella, sausage, mushroom, broccoli). Delicious and so unlike ones from the chain pizza places in the US.

It was late, 11 p.m. (3 a.m. in Phoenix), well past our bedtimes. No longer able or needing to stay awake we returned to the hotel and with thoughts of discovering more of this historic and charming city soon drifted off to sleep.