Arriving at Marco Polo Airport, catching a water taxi to cross the venetian Lagoon to then travel down the grand canal and up a small canal to embark at the back door of Locanda San Barnaba, our hotel for 4 nights never ceases to thrill me. It’s like being drapped in a historical cloak and all of a sudden immersed in another world.
You don’t need a map here. This is the only city in the world where getting lost needs to be on your itinerary. Venice is small and you can afford to get lost and what’s the worst that can happen. You find a dead-end – turn around and go right and left and you will no doubt hit the grand canal or find yourself overlooking the lagoon. There is no side-walk along the grand canal so you will have to turn around again and wander confidently at any time of the day or night. If you look up you will see yellow signs with 4 destinations – Rialto, Academia, St Marks, Ferovia (railway station). So easy and such fun to be walking a different route every time. The streets are paved with smooth boulders – some are beaten with a hammer to prevent you slipping in the wet. Like everything else in Venice, they come from somewhere else and have been imported or traded and even probably plundered. But the rocks in the pavements would sink into the slimy mud, so the clever Venetians thrust millions of poles into the lagoon and in reality you are walking on an upside down petrified forest which every palazzo, church and pavement is built on.
Movement on the water never stops – everything has to be bought in by boat and taken out by boat. The vaporetto stops constantly along the grand canal carrying tourists and locals alike and the beautiful private water taxis provide a special ride.
I love fresh sandwiches and believe it or not Venice do these incredibly well – from Tramezzini which are made of lovely soft white bread with mountains of filling, Genovese sandwiches made with focaccia bread to my favourite Cicchetti which are basically finger foods from bars called bacari and traditionally washed down with a small glass of wine. They run the gamut of pretty much anything you can stick on a toothpick: calamari – in rings, or just tiny whole octopi, fried olives, cheese, sarde in soar (sweet-and-sour sardines), potato croquettes, polpette (meatballs—of beef or tuna)
On the Island of Murano I came across a cabinet filled with the most delicious creative cecchetti. They were made of bread slices with an assortment of toppings from prosciutto and roasted vegetables to marinated fresh sardines and prawns. In Burano I found little buns each made with a different bread dough and filled with lashings of rare beef, salami, cheeses, rocket etc.
A cichetti crawl though Venice, nibbling on snacks, canapes, and finger foods and enjoying glasses of wine is so much fun and although we didn’t have time on this trip I did use a guide several years ago and we walked from one bar to another in the early evening. It’s a must and so much fun.