October 22-26
Ah, Venezia! It had been seven years since I first stepped off a train in Venice and got terribly lost along the back streets and canals with my friends Brian and Scott. We had foolishly come to Venice with no reservations and thought we could easily find a place to stay. I will always remember the frustration of that day in 2004, but it didn't matter in the end. We stayed for three perfect days and Venice worked its magic. I remember being so sad when the time came to leave.
Just one of the lovely canals in Venice
For this trip, we had a very special item on the Agenda, the Venice Marathon! This would be Shaun's first trip to Venice and his first international marathon. I was pretty excited for both, but tried to be low key about Venice so I didn't raise his expectations too much. Shaun had signed up for the marathon in July and once he was confirmed I went to work on lodging. Venice is notoriously expensive and somewhat tough to get around. In reading up on the marathon, most of the shuttles were actually leaving from the Venice/Mestre train station. Mestre is located right outside Venice and there are both trains and buses that go between the two. We found a little B&B called Outlet Sweet Venice on Trip Advisor that got fabulous reviews and was within walking distance of the train station. I booked it this summer before we even left for Europe, knowing that Marathon weekend would be crazy.
The train ride from Rome to Venice was uneventful. We left at 9:45AM from the train station by our hotel in Rome and we hopped off at the Venice Mestre train station at 1:30PM. A quick ten minute walk and we were at Outlet Sweet Venice where we met both Maurizio and his wife Giovanna, the owners of the hotel. We liked them both immediately. Giovanna took care of the room payment first and then called Maurizio down so he could do a little Venice tutorial.
They had a great local map with Venice on one side and Mestre on the other side. When he found out it was Shaun's first time in Venice he told us we should immediately buy a 72 hour transport ticket and then go to Venice and take a cruise all the way down the canal. Sounded good to me! Then he showed us lots of other things we could do and which buses or vaporettos would get us there. My favorite part though was when he was pointing out the San Marco square area. He looked at us very seriously and said "You don't touch NOTHING there! It is nothing but a tourist trap. Don't touch Nothing, you understand?" Having been there before, I knew what he meant but was also cracking up at his serious delivery of the advice!
Having taken all of Maurizio's advice very seriously, we immediately bundled up and headed over to the Tabbaconist nearby to get our Transit pass. This one worked out to be a great deal. The pass for 72 hours was 33 Euro and it included all buses and the Vaporettos. Considering that a single Vaporetto ticket was 6.50 Euro we definitely got our money's worth over the three days.
After getting the pass we wanted to head into Venice but first we needed to get Shaun's marathon packet. The shuttle left from the Mestre train station and only took about 20 minutes to get to the park where the expo was being held. We got his packet and checked out the expo, picking up a pair of runners gloves and a hat for him along the way as it had gotten very cold over the last few days. Then we took the shuttle back to the B&B and dropped off the stuff. It was time to see if Venice lived up to my memories!
Using Maurizio's great detailed map, we walked a block and a half to where we boarded bus 4L which took us over the bridge into Venice in about 10-15 minutes. We got off the bus at Piazzale Roma and got in line for the Vaporetto. The Vaporettos are like water buses, they can hold hundreds of people and there are regular stops all down the canal and to the surrounding islands. It's my favorite way to travel in Venice. When it came time to board we were some of the first people to get on so we went right to the front and sat down outside. It was cold out, but we were dressed warmly and the day was coming to a close so the sky was beautiful. The ride from Piazzale Roma to San Marco square took about 45 minutes and I could tell Shaun was just as captivated by the city as I had been. The activity on the canal just amazes me- it is an intricate dance between the Vaporettos, the private water taxis, the gondolas and the fishermen. I was amazed every time we were on the canals that nobody crashed into each other.
The view from the front of our first Vaporetto ride
Once we got to San Marco we just wandered. We didn't want to just take the water taxi all the way back so we decided we would walk over toward the Rialto bridge and check out Venice. We wandered around, popped into a few shops, ate some delicious pizza and just enjoyed the city. Besides Paris, I think Venice may be my favorite city for wandering. I love the narrow streets, especially in the more residential areas where you see children playing and elderly women chatting and laundry hanging above the canals. At one point we turned a corner and saw a boat covered in flowers with a casket on top and the family boarding the boat for the funeral procession. It was a poignant reminder that there are people who live in this place year round.
Shaun in San Marco Square. It was very cold!
After a few hours in Venice we headed back to Mestre. We figured an early dinner in Mestre would allow Shaun to get to bed early. He would be running 26 miles in the morning so he needed some sleep!
Dinner was a bit of a challenge, but it was our own fault for not making any reservations. The place we wanted to go to was full, not a surprise considering that it was a Saturday night and the night before the marathon. We found another place, Ristorante da Bepi, that specialized in seafood. The guy who took our order was a trip. He spoke Italian, English, French and bits of other languages. His english seemed to vary between a british and a southern accent, sometimes in the same sentence. He was very loud and boisterous and wanted to pick our meals for us. I tried to argue but somehow he ended up convincing us to try a hot and cold appetizer sampler and for Shaun to get a "special" pasta of his choice.
The appetizers were a mixed bag. I consider myself a pretty adventurous eater but some of this was a little much even for me. I ate the cuttlefish cooked in the black ink, and the salmon, tried the smoked tuna and even ate a few of the not-so-soft shelled crabs. Other things I couldn't quite stomach. Shaun was starting to worry about his mystery main course at that point! It turned out to be fine though, it was Spaghetti con Vongole, pasta with garlic and wine and the tiny clams you can only get over here. It was quite delicious and he was good and carbed up for the marathon. By the time we finished dinner it was 8:55 and we needed to get back to the B&B so we asked for the check. Three more requests and 40 minutes later we finally got the bill. We paid up and headed back to the B&B, a little exasperated with how the night ended. The walk in the cold night air was a good way to end the evening. Shaun got all his things ready and we headed to bed.
Our beautiful place in Mestre, Outlet Sweet Venice.
One of the nice things about our stay at Outlet Sweet Venice was that they upgraded our room for us, so we had an actual bedroom as opposed to a studio. It was beautifully decorated and had a big comfy bed, which was a treat for us at this junction of the trip. The windows were excellent, blocking out any noise from the street, so both of us slept like babies. Shaun got up at 6 to get ready and he left the B&B to get the marathon shuttle at 7. It was a point to point marathon so they were shuttling all the runners from the Mestre train station to a town called Stra. From Stra they would run back to Venice, passing through Mestre on the way. We had already scoped out the area in Mestre where I would wait for him; it was at about the 25k mark (out of 42k) and it was right near the apartment. There was online tracking of the runners so I would know roughly when he was coming through.
That morning I explored Mestre. It is a very cute town with lots of shops and restaurants. I found a nice coffee shop and had a cappuccino and a pastry for breakfast. On the chance that Shaun might stop to say hi, I also picked up a snack for him, an apple tart. I should explain that up until that morning I wasn't positive that Shaun would be running this marathon. He hurt his food pretty badly this summer when he fell off a stand-up Paddle Board onto some rocks. At the time we weren't sure if it was broken, but it turned out to be just badly bruised. The injury was bad enough that he had to pull out of USA Traithlon Nationals, but we both assumed it would heal pretty fast. That was not the case. Maybe it was the miles and miles of walking we did all over Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France, but it wasn't until late in our Paris stay that he was even able to run comfortably at all. His "long run", which normally ends up around 22 miles for marathon training was only 8 miles.
So the plan for that day was to run easy and walk whenever necessary. He was in great shape so he had no doubts about finishing, it was all about how long it would take. So with that in mind, I was carefully watching the Venice Marathon website until he passed the last kilometer marker before Mestre. I grabbed the camera, a water and the pastry and headed down to watch. On my way out I met Karen, an Australian woman who was also staying at the B&B. She was traveling by herself, so when I told her what I was doing she decided to join me and help me try to spot Shaun. She had never met him, so her spotting was based on my description of what he was wearing. Luckily, he had chosen to wear the official Venice Marathon T-shirt that had come in his packet the day before, so I was able to point that out. After about 40 minutes we spotted him!
Shaun was looking good when we caught up with him 16 miles into the marathon! He ran off with the pastry in hand!
He was doing great. I'm always amazed when I see him running. It just comes so naturally to him. He was about 16 miles in and as cheerful as ever. He stopped for just a minute, had some water, grabbed the pastry, gave me a kiss goodbye and he was off again. Karen was very impressed at how well he was holding up. I was too!
At that point I was determined to get into San Marco square to see him finish, but the Italian public transportation system had other plans for me once again. Because of the marathon route they had closed of parts of the bus route through Mestre and once again the signage was awful. It was all in Italian, which makes sense, but not even the Italians around us could figure it our. After about an hour of going from stop to stop we finally found one that was going into Venice, but as I was about to board it I realized I would never make it in time to see him finish. Since we had agreed to meet back at the apartment by 2:30, I had to scrap my plan and head home.
It was actually a very nice afternoon. The B&B had satellite TV and it played lots of American movies and TV shows in their original version. I can't tell you what a treat this was! We didn't watch a ton of TV at home, but it is definitely something we have both missed over here. Its just nice sometimes to chill out on your couch and watch something totally brainless. Scrubs in Italian just doesn't do the trick. So I watched a few shows and waited for Shaun. He arrived at home at around 3PM with a Donor Kebab in his hand. He was happy as a clam and doing great! We chilled out on the couch and watched "When Harry Met Sally"; one of my all time favorite movies. We've also always joked that we had a Harry/Sally relationship so it was fun to watch. That evening we had dinner in Mestre and went to bed early. Another super nights sleep at Outlet Sweet Venice and we were ready to head back into Venice.
In the morning we spoke to Maurizio about staying an extra night. We were really enjoying Venice and Mestre and wanted to take our time here since the B&B was so reasonably priced. Maurizio said no problem, he had vacancy in our suite. That was really helpful because Shaun was a little tired from the marathon so we didn't want to feel pressured to do one big sightseeing day. So for that day we decided we would head back into Venice and take the Vaporetto out to Murano to see some glass blowing.
We did some city wandering in Venice first and stopped for a pizza for lunch. Pizza in Italy is the perfect meal for budget minded travelers so we've had it quite a bit! It seems to be universally good; even a rest area on the way out of Bologna had fresh brick oven pizza that was ridiculously good. So with full bellies we started making our way over to where you get the ferry to Murano. Our friend Maurizo had given us a great tip. To get over to that area there is a spot where you can do a canal crossing via a Gondola for 50 cents! Since we weren't able to afford the 100+ euro gondola rides through the canals, we settled for the 50 cent crossing at Saint Sofia instead!
50 Cent Gondola Ride! Yay!
Murano was just as I remembered it, tons of small shops selling blown glass- everything from little animal trinkets to intricate and very expensive glass chandeliers. It was fun to window shop but since I didn't think anything could survive the backpack, there was no temptation to buy. We did go to see one of the glass blowing exhibitions. It was a little cheesy, with the "master glassblower" smoking a butt in between blowing out a vase and a horse. He was quite obviously bored with our presence, but it was still cool to watch. Glass blowing has been done the same way for thousands of years, with the glass heated to a temperature of 2400 degrees Farenheit on the end of a tool called a Punty and then cooled and shaped by the glassblower by alternately blowing through the Punty and shaping the form by rolling the glass and pulling at it with a type of plier. If you ever get the chance, I recommend seeing a demonstration. Its very neat to watch. After a long afternoon on Murano, we headed back to Mestre for dinner. We had a nice meal at a restaurant within walking distance of the B&B and then headed back for bed. We had one more full day in Venice and lots to do before leaving.
The Master Glass Blower getting started on making a horse out of molten glass
The next morning we took the bus back into Venice and the Vaporetto down to San Marco square. It had started to rain and we were both actually kind of excited about it. San Marco square floods many times a year but I had never seen it happen. In my first trip to Venice, as with this one, the weather had been great and the tides had been low so the square had always been dry. This is very unusual, so it was really cool to see that the water was already running over the walls into the square. As we got closer we saw that they had set up the temporary elevated walkway so that people could make their way through the square without getting soaked. Of course, we also saw a bunch of people who weren't paying attention to the situation and ended up getting soaked to the ankles! The water doesn't just flow in over the walls, it also bubbles up through the drains in the square so its easy to miss a big puddle when it first starts backing up!
The ramparts were all set up so that people didn't have to walk through the water. It was rising fast!
One of my goals that morning was to see the Rialto Market in action, especially the famous Fish Market. We had missed the fish vendors by a few hours previously so this time we made a beeline over there. It was a very busy morning at the market. All the fruit and vegetable vendors were out, selling their oranges and fennel, their tomatoes and garlic and their artichoke hearts. The vendors spent all of their free time peeling and cleaning the artichokes which they then threw into buckets of lemon water to keep them fresh. I'm sure the FDA would have shut them down over hygiene, but I thought it was great.
The vegetable section of the Rialto Market. I wanted to cook everything!
The fish market was also really fun to see. The fish Vendors had their own section of the market and they had everything imaginable, some of it still squirming around it was so fresh. Here was all the food you find on the menus in Venice, from razor clams and cuttlefish to shrimp and sardines. There also seemed to be every type of fish imaginable, all ridiculously fresh and beautifully presented on crushed ice. I was really wishing we had an apartment with a grill at that point. It was obvious that these fish would be wonderful just grilled and eaten with a little lemon and nothing else.
And again, just wanted to cook and eat everything we saw! So fresh!
All that time at the market made us hungry so we decided to indulge in the Venice tradition of Spritzer and Ciccetti for lunch. Ciccetti is like Ventian Tapas. We tried red peppers stuffed with a tuna puree, some little chicken croquettes and polpettini (mini meatballs) among other things. We washed it all down with a wine spritzer, a Venetian specialty made from white wine, seltzer and campari. It cost less than a soda, but we probably wouldn't order it again. It had a strange bitter aftertaste that takes some getting used to. Either way, the whole lunch only cost about 12 Euro, so it worked for us.
Spritzers and a plate of Ciccetti near the Rialto Market. Yummy!
After lunch we headed back to Mestre. We were heading to Croatia the next day and we had done almost no planning, so we had our work cut out for us. We also needed to do laundry and Shaun wanted to get a haircut. (Sometimes we just have to set aside some time for things like this so we stay sane). So we wandered back up the streets and said goodbye to Venice.
That afternoon we made a "to do" list. First was laundry. There was a laundromat one block over so we headed down there and finished that within about an hour. Then Shaun headed off to get a haircut and I headed home to do some research. We had no reservations for anything anymore so we could do what we wanted. We decided to take a train down the western coast of Italy to Ancona where we could catch an overnight ferry to Croatia. After Shaun came home from his haircut all clean shaven, we walked over to the train station and got our train tickets to Ancona. Then we went home and booked our overnight tickets on the Ferry to Split. The Blue Line was having a last minute special for an exterior cabin with its own bathroom. The trip was just under ten hours so a cabin was a necessity. We booked that online and then searched around for lodging in Split. We found a place that got great reviews, Apartments Kaleta, and e-mailed about availability. She had an apartment with a kitchen available for only 50 euro a night, so we jumped at that. That is the beauty of traveling in the off season. The prices are cheap and you usually have your choice of lodging. We booked three nights in Split and decided we would figure out the rest of Croatia once we arrived.
Having finished our planning we went out for one last meal in Mestre. The last dinner was my favorite. The place was called Hostaria Vita Rossa and it was absolutely jam packed with locals when we walked in. One of their specialties was Ciccette so everyone was hanging out at the bar having wine or spritzers and sampling the Ciccette. Fortunately they had a table for us as well. We ordered a few Ciccette and a main course each and some wine. After Shaun got to chatting with the guy at the table next to us, he ended up pouring us glasses of the wine he and his girlfriend were drinking as well. It was a really nice wine, way more expensive than anything we could afford so I had a very happy husband.
My very happy and very clean shaven husband!
So finally it was time to leave. Venice is such a magical place, especially in the off season when there are not too many people in town. We were both so glad we booked the extra night so we could enjoy the city in leisurely bits instead of trying to cram it all into two days. We were also really glad we chose to stay in Mestre. It was such a quaint little town and much more affordable than Venice proper. And with hosts like Maurizio and Giovanna, it really felt like a home. I think we got the best of both worlds in Venice, and it was a nice way to end our time in Italy. The next day was going to be a marathon travel day, and 24 hours later we were going to be in Croatia, starting a part of the journey where neither of us had any expectations. It was exciting and scary at the same time!
Arrivederci Italy!!
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