The Rialto and San Marco

Ciao Again!

Our second day in Venice we had our first breakfast there since we had had our "breakfast" of espresso on the train the day before, shortly prior to arrival. The Hotel Galleria served a mean continental breakfast in the room. They served us hot coffee with hot milk, delicious lightly glazed croissants, Nutella, apricot jam, and toast. After breakfast we set out and started what became our morning ritual for the short time we spent in Venice. This was having a latte macchiato at a nice little cafe on a side street near the hotel. We would go there each morning, have our coffee drink, and sit in the sunshine watching the little chickadees and finches snacking off crumbs, and watching the morning crowds get started to work or sight seeing.

The cafe was managed by a kind lady who would insist we get seated and would bring our hot coffee drinks out to us where we sat outside. Immediately across from this cafe was an interesting antique shop that featured a huge silver fish-shaped serving dish in the window, along with several (fake?) skulls. I'm sure the fish dish was intended for serving fish. It would sparkling in the morning sun and we spent plenty of time looking in the window while we sipped our coffee and planned our day.

Silver Fish Dish

Here's Jimmy at breakfast. I think we were both feeling a little bit worn that morning before our coffee drinks, due to the "train lag" from the day before, ha ha.

Jimmy at Breakfast

Morning Cigarette

Here's the street the cafe was on. Not terribly exciting, I know, but I like it because it makes me remember what it was like to sit there looking down that sunny street.

View from Morning Cafe

From here we set out for a day of exploring the things you think of when you think of Venice, like the Rialto Bridge and San Marco. Here is a busy morning alley with people going to work.

Morning Crowds

Here are some pictures I took along the way.

Iron Bridge in the Sunshine 

Sunny Canal

Sunny Building

Plants

Sunny Bridge

Bridge with Gondola

After meandering through the alleys and across the bridges we neared the Rialto. You can tell when you get near the Rialto or San Marco because of the insane number of crowds, and the profusion of pizza and gelato stands.

Approaching the Rialto

Pizza Near the Rialto

Pizza Closeup

And here is the Rialto Bridge.

The Rialto Bridge

Sometimes when I see famous sights, they are all I imagined them to be. Like the first time I climbed the Eiffel Tower it was fabulous and breathtaking. But sometimes when I see famous sights I find they are sort of a mess and I like some lesser-known sight better. That's how I felt about the Rialto and San Marco's Cathedral. They were both beautiful, but were so swamped with tourists and crowds as to make them almost unenjoyable. I was happy to view them, get my fill, and move on to someplace more picturesque and less swamped with people carrying Nikons and giant tripods.

After checking out the area around the Rialto we decided to go in search of San Marco's Square, the Cathedral, and the Doge's Palace. We had planned to eat lunch near the Rialto and see the fish market, but it was too early for lunch so we decided to stroll back in that direction later.

Here is San Marco Cathedral. My pictures are terrible, and considering the crowds it's a miracle I got any pictures at all.

San Marco Cathedral

Door at San Marco

Closeup of Tympanum of San Marco

Full View of Door and Horses

Here are the famous horses, stolen from Constantinople.

Horses Mounted Over Door at San Marco

Another View of the Horses

Here is a view of the arches over the door. The lion represents the Apostle St. Mark after whom the church is named.

The Lion-Symbol of St. Mark 

Arches in Front of San Marco

Here are some pictures of the Palace of the Doge.

Palace of the Doge

Bell Tower of Palace

Here is the Astronomical Clock in the Square.

Astronomical Clock in San Marco Square

 After viewing the Square of course we walked around and explored more nooks and crannies and I took lots more pictures of canals and boats. I couldn't get enough of the gondolas.  :)

I should probably mention that I really really REALLY wanted to ride in a gondola, but they were so expensive! Try 95 Euros! I just didn't feel like I could spend over $100 for a gondola ride, so I was living vicariously through the other tourists who were taking them. They don't charge by the person, but by the ride, so if you had a large group the cost was defrayed quite a bit, and we typically saw large groups of tourists riding in them. In fact, here is a group now. These people were having a good time.

Group of Tourists Enjoying a Gondola Ride

And here are some more shots of my favorite---water "alleys" and building details.

Twisting and Turning Water Alley 

Venetian Balconies

Scrollwork Details

We made our way back towards the Rialto and the fish market, with the intention of eating at a cicchetti restaurant in that neighborhood which our hosts at the Galleria had recommended quite highly, saying it was where all the locals eat lunch. By this time we were pretty hungary, but we ended up stumbling upon the fish market first. Ah, places like this make me wish I could cook while traveling. Feast your eyes on this. And I pity anyone who is allergic to shell fish!

Cuttlefish

Fish Bodies

Scallops

Octopus 

Scampi

Silver Fish

Stone Crab Claws

Lots More Fish

Sole

Wide Mouthed Fish

Scampi and Fish Tails

Pesce

Spider Crabs

Razor Clams

After our foray into the fish market we finally found the cicchetti place after asking several locals, who all knew just where we were talking about. It was a little hole in the wall, filled with chattering locals. It can be a bit intimidating to go into a place like that not knowing what the procedure is, with everybody pointing and jabbering. Fortunately, Italian started to just come to me on a white cloud. I could remember the names of half the meats and vegetables without having to look at the words twice, so I dove right in and starting ordering while Jimmy decided what kind of meat and cheese sandwich to have. Here are some pics of our lunch. It was fabulous!

Lunch!

Cicchetti "Sandwiches"

Roasted Vegetables

After some more wandering around, buying postcards and magnets for folks back at home, and exploring more alleys and bridges and dead ends, we made our way back to the hotel in the later afternoon for a little siesta. Not long after that we headed out and strolled around in the Academia neighborhood again.

After stopping into our cafe to sip a beverage, write postcards, and watch everybody get off work, we wandered off in search of a restaurant we had noticed the night before when we were searching for our seafood restaurant.

I should take a moment now to talk about octopus. To many people in the United States, octopus sounds disgusting. It sounds like it would be some kind of tough, chewy, squishy, gooey, icky seafood. It's not! If prepared correctly, it is tender and full-flavored. Like the steak of seafood. I adore octopus, and nobody can prepare octopus like the Italians. I had my first of many octopus dishes that night with supper. I wish I had taken pictures of them all.

We started our meal with an appetizer that I'm surprised hasn't become standard bar fare in the US along with mozzarella sticks, french fries, and onion rings. It was cheese-stuffed, fried olives. Even Jimmy, who isn't the biggest olive fan in the world, loved them, and the next night proposed we get two orders of them.

After this, I ordered the octopus terrine which was the appetizer special that night. Here's a shot of it.

Octopus Terrine

For our entrees, I ordered mixed seafood spaghetti, which is ubiquitous on the Italian coast, but still delicious, and Jimmy had steak. After another successful night of Italian dining we headed back to our hotel to recount the day's adventures and plan for tomorrow.

Ciao for now!