Day 16 - Venice
A day in Venice
July 7, 2023: Our second day in Venice was spent exploring the city. We started the morning with a cappuccino and pastry before heading to the T Fondaco Rooftop Terrace for a view of the city. T Fondaco is a high end department store. They allow you to book a 15 min time period on their terrace. We were happy we did it because we could see so much of the city from this vantage point and how the canals wind around the city. Next up we headed to a wine shop called “Ai Do Cancari” for a Prosecco wine tasting. The owner, Mario, was a great guy and we had a fun time talking with him and learning about Prosecco which is only made in a region near Venice. It is made from the Prosecco grape (renamed "Glera" in Italy in 2009). About 1 billion bottles are made in the region each year. I learned that extra dry Prosecco actually has the highest sugar content. Then semi-brut, brut and rosé. I found I like the semi-brut the best out of the four types. He paired the wines with some salami and pecorino cheese. Mario recommended a restaurant nearby where we could grab lunch so we took his advice and went there next. It did not disappoint. Great food…Jimm had a pizza and I had the ravioli.
We wandered around Venice just taking in the sites while heading back to the area were our hotel was located and decided to go back up to the terrace and played some cards while enjoying the sun and an afternoon Apertivo. Then it was time to get our bags from the concierge and head back to the train station. Rather than take a water taxi, we decided to walk it, which just added to our step and stair count which was already over 15,000. The train ride was two hours long, and 20 minute walk back to the house in Florence, so we were exhausted. I wrote yesterday’s blog and fell into bed.
We would recommend only doing a night or two in Venice if you come to Italy. It is no doubt an interesting city with beautiful architecture, but it is difficult to get around and I had read that it smells in the city because of the canals, and that is true. We were not interested in doing more museums and churches, so it was nice to do the Prosecco tasting. Maybe it will be different for you, but us, we were glad we just did an overnight trip.