I spent one lovely week eating my way through Italy. I went to Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre, Siena, Rome, and Ostia Antica in July of 2015. Italy is known for wonderfully decadent pizzas, pastas, wine, and gelato and does not not fail to live up to this expectation. In Venice, there are food and wine deals everywhere. Here, you can get a pizza and a bottle of wine for under 10 euros. One of my favorite restaurants was located right outside of Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. First of all the church was gorgeous. It felt like I stumbled into a small church in the countryside, rather than the heart of Venice. It was serene and authentic with only a few nuns to assist in pray, if you should need. At the restaurant, I got pasta, an appetizer, a glass of wine, and a peach belini (Venice is the birthplace of Belinis) for again, under 10 euros. Small pizza shops on the side of foot bridges offer endless varieties of pizza slices for 1 euro. The canals of Venice are beautifully blue. It really is gorgeous to see only gondolas and pedestrians in the whole city. But one thing I can say is that you will not find many locals here, and it is very touristy. Yet, it is European touristy- not New York touristy. Venice is filled with artsy vendors that try to sell unique homemade glass or lace masquerade masks- rather than an I love New York T-shirt made in China shipped to New York. I stayed in an unforgettable four- star hotel, minutes away from St. Mark’s Square called Hotel Bonvecchiati. I can undeniably say that my roommate, Carly, and I had the best room in the house. We stayed a big suite with a rooftop right outside of window, a beautiful church steeple a few meters away, and a canal down below. This Spanish tiled rooftop was where me, Carly, and a few of our friends would spend every night, under the stars, with a bottle of wine between us. If your adventurous, you can even rooftop hop (oddly enough, they’re all connected by little bridges or look out towers so don’t think that I am super woman and by no means do this under the influence of alcohol). For day excursions, there are blown-glass exhibitions and lots of shopping. Characteristically Heather, I loved the historical tours. The tour I did was a trip to the Bridge of Sighs and the Doge’s (Duke’s) Palace. The Bridge of Sighs is a bridge that led from the Doge’s interrogation room to prison. The famous lover, Casanova was said to have escaped from the prison in the 18th century. The Doge’s Palace is conjoined to St. Mark’s Basilica in St. Mark’s Square. The Palace has a ton of art and sculptures, as well as beautiful terraces to look onto the Adriatic. For a change of pace, you can take a short ferry over to lido (beach). There is amazing gelato shops along the promenade to the beach so make sure to grab one. My absolute favorite is the nocciola (hazelnut) with nutella sauce gelato. The water is crystal clear and there are volleyball, football, and dancing tournaments right on the beach. Locals and tourists alike enjoy their weekends here.
NUTELLA GELATO:
Doge’s Palace:
View from Bridge of Sighs:
For a less tropical, more inland, but altogether historical trip, Florence is the place to go. Check out my next blog, “Under the Tuscan Sun” to read about some Florence excursions and to find out who I met while I was there!