#3071 The Trip: Venice food tour and our first look at Piazza San Marco

3 stops into our bacari tour

In the last post, I told you about visiting the small town of Comacchio, and now I will tell you about our first day in Venice. Salvatore, our driver, gave us a lot of tips and pointers about Venice, most of which we promptly forgot the minute we left his car. He dropped us off at Piazzale Roma, the central train station, and walked us to the nearest canal boat stop. From there you can either walk into the old town, take a water bus, a water taxi, or a gondola.

the first thing I saw in Venice!

 Even though our apartment was a 15 minute walk from the station, it was hot like a sauna in Venice, so we opted for a private water taxi that was arranged for us by our apartment host. What I learned is that private water taxis are expensive; our ride was 80 euros for about a pretty short ride, probably 10 minutes or less. The water taxis are nice boats, though, and seeing the buildings from the boat is cool.

leaving Piazzale Roma in the water taxi

comfy!

Venice view from the water taxi

The apartment we stayed in was steps away from a canal and had a dock. Our host met us there and took us into the apartment which was fantastic - the best of all the places we stayed, in my opinion. (Note to self: maybe write a post about the places we stayed when I'm done writing about the trip?) Once we had the keys and had reviewed the rules with our host, we unpacked a bit and prepared to meet our guide for the bacari tour. 

In Venice, it is customary to have an aperitivo before dinner, like other places in Italy. However, in Venice, aperitivi are taken at a bacaro, which is usually a very small place that just serves drinks and cicchetti, which are small bites similar to tapas in Spain. (Bacari is the plural of bacaro; cicchetti is the plural of cicchetto which is pronounced chee-ket-o.)

Our guide for the bacari tour was a tiny young woman called Levy. There were probably a dozen people in our group. We visited four bacari and a gelato place. There was seating at two of the bacari, the rest of the time, we were standing around in the street or in the piazza, which is common. Along with the cicchetti, we had a beverage at each place. Let's see if I can remember what I had. I didn't take photos because it's hard to hold your drink and your snack and take a pic.

• Salami and cheese on a crostini and a Select spritz (Select is like Aperol, but Venetian. Slightly more bitter than Aperol.)
• Baccala mantecato, creamy, whipped cod and olive oil, on a crostini and a glass of prosecco. It doesn't sound all the great, but it is really freaking tasty.
• Crostini with ham and crispy onion and an ombra of white wine. An ombra is a small amount of cheap wine served in a small glass. I can attest that even cheap wine in Italy is good.
• Mozzarella in carozza with a Bellini. The cicchetto is like a deep fried cheese sandwich with a scone instead of regular bread. Ours had ham in it, too, and it was incredible! If you don't know, a Bellini is a drink made with prosecco and peach puree. 
• I had pistacchio (pistachio in English, of course) gelato. It might be one of my favorite gelato flavors. I almost always chose it, or coffee flavor. 

folks standing around having gelato in Venice

Our tour ended at the gelato place which was right next to this candy store. We were talking to Levy and I looked down to see this young seagull who apparently wanted some candy. He was very patient about it.

seagull looking in the candy store

The three of us decided that since we were out, we needed to see Piazza San Marco. It is grand.

my first view of Piazza San Marco

Basilica di San Marco

Palazzo Ducale, the Doge's Palace

view into Piazza San Marco from by the Grand Canal just after sunset

What an incredible day this was. We woke up on a cruise ship and went to bed in a delightful apartment in Venice. I truly feel so fortunate to have these experiences! #livingthedream

In my next post, I will write about spending the day in Venice, touring the Doge's Palace, the Cathedral of St. Mark, and missing out on a gondola ride. 

xo

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