Return to Venezia

Back on Ponte Accademia, five years later

Tracey on the campo

Innumerable writers have grasped for the perfect simile for Venezia, and we're prepared to add our own: a magnificent main course from the best of restaurants, with a third already eaten. The obvious glory is still there, but impeccably presented it no longer is. You just want to see it at its prime to see if your imagination matches the reality.

A lovely afternoon cruise down the Grand Canal

Those that believe that it's a great big tourist trap and that you can't find good food in Venice just don't know where to go (admittedly, it's hard to know where to start and there's a lot of food/fuel that we're not interested in). We were lucky enough to find a dazzling range of options fit for such a jewel. From the tapas-style food at our local osteria to the sumptuous multiple courses dining at the campo outside our accommodation. Dining at Cantina Canaletto in the cave (wine cellar) the walls of vino from which any can be had by the glass, the charm of the violinist playing in the room next door, the ridiculously-sized wine glasses (over a litre in size), the beautiful bottle of Montepulciano. A 7 course lunch at Osteria di San Marina that sits under the balcony of our room - including suckling pig, smoked-at-the-table tuna, millefoglie of dark chocolate and mousse. The local unpretentious osteria for some of the best-ever meatballs, cold roasted fennel, sardines. Stopping in for an espresso and fresh warm tart of mushrooms or anchovies for breakfast.

Being our second visit we felt liberated from the must-do list of Basilica San Marco, Doge's Palace and so on. Instead we were able to relish in the simpler delights:

• Strolling the quiet, local (tourist-free) corners of Dursoduro and near the Arsenal
• Checking out the famous fish & produce market at Rialto
• Heading offshore to Murano to observe the creation of glass "items" (the only word suitable to encompass everything from the elegant to the downright hideously tacky).
• The charm of a private gondola cruise with a cold bubbling glass of Prosecco, with the gondolier occasionally providing interesting insights on Venice, its canals and the people who have lived there, and other time providing a quiet suitably atmospheric song/humming.
• The yellow-rose light fading on the various campaniles near sunset
• Our decadent marble and velvet filled room (Hint - a good room in Venezia is worth it. You do so much walking and it can be really warm, so a handy comfortable retreat for a couple of hours is the perfect tonic to be able to get out again in the evening to see even more.)
• Observing a ridiculous giant cruiser that was large enough for a full-size cruising yacht to be strapped to the side for occasional jaunts (we'd seen motor launches in similar spots in Barcelona, but this took the prize). Perhaps the Venice Film Festival had attracted some stupidly expensive guests?
• The reprieve from traffic and cyclists - not to be overestimated in Europe. The ease of canal transportation was equal to the Paris metro, which for us is high praise.

  

  The entree platter is as big as the glass??

  

  Lovely bouquet

  

  Tracey outside our favorite osteria

  

  Somebody's lunch just waiting to happen- Venice fish market

  

  Scenes from Rialto

  

  It looks like this so often - charming

  

  Andrew on the balcony, checking out the campo