Venice
ITALY
The Sweet Taste of Venice
By LYNDI
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
You know how sometimes events can make things taste even better than they really are? When the cheapest glass of red wine you can find in the town of Venice tastes like it’s been barrel-aged in French oak for the past 20 years, you know the events leading up to that sip have been a bit tumultuous. Let me explain…
It really all started on January 16, 2011 – the day Aaron and I got married. Ideally after getting married, you and your new spouse head out to an exotic destination – be it the Greek Islands or the Oregon coast – to spend quiet, peaceful and romantic time together for the first time as husband and wife. So when our first month of marriage was spent visiting friends and family that we had regretfully neglected for the past 2 ½ years while living in South America, we were definitely looking forward to the upcoming, 6 month honeymoon around the world.
One of these stops around the world was meant to be India, so Aaron and I sent our passports away to the Indian Embassy to get the necessary visas. Long, painful and stressful story short, our passports arrived in our hands at 10:30am on the exact same day we were to leave for the airport at 3:30pm. Whew.
Staying at Aaron’s sister’s house in Yonkers, New York, getting to JFK airport was a mere one car ride (where we locked our bags in the car, but that’s another story and I’m trying to keep this short), three train rides and a short cab ride. Not too bad. Then to actually get to our first destination of Venice, Italy, it was two plane rides, three train rides and a short walk through the Venetian rain to our Venice Chic guest house.
Seeing as how it was now 10:30pm local time and our internal clocks were all screwed up due to not sleeping on the planes and then sleeping on and off while on the trains, the only logical solution we could come up with to get over jet-lag was to find Venice’s cheapest table wine and go from there. And that’s how we wound up with a half liter of wine for €3.50 that tasted better than anything I’d had before.
As most people know, the great thing about Venice is the tiny little streets you walk along with shops and little bodegas hiding on every corner. But what happens when the tides come in and the canals flood the streets so you actually can’t walk in them? The ever-clever Venetians put up a series of boardwalks to keep your feet dry and then put out mini-connecting boardwalks or have you walk along chairs to get you into their little restaurants. Not a bad idea.
Our best find was this little restaurant on the main street through town called “Brek”, just to the left of the train station. In a city renowned for being overpriced in a country that uses the strong Euro currency, we could get a big salad for €3.90 or a huge plate of pasta for €5. And being back on the backpackers budget meant we were only eating one meal per day (supplemented by a banana or croissant – or gelato – here or there), so we ate there both nights.
We spent our full day in Venice (thankfully no rain this time) wandering all the little alleys and public squares we could find. Of course we made it to the main points of interest – St. Mark’s Square and the many gondolas along the canals – but time just flew as we peered in shops, set up photos to look like we were the only tourists there, and got completely and hopelessly lost.
Despite being a little bit cold, Aaron and I thought February would be a great time to visit Italy because we could completely miss the busy tourist season in spring, summer and fall. But if the one billion tourists we were surrounded by was slow season???!! I would hate to witness the high season.
After walking around for hours we headed back to the guest house to rest up a little bit and then headed to Campo Margherita where the guy at our hostel had promised lots of little bars. Seeing as it was again time for some nice, cheap red wine, that sounded like a good site to seek out. When we arrived, we were a little disappointed to find several Irish pubs (an absolute guarantee everything inside will be grossly overpriced) and a few fancy joints that probably wouldn’t even let the likes of us in. But out of the corner of our eye we spotted a tiny little enoteca (wine bar) that could be just what we were looking for.
We sat ourselves down at an overturned-wine-barrel-turned-table, Aaron ordered the first of many 90 cent glasses of wine, and we chatted all night as we watched the Venetians flow in and out. Thoughts of getting those stupid Indian visas and our passports back in time to catch our flight faded quickly as the chatter of the friendly locals and talk of what lay ahead in our travels rose to the forefront of our minds, the negative thoughts retreating quicker and quicker.
The next morning we headed out early so we could catch the cheap train to Florence. The original idea had been to do Venice, Rome and the Amalfi coast, but after paying €74 EACH(!!!) to get from Rome to Venice on the fast train, we decided to limit our train excursions and make an extra stop on the way home instead. Apparently most Italians prefer these fancy fast trains because there aren’t many options for cheapskates like us. But one train left at 9am, took three times as long, and cost half the price of the fast train to Florence – just our style.
