Spritz – StewsCat

Previous post here.

Our flight landed at the Venice Marco Polo Airport. It was a short walk to the Alilaguna, which is the water bus that you can take into Venice proper. While it did take over an hour to get to our stop (we probably stopped at 5 or 6 locations before our stop), it was a nice tour of Venice from the water. The first bus stop was actually another island (Murano) which was neat to see (I know some people will actually take a water taxi there to explore and eat some food but we didn’t do that so it was nice to see it here). We got off at the St. Mark’s Square stop since our hotel was quite close to that location. Art Biennale (La Biennale d’Arte di Venezia) was happening while we were there. I guess this is a famous art festival that is held here. During our trip we did end up checking out some exhibits (they were scattered through the city).

Our hotel, Al Codega hotel, was tucked inside of a square so at first was a bit confusing trying to find it. It was a cute historic hotel and while the room was small, we didn’t spend much time in it.

After checking in, it was time for dinner so we walked around and had dinner at Osteria del Lovo. D ordered the fish pasta dish which was yum and we shared some polenta with meat and finished with a tiramisu.

The following day after a nice breakfast at the hotel (another hot one), we walked over to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) where we saw Basilica di San Marco, Campanile di San Marco, Palazzo Ducale, Torre dell’Orologio (Clock Tower). The square was crowded with people taking pictures but also waiting in line for the Basilica and the museum. We had some time to kill before our lunch reservation.

Continuation from previous post.

Somehow I missed this port stop when I started on part 3 of the trip so Naples will get its own short post.

I had anticipating and looking forward to this stop because this is where Pizza Napoletana (Neapolitan) pizza originated from. This trip for me was an exploration of the various foods of each region. Naples sits near Mount Vesuvius, famous for the eruption that destroyed the city of Pompeii.

Waking up and stepping out onto the balcony, I could tell it was going to be another hot and humid one. The sky was kind of a hazy red-orange.

We had breakfast and then disembarked and started the trek to Galleria Umberto I, which is a public shopping gallery. Prior to walking through, we stopped at Gran Caffè Gambrinus – a historic coffeehouse founded in 1860. On the way there we walked by the Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune) and the Castel Nuovo (“New Castle” or Maschio Angioino).