Our hotel included vouchers for two breakfasts each day, and Noah and I were up to experience it for our first morning in Venice. The spread was every bit as impressive as I’d imagined, with sections for hot food, breads, pastries, eggs, meats, cheeses, juices, oatmeal, and more. We each filled up a couple of plates and ate quickly enough to ensure we were ready to meet Amanda for the 9:00 a.m. boat to the main islands.
On board the hotel boat into Venice.
We arrived in Venice by 9:20, leaving 40 minutes to spare before the beginning of an Airbnb glass-making experience we’d booked. We used the time to walk around a bit, and during our walk, I spotted a traghetto, which is Italian for “ferry.” Classifying the 10-passenger gondola-like boat as a ferry may be generous, but they cost just €2 per passenger and allowed us to cross the Grand Canal at a spot where no bridge was present. We’d previously ruled out spending money on a private gondola ride, so a traghetto was the next best thing.
The view from our traghetto.
On our traghetto across Venice’s Grand Canal.
Neither Amanda nor Noah was as impressed by the traghetto ride as I was, but it was a new Venetian experience for us all, and in further reading while writing this blog entry, I’m even more glad we took the ride. Turns out, as recently as the 1950s, there were 30 traghetti crossing the canal. There are now only 7 routes, and it sounds like only half of those operate with any regularity. So, finding one during a period of time when we had nothing better to do seems like a win.
The streets of Venice really are unlike any others in the world.
We arrived on time for our glass-making experience, one of the things Amanda and Noah were excited about. Because our experience included two other participants but there were only two stations for glass-blowing, our time was divided into two parts: creating a coaster from decorative glass shards and using a torch to create our choice of small trinkets using glass, a torch, and a variety of helpful tools.
I made an E to give to one of the girls.
Noah made a green “N” while Amanda created a flower.
After a brief demonstration where the Murano glassmaker Fabio created a glass fish, Amanda and Noah took the reigns and were the first to try their hands at glass making. Guidance was limited during the experience, and ideas of creating grandiose pieces like ornaments or animals was out of scope. Nonetheless, Fabio provided enough assistance to ensure we were following best practices and helped at times to make sure we finished with at least a couple of souvenir pieces.
The modest art studio had a solid view of a canal, where we saw and heard gondolas passing by.
Up next on our itinerary was lunch at a Cichetti bar, where we could sample a variety of traditional Venetian snacks or side dishes, like tiny sandwiches, vegetables, eggs, seafood, salami, and cheese. The worker was patient as we each selected the contents of our plates from glass cases. Between the three of us, we sampled at least half of the options including a mini prosciutto sandwich, octopus, deviled eggs, and more. We enjoyed some appetizers more than others but mostly enjoyed the experience.
My plate included artichoke, octopus, eggplant, a meatball, and more.
Noah ultimately wasn’t a fan but I was happy he tried the salted cod spread on his bread.
Immediately after lunch was a walk to our newfound favorite Suso gelato shop, where we found a shorter line and the opportunity to try new flavors. We posed again by the nearby bridge before finding a vaparetto to get to the island of Murano.
Known for its glassmaking, a visit to Murano seemed to go well with our morning experience. We spent a couple of hours popping in and out of glass stores along the island’s main canal, considering many purchases but only buying a couple of small glass trinkets. The first vaparetto back was full, so we hung out for a little longer to catch the right boat back to St. Mark’s Square.
Our outdoor vaporetto seat provided better views but cooler temperatures.
On the island of Murano.
This fun window display featured blown glass ornaments made to look like balloons.
The delayed vaparetto meant we missed our window to pick up our glass creations, so we improvised with a trip to the top of the Campanile in St. Mark’s Square. Without advanced tickets, we had to wait in line, but the line moved quickly and we had plenty of time to take in the views. We snapped a few photos before riding the elevator down and returning to the glassmaking studio.
One of four vantage points from the top of the bell tower.
After a long day of walking, we contemplated returning to the hotel for an easy but pricy dinner but decided to try a couple of takeaway places instead. Amanda and Noah had romano pasta from the well-rated and popular Del Moro, where it was made fresh and ready in a few minutes. I sampled the tiramisu from I Tre Mercanti, a gourmet grocery store known for its rendition of the famous Italian dessert.
Since I’d eaten tiramisu instead of dinner, I still needed a proper meal, and Amanda and Noah were kind enough to indulge me with some more walking to the Rick Steves-recommended Peter Pan, which served pizza and doner kebab. Having good memories of doner kebabs on past trips, I opted for the kebab over the pizza, with the rotisserie-style chicken meat served with a side salad, tzatziki sauce, and hot sauce.
A white marker allows visitors to write on the front window of Del Moro’s Pasta to Go, though the window was cleaned by the end of the evening.
The pictured tiramisu had just been topped with a final layer of cocoa, and I was able to purchase one of the cups minutes later.
The courtyard near the Parrocchiale di Santa Maria Formosa church was a great picnic spot.
En route to Peter Pan, we stumbled upon a unique bookstore that had books displayed in gondolas and five friendly cats on its property. We picked up a few postcards to send to family and friends and Amanda snapped a photo of me with one of their cats, who was happily stationed near the cash register. We made a final walk back to St. Mark’s Square where we caught the return boat to our Venice hotel.
