**Suzie in Italy #11: Back to Roma

Laura and I were blessed by excellent weather on our trip with the exception of one day: the day we left Venice. I felt as though the sky was weeping along with us as we left that wondrous place. I really didn’t want to go.

Nevertheless, we dutifully boarded a train for Rome. By the time we’d traveled through Florence, the weather had cleared and we had a nice trip through the Tuscan countryside. We arrived in Rome late in the day, found our place and then went for Indian food. While in Italy we not only ate the local cuisine, but had Indian and Chinese as well. Why not? And then after dinner, we encountered an Asian martial arts exhibition in one of the smaller piazzas.

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************The next day, we went to one of my favorite places, the Galleria Borghese, home to the best Berninis in the world. For those of you who don’t know Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s art, well, you have a treat in store. He was one of the most popular artists of his day, and his sculptures are magnificent. The Galleria doesn’t allow photography inside, but it’s a lovely building, with frescoes and other examples of wonderful decorative art everywhere. No surface is left without decoration.

Tourists and locals enjoy the beautiful park in which the gallery is located.

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Then we went to the Spanish Steps, where we got a great view.

We went to the Pantheon and then grabbed some dinner. And that was our first full day in Rome.

*Venice: the Boating Lesson

Clever Laura figured out that though a gondola ride costs about 100 euros apiece, she could take a lesson on how to pilot a gondola for 60, and I could ride along for 40. So for half-price, we got an unforgettable adventure.

First we made our way from our apartment in the San Polo sestiere to the marina in the far north of Venice, in Canareggio, past the fishmarket (below left), over the Rialto Bridge (below right), past the train station and right to Canareggio. Along the ghetto’s winding streets past pensiones and shops, through an area largely devoid of tourist sights, which led me to conclude that actual Venetians live in the Canareggio.

Laura proved quite adept at piloting the unusual boat, which is twisted and weighted on one side to compensate for the gondolier’s weight. We were able to get a unique view of Venice (below right). She was good enough to be allowed to pilot our craft on the Grand Canal (below left).

*Suzie in Italy: How People Do Stuff in Venice (2)

If you’re in trouble, an ambulance will come to help you. If you cause trouble, the polizia will be after you (but not in the boat pictured ************************************************************************* *********

People get around in a variety of ways. On the left, Laura in a vaporetto, a water bus. On the right, kayakers on the Grand Canal.

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Venetian cafés favor potato chips as snacks with either Prosecco or cappucino, whatever hour of the day (below left). In short, Venice is a lovely place that we adored.

*Suzie in Italy #8: How People Do Stuff in Venice

I hadn’t given any thought to the mechanics of living on a set of islands without roads or motorized transport thereon, but it’s quite complex.

But pleasant. The sestiere (neighborhoods) are very quiet. No cars or motorbikes, not even bicycles. I didn’t see a skateboard. One girl was learning how to use rollerblades.

I saw motorboats and barges used for a variety of purposes. On the left: how you get your new refrigerator if you’re a Venetian.

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Below, see how UPS operates in Venice. Note the attractive blue instead of poop brown!

Suzie in Italy: A Meal in the Ghetto

As with most places, the history of Jews in Venice has its positive and negative aspects. Centuries ago, the Jews could live only on the island of Giudecca. But the clever Venetians realized that such useful folk should be closer to hand, and created the first ghetto, in the sestiere of Cannaregio, in the sixteenth century. The prohibition on Jews living elsewhere was lifted by Napoleon. There is still quite a strong Judaic presence in Venice.

After my travel partner Laura completed her lesson in piloting a gondola (we’ll leave that for a later blogpost) we walked from the marina on the northern shore of Cannaregio through the ghetto, where we found a fabuous Kosher restaurant called GamGam. I picked the selection of vegetarian small bites:

You can see, from left, plates of harisa, eggplant salad, egg salad (slightly below), assorted pickles, fried falafel balls, more pickled veggies (different flavors), hummus, sliced cherry tomatoes and some chickpeas with bits of cucumber. I ate it with bread, sharing with Laura–it doesn’t look filling, but it was! It was one of my most enjoyable meals in Italy.

Suzie In Italy #6: Food, Glorious Food

For the next couple of days I’m blogging about food in Venice. Italy is famous for its fabulous produce, especially olive oil, pasta and Chianti, which would suggest that a diet there might be unhealthy and the place is full of unhealthy people. Far from it. In two of the cities we visited, Matera and Venice, cars are virtually nonexistent. There are perhaps three roads through the older part of Matera; thus, people walk. There are no motorized vehicles whatsoever in Venice aside from boats. People do take vaporettos–water buses that ply the Great Canal and the lagoon–and water taxis, but mostly, people walk. I didn’t see even one motorcycle in Venice. Not even a bicycle. The closest I came to seeing non-foot-transport was one girl learning how to rollerblade.

Thus, people are pretty healthy. Venice, long a famous port, is known for its wealth of great food. We stopped by the famous Rialto market for fresh veggies and fruit to stock our apartment. Below: variegated greens for our salad; beautiful fruit and ubiquitous Chiquita bananas:

Suzie in Italia #5: Venezia

Much has been written about the beauty and uniqueness of Venice and all of it is true. It’s hard to describe in words the extraordinary clarity of the light, the charm of the alleys and byways, the kindness of the people including the mega-hotness of the males. I restrained myself from grabbing and photographing but not from staring.  But I reserved my closest scrutiny to Venice itself.

The place was quiet, with motorized travel nonexistent except on the canals. No scooters…not even bicycles. The closest thing to non-foot-transport was a girl learning to rollerblade.

After a long train ride from Bari, we disembarked and struggled with our luggage through the gathering darkness.

After we found our apartment, we went to a nearby piazza to enjoy a well-deserved glass of prosecco.

A typical Venetian tourist trap

Suzie in a carnaval mask. Below: the Grand Canal

Below, the Rialto Bridge and the nearby Rialto Hotel, where my family and I stayed when I was a little girl enjoying her first trip to Europe.

More coming soon!