We arrived in Venice at about 8AM, just in time to catch all of our fellow overnight train travelers wiping the sleep from their eyes, and basking in their under-caffeinated disheveled splendor as they stumble from their couchette cars. At this time of morning the only people on the streets are the residents who have commuted from the mainland, parked their car in (what I believe is) the worlds largest singular parking structure, and head in to their various restaurants, cafes, tourist shops, and JOBs.
Since we are all grumpy, smelly, and sleep deprived, we do what all tourists do upon arriving in Venice – Head for St. Marks and the Rialto. So with grim determination, our packs on our backs, and Diego puffing on Marlboro Menthol, we hoof it to Rialto to find that none of its shops have yet to open, a strange sight given that any other time of day it is nearly impossible to navigate the hordes of people on this bridge. We continue on to St. Marks, where we occupy a bench and try to figure out where exactly our hotel is, and how early can we check in so we can take a nap.
Of course the hotel is near where we began today’s journey, so we catch the waterbus – the Vaparetto is the only way to boat in Venice – and take a meandering ride along the Grand Canal to our hotel stop. We find our hotel Ca’ San Giorgio – and our incredibly helpful and kind hostess – Sylvia – who takes pity on us and kindly houses our luggage while we run out to get some food and explore a little.
We decide to check out a part of town that Ulises and I have never seen, the Jewish Ghetto. Apparently the word Ghetto was coined here in Venice in 1516, it was a term used by the Venetians as a compulsory (for whose safety is up for debate) residential area for the Jews in Venice. It comes from the word Geto, which means “to throw or to cast” which is probably a reference to the foundries that used to exist in this area. It is an interesting area, as it could be entirely shut off from the rest of Venice since its bridges were all made of wood, and retractable, and all entrances could be sealed off from the inside.
So we sat at I Quattro Rusteghi located in the Ghetto Nuovo, and had amazing fresh sardine salad with arugula and seafood risotto, and watched the Italian police guard the synagogue with Uzis and a smile, while the tiredness washed over us in waves.
We decided that a regroup (fancy word for “nahh, I don’t need a nap, just a little rest from the streets) was much needed. So we shuffled back to the hotel and proceeded to pass out one by one. 2 hours later our grand designs to go and see St. Marks were thwarted, as the cathedral closes at 5, equally unfruitful were our efforts to go see the Doges palace and the Clock tower. So, finding no success with sight seeing, we did what all good tourists would do, and decided to find a good place for dinner.
After much wandering we caught the sunset just past St. Marks, and had a beer at a local tavern near what may be the only park in all of Venice…we then decided to head to dinner. What a meal…at the outdoor patio garden of the Ristorante Terrazza Del Casin Dei Nobili, we gorged ourselves. Diego ordered 3 (maybe 4) courses, cold seafood, grilled fish, and Mussels with pasta, and tiramisu with café, I had fried stuffed green olives, grill head fish, and tiramisu, and Ulises had the mussels with pasta and some Tiramisu as well. It was an amazing meal, and highly recommended.
We stumbled back to the hotel, full bellied and tired sometime around 11, and made plans to split up and explore the next day.
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