Venice, Italy – On Friday morning, June 23, we left the apartment at 10 a.m., making a brief stop at the ATM machine in beautiful, downtown Lido on our way to the vaporetto. We got off at the Salute stop in Venice and visited the Madonna della Salute Church so that Jim could see this renowned structure for himself. The circle of 32 red mosaic roses in the floor at the very center of the church directly under the dome are said to mark the true heart of Venice, according to my Venetian friends. This white marble octagonal building is shaped to resemble a crown for the Virgin Mary’s head. The 16th-century church was built by the government of Venice as an offering to spare the city from the plague. It houses many valuable works of art including the icon of the Black Madonna, and paintings by Titian, Giordano, and Liberi.
As we exited the church, we passed by a small wedding party preparing to pose for photo ops on the Grand Canal with the Salute Church as a backdrop. A five-minute walk then brought us to the Genninger Studio where I purchased some Fortuny beads. We planned to return to the Studio at 3:30 p.m. for drinks with our friend. In between, we thought we would take a boat ride out to the J.W. Marriott Resort Island.
Our friend, Giada, works in Reservations at this exclusive resort. She had advised us that anyone may take the special Marriott boat out to the island and enjoy lunch or dinner in one of the several restaurants there. The Marriott boat docks right alongside the regular vaporetti and Alilaguna stops at the San Marco Giardini area (the San Marco stop with the trees) – right near the Hotel Monaco, and is free of charge.
At the end of the twenty-minute boat ride we arrived at the exclusive resort. We were escorted to the rooftop restaurant, but opted to eat inside due to the extreme heat that day. Although the restaurants are open to the public (you do not need to be an overnight guest at the resort) be warned: they are pricey. Lunch set us back 78 euros (not dollars; euros!). We ordered the steak sandwiches and fries (24 euros each), plus drinks and were assessed a cover charge of 7 euros each. And yes, the food was delicious! I used my Marriott Rewards Gold card, and we were treated royally by the staff.
We returned to Venice, met our friend Michele for cold drinks and then headed back to Lido by taking the vaporetto from the L’accademia stop. I went into the travel agent’s office to buy our train tickets for our side trips to Padua and Verona the following week.
Once back at the apartment, I separated the train tickets, packing the Verona tickets in our luggage, and placing the Padua tickets in the Padua tour book by the door, and waited for our friend Daniela to pick us up at 8 to have dinner at Patrizia’s house.
Patrizia had prepared for us a pasta main dish with tomatoes and basil, and her side dish specialty: baked tomatoes. Daniela had brought a wonderful fruit and ice cream cake. We had supplied the wine and fresh veggies. Patrizia also served us a unique appetizer, and shared her recipe.
Red, White, and Blue Appetizer (perfect for the 4th of July or any patriotic holiday)
By: Patrizia Mel
Ingredients: Gorgonzola or bleu cheese, Black Olives or chopped walnuts (not both), Cherry tomatoes. Directions: On a plate, arrange in rows the cheese and olives or walnuts. Use the cherry tomatoes to “dip”!
On Saturday, Jim and I went to the Lido beach (with our brand-new beach blanket!). Patrizia picked us up in her car at 8 p.m. and drove us to the little town of Alberoni, about 11 miles away on the island of Lido, to meet Daniela and her two grandsons, and AnnaMaria, and Anna first for drinks at an outdoor café, followed by dinner at a local seafood restaurant next door.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such beautiful appetizers served in my entire life: huge platters were set before us arrayed with cappasante, smoked salmon, shrimp, octopus, fresh oysters, and other delicacies. For our main dishes, we tried pasta and seafood (mussels and clams), and gnocchi with cappasante and zucchini. And of course, all this was accompanied by lots of white wine. Deliciozo!
Sunday was a day of thunderstorms..This gave me the much needed opportunity to prepare for our trip to Padua scheduled for the next day. Skies cleared in the evening, and we walked down to the Chinese restaurant to have a light snack with Patrizia and Anna. We stopped for gelato on the way back to the apartment. We strolled past the hotel where our German friends were staying, hoping to run into them. We later learned through email exchanges that we’d missed them by only about 15 minutes.
The four of us enjoyed a nightcap of limoncello back at the apartment while Patrizia gave specific directions for exactly which vaporetto to take in the morning in order to arrive at the Santa Lucia/Ferrovia train station in plenty of time to make our 8:42 a.m. train to Padua. We would need to take the 7:12 a.m. boat from Lido. She drew me a little map for the vaporetto line and the correct gate and I stuck the note to our packet of Padua train tickets along with the hotel reservation and the Padua tour book. At 10 p.m. we all said” buona notte” and promised to meet again for dinner on Thursday night – which would be our last night in Venice before returning to the USA.
NEXT…Excursion to Padua, Verona, and Sirmione.
