7 Nights in Venice, Summer 2024

The tour was not bad, but a bit of a letdown from what we had been expecting. Guide Ana was very good though, herding the group of about 10 gently but firmly through the narrow streets and crowded market. She only managed to lose one participant, my husband! Although it was certainly not her fault. After we waited around for him for about 10 minutes, I tried to assure her that he would be fine; he knew where the hotel was, and wouldn’t starve or drown. But she was so worried. Luckily, at some point I spotted his cap, and hollered. The entire group joined me in this, and we were able to get his attention. When we reunited Stan asked me “Why didn’t you just tell her that I’d be okay; I know where the hotel is…”

The food on the tour was food; the first stop was a sweet of puff pastry and jam, the second stop offered a choice of cichetti, mostly seafood in unexpected combinations, like egg and anchovy.

The third stop had larger portions, actual small plates instead of just bite sized morsels. I had squid in its own ink, on polenta. The last stop was gelato, of course. Since I don’t eat sweets, Ana made sure I had coffee at the first stop, and a bottle of water at the last one.

The group disbanded here, and Stan and I went to find the nearby San Silvestro church for tonight’s vigil Mass. This part of town was lovely, with many bars and restaurants nearby. After the food tour, we weren’t going to want lunch, so we just wandered around a while in the back streets, and then went back to the hotel for a bit.

Back to San Silvestro for me to go to Mass; Stan settled in at a local restaurant – Ai Coghi - on the Campo and enjoyed their beer. The church is small, but nice, with an interesting Baroque ceiling, and some good art. We stayed at Ai Coghi for a nice dinner. Stan had fried frutti di mare (mixed seafood, and as you may have noticed, a favorite of ours) while I had the house seafood spaghetti. We shared a half bottle of soave.

We wandered our way back to the hotel, stopping for coffee and cocoa at a tiny bar “Tris,” then proceeded to get lost in the back streets between there and home. No worries; we knew about where we were, and in the worst case scenario would follow the signs to the train station. But I soon saw a few familiar landmarks from our previous visit, and were able to get to the hotel before dark. Barely.

We did notice, as we wandered about, that the water was getting higher on the sidewalks along the Grand Canal, as well as in the back lanes. We decided later it was tidal.

Sunday, 2 June. As we went down for an early breakfast, we saw what looked like a Rick Steves style tour group leaving for the day; as it turned out, it was indeed a Rick Venice-Florence-Rome tour. But they were so busy, and there for such a short amount of time, that we never found an opportunity to chat with them.

Our own busy day started with a vaporetto ride to the Rialto Market area to meet Michael Broderick of Venicescapes.org for the first half of our “City of Nations” tour. I’ve talked about Venicescapes before; if you’re interested in getting “the stories behind the story” of Venice, look them up. https://venicescapes.org/ Check out the reviews on Trip Advisor, while you’re at it.

The “City of Nations” tour runs 6 hours, so at Michael’s suggestion, we (gratefully) split it into 2 days. The tour looks at many of the ethnic groups that came to Venice in the Medieval and Renaissance periods, how they changed Venice, and how Venice changed them, culturally, economically, and more. It’s an amazing tour.

Our first segment looked at the Germans, Jews, and Turks who came to Venice, most of them originally for economic reasons. We visited a German church, two Jewish synagogues, and the Jewish museum, and listened to Michael’s detailed but fascinating description of the cultural impact of these groups on Venice – and vice versa.

After the three hour first tour segment, Stan and I found lunch at a trattoria in the Cannaregio district, just north of the ghetto. Stan had a very good tray of mixed meats, cheeses, and pickled vegetables. I had a “tris” (three samples) of bacalao with polenta. I’m sorry I didn’t get the name of the trattoria; we had spent way too long trying to find a place that Michael had recommended, and finally just sank exhausted into the next available seats we saw. Luckily, it’s almost impossible to get anything other than a good meal in Italy!

After eating we went back to the hotel to rest, then later wandered around the Santa Croce sestiere, ending up having a pizza at a café in Campo San Giacomo dell'Orio. A pleasant, relaxing end to a lovely day.

Monday, 3 June. After breakfast, we went to the Frari church, primarily to see the artwork. The Frari is huge, and very plain on the outside. But it is renowned for its art, boasting works by Donatello, Titian, and Bellini, as well as some equally amazing works by unknown artists.

We had lunch at the Anticha Birreria la Corte at Campo San Polo. This place caught our eye the other day as we were wandering around town, and is also listed in Rick’s book. Stan had duck “bottoni,” little buttons of pasta stuffed with duck, and served with fava beans and hazelnuts. I had a fish dish served with a very light curry sauce. Both were good, but the “bottoni” were great.

After lunch we scurried to meet Michael for the second half of our tour. The highlight of this section was our visit to the Armenian church, where we had the chance to visit with one of the parishioners, who was delighted to answer our questions. We were supposed to visit the Greek St George Church, but it was closed, much to Michael’s consternation. Our last stop, the Dalmation School, a confraternity founded by Dalmation sailors and merchants in the 15th century, was full of art students when we arrived. Michael tried manfully to carry on, but the competition got the better of him. We made arrangements to meet again for a bonus segment Wednesday morning.

By now it was late afternoon, so we headed back to the hotel, stopping for a quiet drink on the way. For dinner we chose one of our favorite restaurants, Osteria Mocenigo at Salizada San Stae 1919, just steps from our hotel.

Although we didn’t have reservations, we were seated outside almost immediately. The food was as good as we remembered: Stan had a very good tuna steak with vegetables, and I had grilled sea bream, also served with a generous amount of vegetables. Of course we shared wine and water, and stayed for coffee and “digestivi.” I will say though, that what made the evening even more enjoyable was the people seated at the next table. To call them “colorful” would be an understatement. They were British, and seemed to me to have stepped out of an E.M. Forster or Henry James novel. And their dogs…

Back to the room we went, well fed and highly entertained.

Tuesday, 4 June. After breakfast, we took the vaporetto to the Accademia Museum. This is our 4th visit to Venice, but we’ve never found the time to visit the Accademia, so it was high on my “must see” list this time. The museum is great, of course, but I only lasted a couple of hours (vision problems.) Another reason to return to Venice!

We had hoped to find a restaurant nearby that we had enjoyed on our 2022 visit, and after a false start or two, there it was! La Rivista, Rio Terá Foscarini 979/a, in Dorsoduro. The food was very good, as before. I had the grilled chicken breast, which was surprisingly tasty, (I don’t really like chicken breast; yes, I ordered it, I don’t remember why) and Stan had an excellent – and generously portioned - grilled sea bream.

After lunch we wandered around the Dorsoduro for a while. We dropped into the Santa Maria del Rosario church, where we bought Chorus Passes. The Chorus Pass is great – it provides free entrance to many churches in Venice, the point of which is to enjoy the wonderful art. The 12€ fee allows entry into 18 different churches, and is good for a full year.

We made our way back to the hotel, and rested for the remainder of the afternoon. Stan had been wanting to have a drink on St Mark’s Square, however, so before dinner we headed over there. It was actually rather freaky to be there with no crowd. Oddly enough, once we were there Stan decided to skip the drink, perhaps because we were mildly harassed by a fellow trying to convince him to buy me a rose. It was annoying, and did take some of the pleasure out of our evening.

We took the vaporetto back to our own neighborhood for dinner, ending up back at Mura San Stae, just around the corner from our hotel. We shared a scallop and artichoke risotto, as well as the house white, a soave, if I remember correctly. And in spite of the generous portions all day, Stan managed to down some chocolate cake.

Wednesday, 5 June. We had breakfast earlier than usual to meet Michael from Venicescapes again. He felt we had been shortchanged, because we had not been able to spend enough time at two of the stops on his “City of Nations” tour, and arranged to meet us on his day off. He took us the the Greek Church of St. George, where we learned a lot about the creation and display of icons. We also decided that on our next visit to Venice, we would take one of his art oriented tours. I can’t wait!

Since we’re leaving Friday, we wanted to start checking items off the Chorus Pass. We started with San Sebastiano in Dorsoduro, which had some great artworks, especially by Veronese. Oh, and the vaporetto ride there was great, crossing the Giudecca Canal twice. We had lunch at a tiny trattoria nearby, whose name I didn’t get, where we enjoyed a very good tuna salad and an antipasto platter.

After a break for me to try to get caught up on emails and other social media responsibilities, we went back out to explore our own sistiere, Santa Croce. We spent several hours wandering the back lanes, finally ending up for a light meal at Trattoria al Ponte del Megio, fairly close to our hotel. I had a local specialty, bigoli con salsa, tasty but very salty (lots of anchovies!), while Stan had ravioli tartufo – pasta stuffed with fish, served in a shrimp sauce. And Stan managed to find gelato on the way home.

Thursday, 6 July. Our last full day in Venice! We wanted to hit as many of the churches on the Chorus Pass that we could, while still taking enough time to enjoy and appreciate the art and architecture. We visited Santa Maria del Giglio, Santo Stefano, and San Giovanni Elemosinario all before lunch. All were lovely, and all were definitely worth a return visit. Next time!

For lunch we returned to the nearby Anticha Birreria on Campo San Polo. Stan had the duck bottoni again, while I had “eliche,” a pasta with tiny shrimp. Then we managed a few more Chorus churches, San Polo and San Stae. Back to the hotel to pay for our stay, and get ready for our departure tomorrow.

Our last dinner was, of course, at Osteria Mocenigo, our favorite Venice restaurant. Stan couldn’t pass up the great tuna steak, and I enjoyed fritto misto (fried seafood) with polenta. We spent the rest of the daylight time wandering the neighborhood, already reminiscing about our wonderful stay. Back to the room to pack and enjoy a last glass of wine on our balcony.

Friday, 7 June. I can never sleep well the night before traveling, and this was no exception. We got up early, tried to relax over breakfast, then gave up and took the vaporetto to the train station. We had coffee at a station bar, waiting for our Frecciarossa to Florence.

I may have some final comments on our stay in Venice later; I will say a week was certainly not too long; we would easily have enjoyed spending even more time, but had decided that it had been too long since we had spent more than a day or two in Florence, and we only had 2 weeks between tours.

I will say that should we be so fortunate as to return yet again, we will spend at least a week, and will sign up for another Venicescapes tour!

We spent two weeks in Venice one time and had no problems filling our days. We did take a few day trips, the favorite one was Bassano del Grappa.
Another trip to Italy was focused entirely on the Veneto , without Venice.

I enjoyed reading your report very much. We spent 4 nights in Venice in 2021. We know we have to return! Maybe next year!

Jane, thank you! We’ll be heading back to Venice next September…our fourth visit…and really appreciate your thoughts on restaurants and places to visit. You’ve given us new places to “bookmark”!

Such a lovely descriptive report…thank you!
I’ve stayed in Venice 6 times, and never get tired of it.
The time before last was for 14 days…….still not long enough!
I love the seafood there…..

This report was the next best thing to being there. Thank you for posting!

Loved following along with you and Stan, Jane! Thank you for this travel report and all your many others. The Travel forum is that much better because of you!

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. And Luv2Travel, how sweet! I love this Forum, have learned so much, and have made good friends. I'm glad to pay it back when I can.

Great report, Jane. I went to bookmark Osteria Mocenigo and it was already there from your last report, along with Muro San Stae, with the note "Jane from RS rec." Guess I know where I'll be eating in March.

Mary, I was joking to someone the other day that our 2024 Venice trip was so similar to the one from 2022 that I could have cheated and reposted the old trip report!

But I didn't - a few new experiences, and a longer stay made some difference. Still the same favorite hotel and eateries, though, for the most part.

Jane, great report! As you know we will be there, wait, let me check my countdown app……40 days! So definitely taking notes. I wish we had a full week, but we have 4 nights. It’s been 40 years since I was last there and my DH has never been. Can’t wait!
Have you ever been to the Peggy Guggenheim museum?

Tammy, I think we've been to an exhibit in the Guggenheim garden years ago, but not the collection itself. We'll get there, eventually; after all, this year was our first visit to the Accademia, and our first time for Correr and the Doge's Palace were on one of the last days of our 2022 visit.

I'd love to stay at least 10 days in Venice next time. Not likely though, but a girl can dream!

Jane! Thank you so much for your excellent Trip Report! My mouth just waters when you talk about your food. Stan's little seafood stuffed pasta sounds wonderful, even to a vegan, hahahaha!

You make me want to go spend time in Venice!

Pam, isn't that the point of Trip Reports? Lol.

And writing it made me want to return, as soon as possible.