We stayed a couple of days longer at our "villa" near the town of Bagnoregio than we had originally intended, but we had to be out by Monday at 9:00am as other people were coming in for the week. Saturday we explored the ancient hilltown of Civita Bagnoregio, which is very close to where we were staying, and Sunday we went to Rome for another day. I'll talk about these visits later.
Monday morning (Oct 31st) we were up and at-em early and said goodbye to our amiable hosts Malcom and Guilia. Found the autostrada and charged on up to Venice, about a 3-4 hour drive as I remember it.
The plan was this: Geri and Ann would stay at the Pensione Guerrato, where we all had stayed when we first arrived in Venice, and Therese and I would stay in a B&B 15-20kms outside of Venice for the night of the 31st. The next day, Ann and Geri, after spending time in Venice, would head out to the airport and get a room at a hotel close-by, as their flights both left fairly early in the morning and they wanted to be able to get to the airport quickly. There was no room at the P.G. for us the night of the 31st, so I had made a last-minute reservation at the aforementioned B&B. We would then come down to Venice and stay at the Pensione the night of the 1st as our plane didn't leave until 9:27am.
Dropped the two off at the airport and they took a bus into Venice. We then began the formidable job of finding our B&B. We had directions in a file on my laptop, but out of sheer stupidity I had neglected to write down the phone #. It was in an email, but of course I couldn't get on the internet at this time. The place was in the boonies, so to speak, but after consulting a detailed map of the area in an autostrada rest stop, the directions came together and we found the place soon afterwards. Charming, modern room in a small, non-tourist town and the young Italian woman running the place could not have been nicer or more pleasant as she explained everything about the room, about parking and taking a train to Venice, about where to eat locally. Our plan evolved thusly-- the next day (Nov 1st) we would check out and take the early train into Venice, leaving the car and most of our luggage in the train station parking lot. Upon arrival in Venice, we would check into the Pensione, leave what luggage we had there and do some sightseeing. The next morning, we would get up at 4:30am, catch the 5:38am vaporetto to the train station, board the 6:09am train back to our car, drive to the airport, return the car, and catch the 9:27am flight.
Things had to go relatively smoothly to get everything done and make the plane, and as it turned out, they did.
So that night we had a great meal at Rosa Perla's restaurant and explored the little town where we were staying. Trick-or-treaters were out in force and we checked out the little church and bell tower at the other end of town. Very sweet and pleasant little slice of rural northern Italy.
The next day in Venice we left the hotel, took a short gondola ride across the Grand Canal and walked about a mile to the lagoon-front where we could grab a boat to Murano and Burano, little islands in the lagoon surrounding Venice. I had heard that Burano, about a 45 minute boat ride away, was a colorful little respite from the crowds in Venice. Every house is painted a different vibrant color, and the island has its own canals. It is known for lace-making. Murano is known for glass-making, but is supposed to be quite touristy as it is just a few minutes from Venice. Turns out the opposite was true. Burano, though quite charming and picturesque, was overrun with tourists and the food was expensive. Murano seemed quieter, but also charming. Some incredible, albeit expensive, glass decor in some of the stores. But also some nice lesser expensive stuff for the tourists in others.
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| Venice |
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| Venice |
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| Burano |
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| Burano |
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| Burano |
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| Burano |
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| Burano |
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| Murano ghosts |
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| Murano |
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| Murano |
Took the boat back to shore, walked back to the hotel, rested a while, ate dinner at the place where we first ate when we arrived in Venice (there's a story to this, more later), and then took a 1/2-1 hour evening vaporetto ride down the canals and back, as we had a12-hour pass. Very pleasant and a nice way to say good-bye to the city.
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