Venice, Verona, and Padova (Day 2)

Venice

Saturday morning, after buffet breakfast at our hotel in Padova, we took a bus to Venice, the town everyone has been looking forward to most, and one of the most well known. On our excursions so far, we have been very unlucky with the weather, as it seems to rain on just about every one of them, from Rome (all 3 days), Cinque Terre, Padova, and now Venice, and Verona. It makes for tradition now, because if we traveled somewhere, and it didn't rain, it just wouldn't feel right of course. Upon arrival in Venice, we took a ferry across the water to the main town of Venice, and had a guided walking tour, learning the history of the beautiful town. We were there on a Saturday, so there were mostly all tourists around, and later we found out not many people actually live in Venice anymore because the style of life gets extremely expensive since it is made up of all islands.

We had a break for a few hours and got to get lunch at a local place where I tried the traditional Venetian-style Cuttlefish and Polenta. I've seen cuttlefish on menus all over Italy, so thought I would give it a try. Well it was an eye-catcher to say the least. As you can see in the picture it looks everything by appetizing but after getting over the sight of it before I took each bite, it actually tasted very delicious. I'm not sure how to describe the fish because it doesn't seem very similar to anything I've had before, but I did learn that the reason it was black is because of the ink from the fish itself. I made everyone try it and they agreed it actually was very good (as long as you didn't look at it).

gondola ride

On the gondola on the grand canal

After lunch, we went to the black market where they had all hand-blown glass in every form and function as well as masks of all types. I knew that I wanted to get a mask and lots of blown glass, so I was on a mission. The 2 guys we were with bought gondola outfits and blended right in, with people coming up to them thinking they were legit. We were running out of time shopping, so we quickly bought a bottle of wine and found a spot to get on a gondola ride. We got to go down the small canals of Venice as well as the infamous grand canal.

We went back to Padova that evening, where we noticed a huge change in the livelihood of the town and activity around us. We found a food stand on the street which had the freshest seafood I've ever seen. We got shrimp skewers and scallops in their shell, topped with olive oil and pesto. It was, for sure, the best street food I've ever had, very different from our food stands in the states, consisting of hot dogs, burgers, and barbecue sandwiches.

We walked into the main square that night and saw men and women dressed up in medieval clothes, wondering what was going on. We got there while they were setting up and all of a sudden got pushed back with the crowd forming behind us, trying to use Italian to ask locals what we were in the middle of. We found out is was the celebration of Padova's past time, it was really neat to watch, with ladies on stilts, men on horses and throwing fire, and a fake execution. The town was so alive Saturday night, I was so glad we got to be there on such a great weekend.

celebration of Padova's past time 

Ciao,
Tarra