As Lonely Planet says it ..
"Venice is Neptune's portico risen from the deep...but for how long?"
"Venezia, La Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, city of canals and palaces...or tawdry sewer alive with crowds and charlatans? Venice's nature is dual: water and land, long history and doubtful future, airy delicacy and dim melancholy. If this precious place does sink, the world will be the poorer."
Smitten .. yes! thats exactly what we were from the moment we landed at Treviso airport.
Bright sunny day, roads lined with greenish whitish olive trees, and button cute cafes .. radio in the public transport blaring " Radeo Venezia ..." .. Venice grew on us almost instantly. And we were yet to see the whole of it ..
Friends had warned us against NOT being lost in the winding streets near San Marco ..
" ... don't bother .. just lose yourself in the alleys there .. you will get the best gelato at a corner where you will finally give up !!! ... " was the common advise.
And did we follow it to the tee? Oh yes we did!
We were staying away from the main Venice city,on the lagoon island of Murano. Our hotel was a tiny little one tucked inside a residential lane with a lovely rooftop garden where we could have a quite dinner on a tiring day ( with a spicy arabiatta spaghetti and red vino ) while we heard the town clock toll and see the pigeons flutter into sunset ..
It was picture perfect! Cobbled streets, brick lanes, piazzas with stone benches and a ubiquitous stone fountain .. it was just like walking into a dream that too - back in time.
English was sparse there - to watch C trying to communicate with the locals - I fell in love with him all over again! :)
Cute cafes, cuter Italian owners in it :) and the homely little trattorias with tables lined against the tiny canals .. what else can one ask on a romatic trip ?
Food was heavenly in the most obscure corners of Venice, or the tiny lagoon islands we went to - Murano, Burano, Farro, Torcello - right from the antipasti to the dolce :)
And ofcourse generous amounts of vino with our meals and the classic cocktail Negroni of aperitif Campari -;)
A cool evening lighted near the Rialto Bridge - cozy little candle-lit table tucked near the canal with a view of Rialto - music found in gentle chugging of water and sensuous sounding Italian - and a glass of Negroni with the color of sunset dissolved in it - a perfect start to a perfect dinner - Pure Bliss - Contentment - Heaven!!
A fact we didn't know before was the Italian coffee - oh how we enjoyed drinking coffee there - for as small a sum as 1 euro - you get heavenly coffee in Italy almost everywhere!
After I had learnt my lesson with the tiny glass cup filled with acrid black coffee when we ordered Caffe (black strong coffee with a crema foam on top) - I preferred having an occassional Latte Macchiato ( steamed milk 'stained' with espresso) while C indulged in the Irish Coffee ( I'll call it whisky 'stained' with black coffee :D )
We soaked in the sun, mixed in the jostling crowds at San Marco, enjoyed the lonely walks in the lanes of colorful Burano and the lovely bricked walkways along the blue canals in Torcello, hopped onto traghetti and sat back and relaxed on a Gondola, payed visits to Museos and whiled sometime at cafes and bars - till we totally and fatally fell in love with Venice.
Venice was an experience for us - most romantic and most cherished.
