We enjoyed a beautiful, calm 7 1/2 motor sail over to Venice from Novigrad. We had great winds and a helpful current to help us race across. After hanging out in the very busy channels of the area, we were escorted by a marina dinghy to where our berth would be on the island of Certosa (pronounced “Cher-toza”) at the Marina Vento di Venezia. It was an interesting experience navigating through these narrow channels to our final resting spot along a shallow side dock.
We explored Certosa which consisted essentially of the marina, its nice new bathrooms, one fancy restaurant and a pontoon that we would visit often to catch a water bus into Venice proper. The experience of taking water buses and water taxies to get anywhere was quite novel, and everyone seemed to get a kick out of them.
Our first night we ventured over to the Castello district of Venice (one of six districts – see map here) for dinner, per the suggestion of our marina staff. It is a lovely neighborhood area with a row of nice restaurants that is much less touristy than the main San Marco district. It also contains the Arsenale, several churches, and a beautiful garden area (simply called “the garden” by locals). By the end of our stay, this had become my and Conor’s favorite part of the town, and I think we ate dinner over here all but one night. Definitely recommend!
The “fun” part of our Certosa location was that the water buses quit running there around 8pm. That was a bummer if you wanted to be eating dinner out. Our marina did offer a free water taxi service, though, which was great. However, it only began at 9pm and from the furthest tip of Castello (just across the channel the our marina). Normally, this would be a lovely walk through the aforementioned garden, however, tromping through crazy storms every night and getting soaked was a bit less fun. It did provide for good stories and good laughs, though.
Our first full day, the young adults and I ventured by water bus out to the island of Murano. Conor had to stay behind as he had to navigate town to find the police station to get his whole crew checked in to Italy. He had his own adventure, while we enjoyed cruising around the streets of Murano admiring the amazing glasswork that it is known for. I know at least Laura, Rory and I love glasswork and could have spent forever perusing, especially all of the various craftsmen galleries. This day was made more adventuresome for everyone due to more crazy storms that blew through the day. Totally wild!
We all met back on Sabática that afternoon when Ty and Kyle made their departure. Unfortunately, they were going to have to make their own way to the police station the next morning with their passports in hand to become official. Long story. The remaining five of us headed into Venice for an amazing pizza dinner at 1000 Gourmet. It was even worth waiting outside in the rain for.
For our second day in Venice we simply started in the famous St Marks square and walked all over the San Marco district seeing the popular sites and then doing what you do best in Venice – simply getting “lost” among its many winding streets and canals.
In the afternoon, the young adults and I joined another GuruWalking tour to explore the San Palo district. We ended up with an interesting tour guide who mostly liked to tell stories of Venice past that you likely would not hear otherwise. We learned all about the maintenance of buildings along the canals, the old red light district, the outlandish practice of women dying their hair when Northern Europeans began reaching Venice, the reasons behind all the Venetian masks, as well as a tip on how to take a 2 Euro ride on a gondola (as a ferry across the Grand Canal) instead of a regular 80 Euro gondola ride. We also learned that Venice has its own version of tapas (ciccheti) along with happy hour. Apparently, locals go out for dinner at 8pm and prior to that you have aperitifs and ciccheti at a bàcaro (wine cellar/bar).
After our tour, we made our way to the old Jewish Ghetto area, but our timing was poor. It was Friday evening so everything was shutting down for Shabbat. It happened to be a great area full of bàcari, but we couldn’t find an empty table to be had anywhere. Dejected, we went in search of a dinner restaurant and found a great place in the Santa Croce area – Osteria Da Poggi. Conor met us there when his work meetings were over. A wonderful meal, fabulous waiter, and great way to end our stay in Venice before leaving early the next morning.
Conor and I had visited Venice briefly about 19 years before. It was more a very tourist memory, so this trip vastly improved our impression. We greatly enjoyed the city, especially the more off-the-beaten-track areas, and could definitely spend more time here. So much history, culture, sense of artistry, great food, and warm people.
Sailing Sabática 
Pictures are absolutely adorable ❤
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Now I’m dying to know the inside story: “ the outlandish practice of women dying their hair when Northern Europeans began reaching Venice, the reasons behind all the Venetian masks”???
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My post was already quite long, so I didn’t embellish. 😉
But to answer your questions… MASKS: There were three reasons masks came to be used widely in Venice – 1) theater, 2) the plague, and 3) Carnival. Beginning in the 16th century, professional theater began in Italy and masks were how the characters were distinguished. In the 14th century, the bubonic plague hit Venice particularly hard, and the iconic beaked masks were shaped as such to hold herbs and flowers to filter the air and cover up the horrible smells. They were more likely effective as sanitation devices much like we’ve learned through our own pandemic. 😉 Finally, Carnival celebrations began likely back in the 13th century. They often ran for several months leading up to Lent and was the only time that different social classes mixed together and partook in all sorts of debauchery. Thus, the masks were to hide each other’s identities. At some point they didn’t do that very effectively, but became more of a sign that “what goes on during Carnival, stays in Carnival.” 😉
HAIR: In Renaissance Venice, women wanted to be attractive to the visiting Northern Europeans so felt they needed to dye their dark hair blond. They would climb to the top of these particular structures (I’ve forgotten the name) on the top of buildings to have maximum sunshine. These structures were initially used to vent kitchen steam as well as dry laundry. To actually do the dying, the women would use urine and the sun. Yuck. Turns out with their dark hair, they usually became redheads instead of blonds. And you can see many pictures/paintings of Venetian redheads!
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Thank you! We love it when guides teach us these histories which tell is how daily life was in the past in the places we visit.
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Your blog is so fun to read. I enjoyed every word and photo while drinking my Sunday morning coffee. Keep up the great reporting.
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Thanks for reading, Carrie! You’re very kind. 😉
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What a great adventure! We loved Murano…it poured rain when we were there too😂. Any pizza in Italy is worth waiting for, even in the rain👍 How long are the kids staying with you? I thought Laura had gone back to the states (white coat post)…so wonderful to share all of this with your family! We can’t wait to do it!!! Cheers!
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We had the kids with us for three great weeks. 🙂 Yep, Laura is back in Cleveland. I’m still playing catch up with the blog. 😉
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A fun read, with great pictures!!
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