After a quick breakfast, a skype call to Peg & Al and check on the tortoises, we headed off for Siena - just over an hour's drive away. On the way, in the middle of nowhere, a black cat crossed the road in front of us. Now I'm not superstitious in any way, but...
We found our way into Siena, and I was looking for a parking area, but Jane said we were still 2km from the centre of town, so we decided to keep going. We suddenly realised that we'd crossed over the "traffico limitato" line, but to cut a long story short, we found a parking bay that was still almost 1km from "centro" and I've spent the last half hour or so trying to make an online payment of an 80 euro parking fine!!
Anyway, we walked up a long but gentle hill, along a narrow curved road completely lined with ancient buildings, then under a couple of archways and stepped into the Piazza del Campo. Wow! What a sight. It is absolutely amazing - so enormous and regarded as Italy's loveliest piazza - and I think we would have to concur with that view. Work commenced on laying the beautiful brick paving in 1327 and apparently took 22 years to complete!
And they have a bare-back horse race (called the "Sienese Palio") around the edge of the piazza on the 2nd July and 16th August every year, with 10 "jockeys" from different districts of Siena (wearing their district colours). They've been running this race for a bit longer than we've had the Melbourne Cup - since at least 1283! There are photos of the August race everywhere around town and we found it very amusing to watch a youtube clip after we arrived back at our cottage later this afternoon. So glad we were there today and not when the race was run!
After coffee (the most expensive we've had since arriving in Europe) and a leisurely walk around the Campo, we walked up a couple of narrow and steep alleyways to the magnificent Duomo (cathedral) - also set in a beautiful piazza - before having a latish lunch around the corner sitting outside at a little trattoria. And then another long stroll through what must be a such tiny part of the town, back to our car which by then had been decorated with a pretty pink ticket.
We drove back home via the area called Crete Senesi, known as the Tuscan desert because it is almost completely barren - just spectacular rolling hills as far as the eye can see, with isolated farm houses here and there. It is breathtakingly beautiful. I was looking forward to seeing all of the sheep (responsible for pecorino cheese) and all of the shepherds who look after them, as described in our "Italy" book - but the only non-human beings we saw were 2 colourful pheasants in 2 separate fields who squawked and headed for cover when they realised that we were close by, and a few geese and chickens in a village backyard.
When we were in Piedmont, I saw halloween-related items in shop windows and asked our host, Marina, and her sister-in-law Bruna, if Halloween is celebrated in Italy. They said that it is and they both were of the strong opinion that is is "una brutta festa" (a bad celebration) and I agreed with them completely. Tonight, after we arrived home, we could hear what sounded like gunshots in "our" park across the road, and of course it was teenagers with some sort of very loud fireworks being a bit silly.
We headed off down the main street of Cortona for dinner, and there were so many people, both children and adults, dressed in macabre costumes. We headed off to the elegant restaurant we both loved so much on Tuesday night - to get a booking for tomorrow night if possible, or otherwise to go there tonight - and all of the staff were dressed as draculas or witches!! Anyway, they were completely booked out for tonight and tomorrow night and I must admit that I was quite happy about that.
We finally headed down (and I mean down at about 45 degrees) a narrow lane into a cosy pizzeria/ristorante, for a delicious dinner of mixed antipasti (different salamis and cold meats, pickles, cheese, grilled vegetables, melon and different types of freshly cooked croquets), some perfectly grilled sirloin topped with whole peppercorns and rosemary, a mixed salad, a good bottle of local red wine and coffee - all very simple, very inexpensive and just what we were looking for. Then back out into the streets where all was quiet.
But as we approached "our" park, there was another loud explosion and we saw a mob of about 15 teenagers, all wearing white masks walking towards us. Then a youngish well-dressed couple came walking up the hill heading out for dinner, and then a motorbike and a few cars went past and we were easily able to slip into our little garden sanctuary. Marina and Bruna were absolutely right - what una brutta festa - and such a shame that it is celebrated in this beautiful part of the world.
Black cats and Halloween - what a load of nonsense (I think)!
The breakfast that Brian prepared this morning was fabulous as usual and included "spremuta" (freshly squeezed juice) of clementine oranges. Today has been a special birthday for our son-in-law, Mark, and we decided to spend some time around our cottage this morning in the hope that we might be able to speak with him via skype or mobile phone when he arrived home from work. We sat in the garden, in beautiful sunshine, with the tortoises and 2 cats, and caught up on a bit of reading, and finally were able to catch the whole family on speaker phone, on a bad line unfortunately, for just a short time as they drove to an Italian restaurant in West Perth.
After our big day yesterday, we chose to have a quiet day in Cortona today. We walked up our street, past the park and bumped into a large group of Franciscan monks who were on their way to the church located a few metres from our cottage. There were a lot of buon giornos exchanged with the locals and we could clearly hear a broad American accent in the middle of the bunch (not sure of the collective noun for monks).
We headed off down the main street and into the piazza to visit the greengrocer, post office, the butcher (for some veal scallopini which was cut using one of those meat slicers usually found in delicatessens), the bakery, the little alimentari, the wine shop and then finally a pasticceria for coffee and una pasta (the coffee was great - the pastry not as good as those we've had elsewhere) and on the way home, a gelateria for "un piccolo cono" of cherry icecream which was sensational. Oh I will have to spend so many hours at the gym when we get home!
Then back home to put all of our groceries away, spend a bit more time in the garden, have a lovely skype conversation with Peg & Al, and then an afternoon rest before heading off into town again - but this time for some serious shopping. We went in and out of many of the little shops we've been admiring - buying a few more souvenirs and gifts as we went - a bag shop, paper shop, bookshop, art gallery, clothing shop etc etc - and explored some of the little streets we'd not visited before. Cortona is such a beautiful town.
And then we bumped into a large group of nuns - all wearing the traditional long black habits - who were also heading off to "our" church. Many of them looked so young and it was lovely to watch them walking down the main street in front of us, doing a bit of window shopping as they went, in the windows of some of those beautiful little shops we'd just visited.
Then back home for a pre-dinner glass of pinot griggio with some thin slices of fabulous wild boar salami and a backgammon tournament before I made dinner in our little kitchen - fresh pappardelle (Brian's favourite pasta) topped with some porcini mushrooms, Scaloppini al Vino Rosso, a tossed salad and fresh bread. Plus a couple of glasses of the Vino Nobile that we bought yesterday - with a special toast to Mark.
"Our" church has obviously been very busy today and the bells have been ringing much more than we've heard on other days. They must have had a special occasion in their family today too.
After Skype conversations with Jonah and then Peg & Al, and a quick search of the garden for the tortoises (they were "curled" up together in a corner), we set off at about 10:30 to visit 3 nearby hilltop towns - Montepulciano, Pienza and Montalcino.
Our Italy book showed that we had about a 100km round trip, and I expected that we would be back home by 4:30.
The views today were absolutely spectacular - views that could only be Tuscany - neat fields of green, yellow and freshly ploughed brown, pencil pines, olive trees, oak trees, yellow houses with rust coloured tiled rooves (or roofs as younger generations say) - but not one farm animal in sight! I was expecting to see at least a few horses, cows, sheep or goats - but not a single one! Just a few spoilt designer dogs on leashes in the towns.
1. Montepulciano is one of the highest hilltop town in Tuscany. We parked in a carpark way up towards the top of the town, and then still had to walk up and up and up beautiful cobbled streets with amazing views over the countryside at every turn, and finally arrived in the main piazza which is spectacular - full of ancient, very large buildings. We sat at a cafe in the piazza for lunch - a crostini and a glass of the local Vino Nobile, followed by coffee - probably the worst lunch we've had on this trip - but in a magnificent setting. We then went in to the nearby wine centre where Brian tasted and then bought a bottle of some serious Vino Nobile - so much better than the wine we'd had with lunch.
2. Pienza is a much smaller town, but still with the same cobbled streets and amazing views over the valleys below. Pope Pius the second redesigned the centre of town in the 15th century to include a cathedral and a papal palace (both very beautiful) and then proceeded to rename the town after himself!! The main piazza reminded me of Piazza della Signoria in Florence - though it is about a tenth of the size - with a beautiful loggia containing only one sculpture which we both loved. It is of a life-sized man and a woman, both on horseback and looks so beautiful, and it's only when you get close to it that you realise that the full-sized horses are only about half a metre long.
3. Montalcino is set on a hill, in the middle of beautiful vineyards and breath-takingly beautiful valleys that are part of the Val d'Orcia, and it is the centre of the famous Brunello wines. We could make out the silhouettes of several towers and church steeples in what looked like a very spread-out and beautiful town and Brian read the screed from our "Italy" book as we approached - including the part about a 14th century fortessa (castle) with impressive ramparts which now houses an enoteca (wine shop) where Brunello wines can be sampled and bought.
We followed Jane's directions as we climbed higher into the town, and she told me to go straight ahead but there was a parking sign pointing to the right and I followed that (much to Brian's horror). And in the little parking area, there was only one remaining bay, so I took that too. And a few metres to our right was that bloody fortessa (I hope Ash & Mila don't read this)! So I'm afraid to report that I have no idea what the town of Montalcino is like - but the castle is fantastic and Brian is now the proud owner of a dozen fabulous Brunello wines which will be delivered to Subi at some time in the next few months!
Now that daylight saving has ended, it becomes dark very early in Italy, and by the time we left Montalcino at about 5, the sun had almost set. So a very long, slow drive home in the dark, along pretty ordinary roads and through pretty ordinary looking towns to arrive back at our exquisite hilltop town of Cortona at about 6:30. And then this evening, after a quick skype call to Wilma & Gary, we walked up to another restaurant recommended by our landlord, Osteria del Teatro - and it too was packed. We were given some little pieces of toast drizzled with very new green and peppery olive oil, then Brian had what looked like a sirloin steak but was very tender, and I had duck breast - both pan fried to perfection and thinly sliced, served with beautiful accompaniments, and we shared a large onion that I would guess had been baked slowly (very caramalised) and a bowl of salad, and we each had a glass of a 2008 Brunello. Buonissimo! Such a fantastic way to finish our fabulous day in Tuscany.
After a quick breakfast in our cottage, we headed off for the town of Foiano Della Chiana, about 20km away, for their Monday market. It's a small town with beautiful Tuscan architecture and we were able to park within about 200 metres of the market piazza. We bought the normal tomatoes and grapes, plus salad vegies, pears and a huge bag of clementine oranges, and then wondered around the lovely old town centre, stopping for a bit of food shopping and coffee in a small bar/cafe in the main piazza.
The drive back home, through olive groves, corn fields and tiny villages was beautiful - and we could see Cortona in the distance much of the time. The silhouette of Santa Margherita (where we walked yesterday) was clearly visible and it didn't seem to be all that high up really!
As soon as we entered our garden, I went looking for the tortoise (I had read about him on the internet and found him yesterday) and he must have realised that we had been to the market because he started walking towards me and my bag of goodies. I offered him some pieces of lettuce but he just walked over them and kept heading closer, so I tried a little piece of tomato - and he went crazy - absolutely loved it. Then a piece of Sicilian grape - loved that too. He is a gorgeous little thing - about the size of a rockmelon.
Brian made some coffee with a platter of fruit, cheese and mortadella and and we sat in the garden, in lovely sunshine, for a couple of hours. Brian brought his diary up to date while I read and entertained a beautiful black cat who visited for a short time, and then I heard rustling in the garden next to me. At first I couldn't see what was making the noise, and then there it was - a much smaller version of the tortoise I'd fed earlier (who by now was fast asleep in the sun with a tummy full of tomatoes and grapes). Anyway the little tortoise is very sweet and loves tomatoes and grapes too - not keen on clementines though.
Later in the afternoon, we strolled around our beautiful town, discovering more shops, restaurants and bars, and bought some bread and a fabulous nocciola (hazelnut) gelato - the best I've had so far on this trip.
Today when we were at Foiano Della Chiana, I bought, from the deli section of an alimentari (little supermarket), a container of "anchovies with pesto" which I thought would be perfect with some fresh pasta tonight. It looked fabulous. Brian made a big bowl of salad, we had some reasonably good bread and lovely Italian butter, I cooked the pasta and gently heated the anchovies (they looked and smelt delicious) and tossed them in the drained pasta - and it was awful!!!
The anchovies weren't like the gentle Spanish and Portuguese ones we buy at home - they had a very strong, fishy taste and contained a lot of little bones - such a disappointment - and such a waste of beautiful pasta. Definitely going to be a restaurant dinner tomorrow night.
When our landlord introduced us to the cottage, he gave us a fantastic booklet of useful information - contact phone numbers, where to find and operate things in the cottage, his recommendations for cafes, bars and restaurants, things to see in the village, day trips etc and a "nice 1 hour walk" to circumnavigate the main village - which we chose as the main focus of today's activities.
We started by having coffee and croissants for brunch at a fabulous "funky" bar called the "Tuscher Bar" (one of the landlord's recommendations) in the main street and only a couple of hundred metres from our front door - and it was great (I'm looking forward to having an aperitif or two there at some stage). We strolled back through town, in and out of the shops, and then back home after a walk in a very small part of the the hillside park located right opposite our cottage.
Then a lovely skype conversation with Sig & Mark - during which we noticed that the time on the skype screen was different from the time on our watches. A quick investigation via google a bit later revealed that daylight saving was switched off (or on?) in Europe overnight and we had gained an extra hour! No wonder everyone was having breakfast so late in town this morning! After another skype call to Peg & Al, we set off for our 1 hour walk around the village.
First, a walk through the park that we had visited earlier - but this time all the way to the end. The park is unbelievably beautiful and unbelievably huge (long and narrow), with hundreds of deciduous trees, exquisite views of the Tuscan countryside - and probably some Umbrian countryside as well - and hardly any people in it. And at the end is a fancy clay court tennis centre which we walked around, and then started our climb - up and up and up a narrow winding road along the edge of the hill, past Frances Mayes house called Villa Bramasole (currently having the roof repaired) - cliffs going up as high as you can see on the left, and down as far as you can see on the right - and exquisite views everywhere.
And after an hour, we reached what we thought was the top of our walk, at a lovely bar with tables and chairs out on a terrace. As we walked in, an elegant young Italian couple were having lunch and had a little dog sitting under their table. We didn't speak to them, and they didn't speak to us, but their little dog went absolutely crazy. For some reason he was sure that he knew us and was so excited to see us again! He couldn't control himself and his owners had to release his leash so that he could talk to us. Anyway, after that we became best friends with the gorgeous couple and their little dog whose name is Bobby.
We had a glass of Italian beer each and a piece of pecorino cheese (as recommended by our landlord), Bobby wanted to sit with us, and when we left, the young couple both stood to shake our hands and wished us a "buona vacanza" and "buon viaggio".
So then back to our walk, which we soon discovered continued up a very, very steep hill to Santa Margherita church, where a service was about to commence and dozens of people were filing in. And finally, we began to walk downhill - on steep, steep winding cobbled streets and steep, steep sets of stone steps! My poor boy found it a bit tough going on his crook feet and knees, but we took it very carefully and slowly and finally arrived back at our cottage about 3 hours after we left! So much for the 1 hour walk. In fact we reckon that we probably achieved the equivalent of what Kerri & Oliver did in the Tough Mudder course on the weekend. Anyway it was fabulous and we both loved it. What a magnificent town Cortona is - so elegant, so well maintained and so exquisitely beautiful.
And then tonight we went to a restaurant recommended not only by our landlord, but also by the Michelin guide and every web site I could find - Ristorante La Bucaccia - where we were very lucky to get a table. Because it has such a good reputation, we decided to have an entree and a main course each, with some vegetables to share. They didn't seem to have a house wine, so Brian, with the help of the owner, chose a bottle of what is known as a Super Tuscan - this one was a cab sav merlot blend.
If only we'd been warned about the complimentary extras! First the owner brought us 2 little pieces of their homemade bread - topped with 2 different olive oils from the family farm, and then a little plate of sliced prosciutto from the family farm, and then a little board with pieces of unpasteurised sheep's cheese also from the family farm - and of course a basket of bread and grissini sticks. And then we had our 2 courses - we both started with homemade tagliattini with porcini mushrooms, Brian had a "trilogy" of wild boar (he called it 3 little pigs) and I had slow braised beef cheeks (cooked for 10 hours), and we shared grilled eggplant, zucchini, red peppers and carrot. And just as we were about to order coffee and ask for the bill, the waitress brought a huge jar of homemade biscuits full of dried fruit which she said are normally served at Christmas, and gave us one each, and the owner brought us 2 little glasses of some rich Tuscan red dessert wine! Then finally we had our coffee and went to the desk to pay the bill where we were presented with a Baci chocolate each and the owner wanted to give us a glass of grappa before we left!!
It was all fabulous and we walked home through the little town that was starting to close down for the night. And tomorrow? I think we might have to consider repeating that Tough Mudder course to burn up at least some of the calories we gained this evening.
This morning we walked through the busy Saturday morning market at Rialto Mercato and cruised through the mist on the Grand Canal to board our train for Florence. We were both sad to leave, as always, and there are still so many places that we had wanted to visit.
We had tickets on the new privately run, high-speed "Italo" train which has been operating for just over 12 months and it was fantastic. They have their own lounge at Venice station and the train was very new, very comfortable, with free wifi, lots of well-dressed professional cabin staff serving fantastic coffee etc and very fast - we cruised through the countryside at 300km/hr.
We arrived in Florence after only 2 hours and had to walk what was said to be a short distance to the Europcar rental office! After a bit of a false start, armed with my downloaded Michelin walking guide and map, and a visit to a nearby hotel to seek additional help (I told the concierge that we would stay there next time we're in Florence), we finally made it to Europcar at about 12:40. And guess what, as of 5 days ago, they now close at 12:30 on Saturdays instead of 4:00, and don't open again until Monday mornings! After several phone conversations and text messages with Frank, our ever-helpful travel agent, and lunch on the footpath at a swish, modern cafe nearby, we finally jumped into a taxi and collected our car from Florence airport.
Then a 2 hour drive to Cortona to meet our landlord and move into our beautiful cottage. The cottage is right in the middle of the action in this exquisite hillside village, we have a large cottage garden, 5 large rooms, all tastefully decorated with very solid antique furniture (no Ikea or Carrefour items here), lovely paintings, fantastic books, a romantic 4 poster-bed, beautiful linen etc etc. It could not be better.
I brought our copy of "Under the Tuscan Sun" with me, because it was written in Cortona, and Brian has been re-reading it over the last couple of days. Our landlord told us that the author, Frances Mayes, divides her time between here and San Francisco. We had parked our car outside our cottage to offload our luggage in a "no parking" bay with the hazard lights flashing. Our landlord left telling us that we'd better move our car fairly soon because the local constables could fine us, and while I was grabbing my handbag and changing my glasses, Brian stood by the car waiting for me. A well dressed American woman of about his age walked by and gave him the same advice about the need to move the car fairly promptly.
After we'd parked the car in a small carpark just down the hill, we walked about 100 metres from our cottage to the main street leading to the piazza to do a bit of food shopping and to book a restaurant for dinner - and sat at an outside cafe in the little piazza for some cold Italian beer. It is the most exquisite, elegant little town, with fantastic shops, galleries, bars and cafes everywhere and we cannot wait to explore the whole town tomorrow. We brought our shopping back to the cottage and did a bit of unpacking and I checked the internet for images of Frances Mayes - and Brian is certain that she is the woman who warned him about not parking for too long in the no-parking bay.
Our dinner was fabulous - home-made tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms, scallopini limone (reminded me of Sunday nights at the Capri in Freo), coffee and a jug of local red wine - served by a gorgeous middle-aged Italian waiter. And the only negative about Cortona? Everyone speaks English!! I order things in Italian - they seem to understand me perfectly but then answer me in English. I'm tempted to say that I don't understand English but I'm not yet at the stage to be able to pull that one off - maybe in another 3 years or so?
So back home where we sat in our living room, cuddled up on one of the sofas with a glass of wine each and watched the "Under the Tuscan Sun" dvd that was on the bookshelf. Beautiful images of Cortona, and some of Siena and Positano as well - but the movie? Absolute rubbish - unless you're interested in the scenery!
We decided to go to Gino's at Academia for breakfast this morning and were delighted to see that Friday's market was still being set up with boats everywhere, delivering all types of produce, and also that there was mist on the grand canal - something I have been hoping to see.
We spent a bit more time on the vaporetti than we had planned (caught the wrong one and ended up at the other end of the canal) and then walked miles and miles between San Toma and Rialto, then between Rialto and San Marco in and out of shops everywhere along the way, dropping in at "home" part way through to dispose of some shopping, have a bite of lunch, and to change into slightly less casual clothes, as well as having a delightful and very happy skype call to Peg & Al and Kerri, Oliver & Ozzie who were visiting them for dinner.
In summary, today's shopping covered:
1. More cheese and proscuitto crudo from our favourite cheese shop.
2. Pears, bright red tomatoes and Sicilian grapes from the market.
3. A few souvenirs for us.
4. Lots of little gifts for everyone at home.
5. Birthday presents for Kerri and Freya.
6. A beautiful gift from Brian to me - a necklace from the same jewellery shop where he bought me a bracelet 3 years ago.
And after all of that, we ended up at Harry's Bar which was absolutely packed and we sat upstairs at a tiny little table, where I had a Bellini to start followed by Tagliatelle all'Amatriciana and Brian had a Dry Martini followed by Pappardelle with Saffron and Bacon and we shared a small jug of red wine. Our waiter brought a complimentary dessert for us to share - a huge slice of lemon meringue pie - which neither of us felt like eating at all but managed to nibble away at just to be polite!
Then back home on the vaporetto in back-deck seats after a tiring but lovely day.
During the past week, we have spent so many hours waiting on the floating vaporetto stops and travelling on the vaporetti themselves, that I now have a perpetual sense of balancing on water. Wonder for how long that's going to last?
This morning we met Anka and Lincoln (Oscar decided to spend the day in town) on the other side of Rialto Bridge and had coffee at Academia before setting off for Burano - the little island of lace and fishermen. Our main reason for going there however was to have lunch at a michelin 1 star restaurant called "Venissa". After coffee, we headed to the southern side of Venice and had to catch the vaporetto to the northern side - and we obviously went the wrong way around because it took forever. Then a 30 minute wait for the next ferry to the islands, and a very long journey across the lagoon to Burano.
Our lunch booking was for 1:00pm and we finally arrived (after several phone calls to confirm that we were on our way and to get final directions) at about 1:30pm. The restaurant is very small, very modern and set in the most exquisite and huge walled garden - across a bridge from Burano without a single tourist in sight. Our table overlooked the garden which contains 1 hectare of grapevines - the last remaining vineyard in Venice - plus beautiful, healthy vegetable plots maintained by the local residents, from whom the restaurant sources most of its vegetables, beautiful trees, lawn and birds everywhere. It is heavenly.
There were 5 staff in the restaurant - 3 in the kitchen, a young woman waiting on our table and the maitre'd / sommelier - and we were the only diners. And what a lunch it was:
Complimentary starters: Creamy salted cod on a rich coffee reduction (looked like vegemite) topped with a soft, thin wafer containing pistachios - sensational.
Entree: Brian and I both had lasagnietti (3 layers of wafer thin, round pasta sheets about 5cm diameter made from a mix of ordinary flour and balotti bean flour) topped with finely chopped herbs from the garden and filled with clams and barlotti beans in a creamy sauce - it was absolutely delicious and tasted of the sea.
Mains: We all had Risotto with leeks and chopped razor clams, in a bright green stock, topped with leek butter and finely chopped walnuts. I've never had risotto like this before. The risotto was perfectly cooked of course and the chef told us she got the beautiful green colour by lightly cooking the green part of the leeks (the only leeks that we've seen here are very small - what we would call baby leeks) and then refreshing the leaves in iced water before pureeing and I assume, straining them. It was sensational - beautiful colours and textures combined with amazing aroma and taste.
Dessert: Lincoln and I both had camomile tea icecream (very gently flavoured) served on the softest lemon meringue (just a hint of lemon) with a bit of crumbled waffle-like biscuit - it was exquisite.
To drink: A bottle of white and a bottle of red which Lincoln chose with recommendations from the sommelier, and we all finished with espresso coffee.
The chef (Antonia Klugmann) came to chat with us before we left - she is a very young woman, very unassuming and friendly - and she has 1 of only 3 michelin starred restaurants in Venice (all just 1 star). What a fantastic way to finish our holiday together.
Then a leisurely walk through the gardens and back across the bridge to the little island village, jam-packed with tourists. Anka and I headed off to do some lace shopping while the boys went off to see the leaning tower. They obviously didn't spend much time there because Anka and I spotted them having a cold beer outside a little bar across the canal from us very soon after we parted company.
Back to Venice on the vaporetto, a walk to Anka & Lincoln's apartment to say our goodbyes, and a quick walk home to get ready for the opera! Then off again on the vaporetto to San Toma and a complicated journey through narrow streets and across little bridges to the Scuola Grande S. Giovanni Evangelista - an exquisite, huge old church that is now an opera house of sorts. We saw the complete opera of Tosca, performed on a small stage in front of what was once the alter, with 6 fabulous singers and an orchestra of 4! We had seats in the second row and it was fantastic (though we both thought a bigger orchestra was probably needed).
By the time we left, it was very dark and quiet everywhere, so we just followed the paths with the most lights and the most people and eventually found ourselves at the railway station! No idea how we got there but we did! Then back home absolutely exhausted. Another long but wonderful day!
This morning I set the alarm for 7:15 so that we could go down to watch the market being set up. I imagined that there would be boats everywhere offloading fish, fruit and vegetables and that the canal would be a hive of activity. However all but 1 boat had been offloaded, and the stall holders were finishing unpacking crates when we arrived. One of the stall holders who had everything unpacked said good morning to me and I asked him at what time he had arrived (all in Italian of course) and he answered "alle quattro" (at 4 o'clock)! I decided there and then that seeing the market being set up probably wouldn't be all that great.
Anyway the market looked fabulous and we jumped on a vaporetto full of workers and school kids, and headed to our coffee shop. It was lovely to be out at that time of the morning - no hawkers or beggers anywhere - and we saw Venice's only female gondolier working at the front of one of the traghetti (gondolas that ferry people from one side of the grand canal to the other) with passengers standing holding a brief case in one hand and checking their mobile phone with the other. I'm not sure who is the most skilful - the gondoliers or the passengers - probably the latter!
By then we were feeling quite sleep-deprived and went back to the apartment for a bit of rest before heading out again just after 12 for the Dorsodura walking tour that we failed to complete yesterday - but first a quick trip around the corner to our favourite restaurant in Venice (we first discovered it 5 years ago when we were here with Oliver and his and our mates James & Simon) to book for Friday night dinner - but they are completely booked out. Oh No! Can you fit us in now? A quick look around the restaurant by the owner and the only table available inside was in the reception area - perfect!
Lunch was very simple and sensational. A bottle of wine recommended by the owner, a plate of the most perfect home-made tagliatelle with scallops and porcini mushrooms, some bread and finally coffee. This restaurant, Antiche Carampane has lost nothing. It's name was taken from the name of the area in the 15th century (Carampane) when it was the red-light district. The bridge just at the side of the restaurant is called Ponte delle Tette (you can imagine what that means in Italian) where the girls were apparently encouraged to stand topless in an effort to convert gay men!
Then finally off to Dorsoduro. It is such a beautiful area - parts of which we have visited before, but many parts which we'd not seen, including the beautiful and peaceful formal garden behind Ca' Rezzonica - just a few metres from the grand canal. Dorsoduro is an area for Venetian residents more than tourists with lots of children everywhere and interesting, non-touristy shops. I popped into one of them to buy a birthday present for Jacqui and I think the world outside did a quick 180 degree turn causing us to step out of the shop and head off in exactly the wrong direction!
It took us so long to find our way home - on 2 separate vaporetti calling at Giudecca and having to disembark at San Marco etc etc - leaving us with very little time to get ourselves ready for our chamber music concert at Chiesa San Vidal on the other side of Academia Bridge. As it happened, the concert started half an hour later than expected and we managed to get front row seats (about 2 metres from the lead violin) in the old church to see and hear 8 musicians from Interpreti Veneziani playing 3 Vivaldi, 1 Bach and 1 Mendelssohn concerti, and an encore of one of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. What a magnificent way to end another fabulous day in Venice.
