Italia Home Page Link

 

Day Six - Venezia or Bust


Our Path
Ponte di Rialto
Ponte di Rialto at Night
Ponte de Sospiri
Ponte de Sospiri at Night
(Click to Enlarge)

We were sad to leave the coast. A few more days would have been perfect, but were on our way once again, taking the bus back to Sorrento, then the train to Napoli. In Napoli, we had short wait for th next train, so we grabbed a beer at a tabacchi store at the station and watched Olympic Table Tennis.

The trip from Napoli to Bologna was a long one. I managed to sleep a good deal of the way, but even at that, it seemed to last forever. Fai read every word of a People magazine three times.

Once we finally arrived in Bologna, we switched trains and a few hours later, we chugged into Santa Lucia Stazione. It's quite surreal when you walk out of the train station and you're staring right at the Grand Canal.

Hotel Zecchini was only a few short blocks from the train station, an excellent location overall, as it would turn out. We checked in and then set out into the night.

We were both quite hungry and Fai was determined to get to a place where she had been with Monica and Elena that served a particluar pesto dish. We walked along the canal through the sestieris of Cannaregio, Castello, and into San Marco, where walked upon the Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge). For nearly 300 years, the only way to cross the Grand Canal by foot was the Rialto.

Continuing south, we followed the many signs that point toward Piazza San Marco. Just before the piazza, we found the Ponte de Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs). The story is Ponte se Sospiri earned its name by the sighs of prisoners seeing Venezia for the last time as the crossed over to their cells.

It took some seraching, but we finally found the ristorante and Fai enjoyed her pesto while I ate some pasta with tuna, and of course, the obligatory Nasto Azzurro, which was quickly becoming one of my favorite beers.

After dinner, we eneterd the piazza and saw the Basilica of San Marco and Doge's Palace. We enjoyed the scene atmosphere for a little while before heading back to the hotel on a vaporetto (water bus).

 

 

Day Seven

Day: OneTwoThreeFourFiveSixSevenEightNineTen      Italia