As we exited the boat, the skies were clear and the sun shone beautifully on the canals and walkways. Shop after shop after shop of Murano glass. Murano glass has been produced on the island since 1291 when the Venetian Republic demanded that all glassblowing be moved to the island for fear of fire in Venice. By the 14th century, Murano's glassmakers were so well-known that they were allowed to marry into the most prominent families and they, themselves, became some of Venezia's most influential citizens.
Teeny, tiny glasswork. This and the work below were barely 2" high.
We definitely wanted to pick up some Murano glass but where do you start? So many different styles, so ungodly expensive, so delicate. We opted to purchase a couple souvenirs from a small shop where the woman was actually making all the glass herself. We walked a bit more then we hopped on the vaporetto and went back to Venezia to explore a little more. We hadn't yet visited any museums or anything, even though we paid a little extra on our vaporetto passes to do just that, so we decided to head back towards Piazza San Marco and find the Doge's Palace.
The Doge's Palace or Palazzo Ducale was the official residence of the Doge of Venezia who was the supreme ruler of the Venetian Republic. The Palazzo was started in the 8th century and, over the years, moved, expanded, destroyed by fire, rebuilt, destroyed again by fire, rebuilt better, occupied by Napoleon, then Austrian rule then back to Italy in 1866. Over that time, it has always been the seat of Venetian administration. Pretty cool place, I have to admit....we actually got lost in the prison and were getting a little frustrated trying to find the exit. Kinda cool though; while exploring through the prison, we stumbled upon a display of ancient graffiti that had been preserved from the prison walls. We found the ancient origins of Beavis and Butthead!!! We eventually found our way out of the prison and we decided that we were going to make our way towards the Zuppa di Pesce that we've been so craving!
On the way, it started to rain. We thought, "oh no, here we go again" but, this time, we were prepared with the ponchos that we bought when we did the Cinque Terre hike and ended up not needing them - we were happy that we had them and, luckily, the rain didn't last long. By the time we finally found Taverna San Trovaso, I was hungry, tired, my feet hurt and I was a tad grumpy so when we saw that they didn't open until 7PM, I was ready to just leave and grab some food at the store and head back to the apartment. Sandra, being the wise wifey-poo that she is, suggested that we have a drink at that packed little standing only wine bar down the block aways. I growled at her then acquiesced. She had a couple spritzes and I had a couple Birra Morettis and it's amazing how much my attitude changed after a couple beers. Obviously, that's exactly what I needed.
We had our reservations at the Taverna right at 7PM and were seated in the older, more rustic downstairs area and were attended to like we were Mr. And Mrs. Doge. The Zuppa di Pesce did not disappoint!! It was actually similar to when you order mussels in the states except that the broth had been simmering all day long and had fish and shrimp in it - all were cooked to perfection and the taste of the broth was pure salty, seafoody goodness! The soup and a bottle Paladin Malbech was a perfect food pairing match!
Satiated and a little buzzed, we made our way back to the apartment to call it an early night because we needed to be up at 3:30AM in order to catch our water taxi by 4:30 for our ride to the airport. Ciao!
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