Venice - Wednesday, 5/17/17

After traveling all night we arrived at our hotel- the Hotel Paganelli at about noon, but our room was not ready yet so we shared a delicious Margherita pizza at the hotel's cafe. Finally getting up to our room about 1:00 in the afternoon and settled in for a much needed nap. We awoke about 5:30 to some magical late afternoon light on the lagoon.

We decided to explore a part of the city we've never been to before, so we turned left outside our hotel which brought us to the Castello district of Venice. For a while we just meandered down one street after another, getting lost just to see where we would end up. We seemed to be the only tourists in the area, and it was pleasant just to be away from the chaos of the San Marco area. We came to this one street, and it seems like Wednesday is official laundry day.

Our wanderings finally brought us to the Venice Arsenale, which had beautiful statues of Roman gods adorning the outside. My favorite was this depiction of Mars. I've read that it's absolutely beautiful here at night, so I hope to get back again before we leave.

All that wandering worked up an appetite. We found a wonderful little cafe to have dinner - La Nuova Perla. Probably the best meal I've ever had in Venice. We ordered a bottle of Prosecco to share, for an appetizer we had some delicious scallops covered in a blend of cheeses and baked, I ordered the ravioli with sage and poppy seeds in a white wine butter sauce, and Randy had the spaghetti topped with bacon. For dessert we shared a cannoli. This is where you say Mmmmmmm. :-)

It was a wonder first night in Venice. I'll leave you now with a lovely little canal scene. Ciao!