Venicelink: Private and Shared Water Taxi Service in Venice
Mar 15, 2010 Instructions for Use
It’s always a quandary: How should we get to Venice from the airport? Bus and vaporetto combination? (Convenient, reasonable, slightly cumbersome depending on final arrival location.) Alilaguna waterbus? (Slower, cheaper, handy.) Taxi? (Expensive, private, faster, glamour.)
VeniceLink.com, run by the private Alilaguna water bus service, offers some convenient options that might help making those decisions a bit easier…and you can book online. For example:
- They offer the best price by far for a private water taxi for airport, Marittima cruise port, Piazzale Roma, train station, Lido, and Hilton transfers, and more.
- They also offer an AirportLink shared taxi option for even less (€27 per person one way, €50 round trip), as long as you are willing ride along as other passengers with different destinations are picked up or dropped off. (There is two person minimum.) That’s €25 per person to be delivered to the nearest stop to your destination, the same price as the Alilaguna line that’s direct to San Marco.
- You can book your slightly discounted Alilaguna waterbus tickets for transfers from Marco Polo airport online, for one-way or round trip.
VeniceLink also offers three-island excursions, which are not recommended. It’s impossible to see all these islands in one day, and if you insist, you’re better off buying a vaporetto pass and do it on your own time. (It’s much cheaper, and you won’t have anybody rushing you back on the boat.)
A small request: Make the lagoon happy and ask your taxi driver to please, slow down. He won’t…but at least you can let him know the health of the lagoon is important to you, yes?
Procession of the Magi, Torre dell’Orologio
Jan 4, 2010 Events & Offerings
If you’re in the city on Epiphany (Wednesday, January 6th) be sure to pass through the Piazza San Marco to view the Procession of the Magi at the Torre dell’Orologio. Every hour on the hour, the archangel Gabriele will appear triumphantly at the left door on the half circle above the clock and below the lion. Followed by three adoring Magi, he’ll proceed along the mechanized track in front of the Madonna, then reenter the clocktower on the opposite side.
The procession of the Magi occurs only on Epiphany and Ascension Day (which in 2010 will fall on May 13th).
You may also tour of the Torre dell’Orologio’s fascinating interior, €12 per person. To reserve, stop by the Museo Correr, call 041 520 9070 from Monday to Friday between 9 and 6 p.m., or for complete info see museiciviciveneziani.it.
Regata delle Befane: A Venice Epiphany Tradition
Jan 4, 2010 Events & Offerings
At 11 a.m. on Epiphany, Wednesday, January 6th, the 32nd annual Regata delle Befane will be held on the “Canalazzo,” the Grand Canal. This is not an official Comune sporting event, but rather annual festivity organized by the historic Cannotieri Bucintoro (a rowing club founded in 1882).
Just for the heck of it, five males over 55 will don haggy, witchy costumes to race their single-oared mascarete boats from the Palazzo Bilbo at San Tomà to the Rialto Bridge.
It will be worth bundling up against the cold to see these colorful, hefty befane (traditionally, the good-natured if plug-ugly witch who brings children gifts on Epiphany while sweeping up a bit with her broom) racing frantically up the canal. The mascareta, a small, light craft that unlike the classic gondola, has no bend to help it stay on course when being rowed by single oar. So for every forward stroke which propels the boat forward, a reverse stroke must be employed to hold the boat on course. Che fatica, how exhausting! But great fun.
Here’s the schedule for the regata and the festivities to which everyone is invited:
- 8:00 At the Magazzini del Sale, the Befane don their costumes
- 9.30 The rowers head up the Canal Grande.
- 10.30: Festivities begin on Riva del Vin at the Rialto (the San Polo side, below the bridge), with Venetian music, chocolate and vin brulè for all, and a candy-toss from the giant stocking hanging from the bridge.
- 11.00: The regata departs from the Palazzo Balbi at San Tomà.
- 11.15: Estimated finish at the Rialto
- 11.45: Coronation of winning Befana 2010.
The Epiphany is the Day of the Befana in Italy – and in Venice, a regata is the only way to celebrate!
* photo courtesy e-venise.com
Tenuta Sella Wines at the Bistrot de Venise
Nov 12, 2009 Events & Offerings, Wine for all & all for wine
Sorry for the last minute announcement, but here’s the info, adapted from the Bistrot’s own description. There is a free tasting today, but these rare wines will also be offered at a special price for the next two weeks as well. If you’re in town and are any sort of a wine enthusiast, it’s a definite Don’t Miss. Location and map link are below.
GREAT WINES OF NORTHERN PIEDMONT AT THE BISTROT
TWO WEEKS WITH THE HISTORICAL “SELLA” ESTATES
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
4.00 p.m. – free admission
With the joint aim of promoting “Venice: Wine Capital” and to spread awareness and encourage tasting of their excellent, typical qualities, for two weeks the Bar and Restaurant of the Bistrot will be offering the wines of Northern Piedmont at a “flat rate” We invite you stop by and take advantage of this tasting opportunity.
The Sella family has been producing wine in the Lessona DOC area since 1671, making it one of the oldest Italian wineries still in operation. La Tenuta Sella has been dedicated to small-scale, high-quality production since its inception, and maintains its original artisan size still today. (Some wines are produced from high-quality, extremely low yield vines of over 80 years of age, for example.)
Sella is a producer of Lessona and Bramaterra DOC wines from a delimited area located about halfway between Torino and Milano, inching up toward the lakes and the Alps – far north of their more widely known Nebbiolo relations of Barolo and Barbaresco. This is instead the western part of a ring of extremely fine denominations that continue in the neighbouring Gattinara, Ghemme, and Boca.
Northern Piedmont is one of the three classic areas of Nebbiolo (called Spanna in this area, just to keep us confused.), along with Langa and Valtellina. Here the noble Nebbiolo vine is never monovarietal, but always alternated with rows of Vespolina, Croatina or Uva Rara varietals. For this reason, the Lessona and Bramaterra are made with a predominant base of Nebbiolo and lower percentages of these ancient local vines.
(If you spot a wine called “I Porfidi,” make sure not to pass it up…)
Bravo Le Bistrot!
Presentation by Gioacchino Sella and the oenologist Cristiano Garella
Coordinators: Giovanni Vazzoler and Sergio Fragiacomo
With the support of AIS, the Italian Wine Sommeliers’ Association – Venice
San Marco
Calle dei Fabbri 4685
Located halfway between
Campo San Luca and the
Piazza San Marco
Be sure to check their website for on-going event information at the Bistrot.
Venice means fish…but which is which?
Oct 21, 2009 Eating & Drinking Venice
Almost every travel guide will rightly advise you that for dining in Venice, don’t skip the fish. It’s good advice, and perhaps you’re coastal and are already familiar with the myriad of shapes and sizes seafood comes in: crustaceans, mollusks, and regular fish that range from pinky- to thigh-size.
But if you’re a landlubber or are simply more familiar with freshwater fish, I thought I’d run a series of short posts focusing on the fish and seafood waiting for you both on the menus in Venice and in the Rialto Market should you care to visit them before you consume them.
CANOCE: Mantis Shrimp
The first don’t-miss fish is a crustacean that has an official name of Pannocchia, but that is referred to in Venice as the canocia (in Rome and Tuscany, cicala di mare). The English nickname is Mantis Shrimp, referring to both its front appendages and the sweetness of its meat.
These canoce are from the high Adriatic, and so are generally smaller in size that those you might find fished from larger seas. In fact, all fish from this area are scaled to the Adriatic’s size. And according to some pescivendolo (fishmongers) are sweeter as a result. I’m staying out of that argument, however.
At the market, all the canoce’s undersea defenses are easily identifiable: the fake eyes on the tail, the front legs poised to strike, and a shell that’s pointy from stem to stearn.
Canoce are often served as part of an antipasto (but can take part in many a seafood dish, including risotto). Although they’ll be unarmed by the time they reach your plate, you’ll still need some technique to extract the meat from the remaining shell. For best results, hold the tail with your knife, and strip the meat from the bottom shell with your fork (or vice versa). It should separate easily, but if not, don’t hesitate to ask your server for a demonstration. (In the photo, the canoce is on the lower right.)
So, if they’re indeed in season, don’t let your unfamiliarity with the canoce’s looks or name stop you from ordering these tasty morsels…you’ve come too far for that!
Taste Wines of the Colli Euganei – Gratis
Oct 13, 2009 Events & Offerings, Wine for all & all for wine
Taste the wines of fifteen producers from the Colli Euganei
at the sumptuous Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista
Monday, 26 october, from 2 p.m. til 7:30 p.m.
This is what one might refer to as un’occasione. In an effort to let enthusiasts get a real sense of the wines produced in thsi Veneto zona DOC, fifteen producers from the Colli Euganei are gathering in the beautiful Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista (c. 1251) next Monday afternoon. If you’re in town, and you’re at all interested in wine, please do stop by.
What to expect?
The Colli (hills) Euganei region lies south and just east of Padova, and is formed roughly by a triangle of the three towns of Vo, Torreglia, and Arqua Petrarca (a lovely stop if your winding your way through the Veneto, by the way). The wines are young, a mix of spumante and still, red and white, dry and sweet. The whites are pleasing, fresh, and aromatic; the reds structured but not imposing. You’ll find varietals you know, like Chardonnay, Riesling (Italico), Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and others you may be less familiar with:
- Pinello (recent white, fresh, dry, still or spumante)
- Serprino (similar to Prosecco)
- Tocai Italico
- Cabernet Franc
The Bianco DOC may consist of any or all of the white varietals in specified percentages; the Rosso DOC will combine reds that may even include Barbera. Look for the fresh spumanti like Fior d’Arancio, a famed moscato giallo, whose sweetness is balanced by a fresh acidity and an exploding bouquet, and the rarer Moscato Rosso di Parenzo, a red aromatic that you must try should it be offered.
You may also find less familiar ways of vinifying these wines, but do adventure there as well: some of the passiti, dessert wines fermented from what might be termed as raisins, with round concentrated fruit balanced by higher alcohol, yet still-fresh acidity.
The producers you’ll find are:
- Alla Costiera
- Ca’ Lustra
- Ca’ Orologio
- Castello di Lispida
- Colle Mattara
- Conte Emo Capodilista – La Montecchia
- Il Filò delle Vigne
- Il Mottolo
- Monteforche
- Montegrande
- Sengiari
- Vignalta
- Vigna Roda
- Vignale di Cecilia e Villa Sceriman
I do hope you can make it. Salute!
