When it Italy..... food! Day 1 continued 09/21/19
After we relaxed a bit in the afternoon, we were ready for our first evening in Italy. I had planned a Food Tour. This is one of my favorite things to do in Europe, especially Italy! I always recommend it to my clients, especially if they can do it on their first night or two in their destination. It really brings the food and culture alive! We were meeting our group in a plaza by the Rialto Bridge, so we had a nice leisurely walk, taking more pictures of course!
Our guide showed up and there were about 10 people all together in our tour. We all introduced ourselves and started out on the tour. We decided to take care of coffee's and dessert early on because those shops close earlier than the other stops on the tour. Our guided didn't want us to have to rush, so we voted and were all good with dessert first.
One of the fun things about a food tour is not only tasting everything, but learning about the different food and drinks. We learned about what a macchiato is in Italy, and how it's not quite the same as the Starbucks version! Also about the translation of the different words for how to order the different types of coffee, and when they are typically ordered.
Next up we went to a little bakery and had some dessert samples with a nice dessert wine.
We had what was some of the best bites of Tiramisu here that Keith and I have ever had. It was amazing. We tried to stop back here later in our trip to get some more, only to find that yes, this shop does in fact close early! One day, on another trip to Venice, we will go back and get more of that Tiramisu! It was that good!
Our next stop was a bacari, or wine bar that offered cicchetti, which is basically small bites of food, similar to tapas, often served on bread like bruschetta. In many of these restaurants there is only one or two tables, so you often eat standing at the counter or outside standing out front. But the food is fabulous and they are incredibly popular! Cicchetti is popular for a pre-late dinner snack.
We each had about 4 or 5 different options to sample. The toppings ranged from meats and cheeses to fish and even a cheese with pistachio spread. They were all fantastic. The bacaro we stopped at was owned by twin brothers.
Our next stop was a Salumeria. A combination wine bar, chicchetti shop specializing in meats!
I can't believe I have no photos, but at this point we actually went and had a sit down meal. We had a homemade pasta and there was a fish dish as well as vegetables. I can't remember it all at this point, there was so much food. And wine. 😊
After our meal, we weren't done! We continued along. We zigged and we zagged and went through so many winding streets in Venice. We definitely were not going to the typical tourist type restaurants on this tour! Our next stop was an osteria. This is also like a bacaro, featuring cicchetti. Here we sampled fried tuna balls, like a meatball but made with tuna, and fried lasagna bites.
We were definitely wondering how we could eat one more bite at this point! But every Italian meal has to end with one thing... Gelato! So off we went,and boy did we walk to get there! This gelateria seemed to be on the other side of the island from where we were! But the walk was good after having eaten so much! We went to an authentic gelataria, one that makes their own gelato, not one that buys the gelato pre-made in bags. Everything is natural and it was good!
Keith and I shared one, Nutella and Mango. That did us in for the night! Our tour ended here and we had a nice walk back to our hotel. Tomorrow we would be boarding our ship for our cruise of the Greek Islands. This was a wonderful day in Venice! We would be back here after our cruise and we were looking forward to it even more after today!
The square where we waited to meet our group.
Our guide showed up and there were about 10 people all together in our tour. We all introduced ourselves and started out on the tour. We decided to take care of coffee's and dessert early on because those shops close earlier than the other stops on the tour. Our guided didn't want us to have to rush, so we voted and were all good with dessert first.
One of the fun things about a food tour is not only tasting everything, but learning about the different food and drinks. We learned about what a macchiato is in Italy, and how it's not quite the same as the Starbucks version! Also about the translation of the different words for how to order the different types of coffee, and when they are typically ordered.
Next up we went to a little bakery and had some dessert samples with a nice dessert wine.
We had what was some of the best bites of Tiramisu here that Keith and I have ever had. It was amazing. We tried to stop back here later in our trip to get some more, only to find that yes, this shop does in fact close early! One day, on another trip to Venice, we will go back and get more of that Tiramisu! It was that good!
Our next stop was a bacari, or wine bar that offered cicchetti, which is basically small bites of food, similar to tapas, often served on bread like bruschetta. In many of these restaurants there is only one or two tables, so you often eat standing at the counter or outside standing out front. But the food is fabulous and they are incredibly popular! Cicchetti is popular for a pre-late dinner snack.
We each had about 4 or 5 different options to sample. The toppings ranged from meats and cheeses to fish and even a cheese with pistachio spread. They were all fantastic. The bacaro we stopped at was owned by twin brothers.
Our next stop was a Salumeria. A combination wine bar, chicchetti shop specializing in meats!
We had meats, cheeses, bread with delicious olive oil and balsamic. And of course wine.
I can't believe I have no photos, but at this point we actually went and had a sit down meal. We had a homemade pasta and there was a fish dish as well as vegetables. I can't remember it all at this point, there was so much food. And wine. 😊
After our meal, we weren't done! We continued along. We zigged and we zagged and went through so many winding streets in Venice. We definitely were not going to the typical tourist type restaurants on this tour! Our next stop was an osteria. This is also like a bacaro, featuring cicchetti. Here we sampled fried tuna balls, like a meatball but made with tuna, and fried lasagna bites.
Keith and I shared one, Nutella and Mango. That did us in for the night! Our tour ended here and we had a nice walk back to our hotel. Tomorrow we would be boarding our ship for our cruise of the Greek Islands. This was a wonderful day in Venice! We would be back here after our cruise and we were looking forward to it even more after today!
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