The day dawned fine with blue sky and the city was on show at its best.
In St Mark's square there is an almost 100m high bell tower, so we went to the top for a view. The tower was originally built in around 1000AD. Unfortunately it fell down in 1902 - with a very bad result for the caretakers cat but amazingly without injuring anyone else. The new tower is built to more modern standards which we were pleased to know, and has a lift which was also good.
The views were fantastic.
Then, having temporaroly tired of the city, we took a cruise on the water bus around the lagoon and got off at Burano, known also as the fishermens island as it is the base for most of the local fishing. Its the custom on Burano to paint your house in a bright colour - each family has their own colour. When you are married in Burano the new wife takes her husbands colour, as well as (presumably) his name. I suppose this adds another dimension to chosing a spouse?
There is lots more touristy shopping on the island, including shops selling locally made lace. But the main event for us was lunch at Il Gatto Nero (the Black Cat) which needs some detailing.
(Change channels here if you don't like seafood.)
Lunch was a set menu and went like this:
(scores are out of 10)
1. Aperitivo - local sparkling wine. 10.
2. Smoked swordfish and hash of local 'snapper.' 10.
3. Risotto made with fish stock. (This was the best risotto ever made in the history of the world.) 15.
(N.B. I was very satisfied by now and wondering if there was dessert and if so whether I could fit it in, but no...)
4. Spaghettini volgnole - fine spaghetti with local clams (miniature version of our cockles, minus the sand). 10.
5. Salad - fresh veges with balsalmic vinegar and olive oil. 10.
6. Fish - monk fish fillet grilled, sole fillet grilled, scampi, prawns, all with lemon. 12.7. Local tiny strawberries that tasted like strawberries, with ice cream. 10.
8. Espresso coffee, with almond flavoured 'S' biscuits, chocolate toffee almonds. 10.
Also the local red and white wine, served in porcelain jugs of course. 10.
I admit that I did enjoy it!
At the next table was a group of Italians having a family meal. None of them spoke english and only one of us had some Italian so we quickly made friends. Words like 'rugby' and 'All Blacks' helped as this part of Italy is big on rugby. We parted with handshakes and loud conversation which neither side understood.
We are also now good friends with Ruggero the restaurant owner. It is a family business handed down through the generations. One of our group (not me) was going to ask to marry his daughter, but unfortunately she turned out to be married already.
After that we were exceptionally replete, so what better than a gondola cruise? Very relaxing, and nice to have an accordion and singer along in the boat.
Later in the evening we wandered around the corner from our hotel to St Mark's square and danced to the music of the cafe orchestras.
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