Mondays - fun days

Monday is my one and only day off.
It's the best day of my week.

Having settled into Venice life (i.e. no more trawling the police stations on my day off; no more in need of a day off from commuting; etc.) we are finally getting the hang of doing the washing and the grocery shopping and all the other necessary but less fun household tasks during the week (Monday now being considered as the weekend, Sunday after work being known as Friday-Saturday-Sunday night). This leaves one full day every week to explore and have fun.

And it's my once a week chance to enjoy the delights of the long Italian lunch. Preferably in the form of a scrumptious under 20€ three course meal with wine.
But it also happens to be no-fish day. Well, along with Sunday. The days the Rialto fish markets are closed. Which means that many of the good restaurants are closed. Or if they are open, they are serving a special no-fish menu.

Last Monday we found a very nice alternative.

Martina (who works at the pavilion in the mornings) told me a while ago about her husband's restaurant over on Giudecca. When I finally found a current edition of the foodie guide book we've been using a photocopy of, I looked it up and it had a rave review, even a little love, from the guide. So on Monday we were there.

First we stopped over at Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore to see a few exhibitions. Penelope's Labour - tapestries. The Real Venice - photos. And Anish Kapoor - smoke. All interesting enough, except for Kapoor's which has not functioned since it was installed two months ago. But the church it's installed in, Basilica di San Giorgio, was worth a look anyway.

Some ideas we gathered for possible house adornments.

We're thinking one of these on the front, with our own personalised iconography of course.

Maybe a marble runner down the hallway.

And another idea for the landing pad in the porch.

Then it was back on the vaporetto to Giudecca for our lunch date at i figli della stelle.

Simone (Martina's husband) was expecting us, with the best table on the waters edge reserved with our names.

That's San Marco bell tower across the Giudecca canal.

Our meal began with a little baccala montecato and a glass of prosecco, compliments of Simone. Lovely.

The highlight was the first course.
Fava bean puree with roasted tomato and chicory.
And the most delicious toast to be eaten in Venice.

The rest was also delicious.

Finn's fishy fry-up.
The lightest batter, the smallest fish.
(I guess you can source sardines and anchovies any day of the week in Venice.)
The little bundles at the front were parcels of baccala montecato. The yellow next to them polenta.
The aubergine was surprisingly melt-in-the-mouth for such quick cooking. It was all very good.

Spaghetti marinara. Also very good.

The leftovers.

On the Monday Ness and Jim were here we got in 2 major art galleries - The Peggy Guggenheim Collection and Punta Della Dogana - as well as a visit out to San Michele.

F in the best sculpture at the Guggenheim.

And the (highly guarded) little boy sculpture outside the Punta Della Dogana.
That's the Basilica di San Giorgio behind.

And then this Monday, the day before yesterday already, this was the best Monday yet.

It felt really like we were on summer holiday in Italy. Amazing.

We took a boat to the countryside.

Well, to an island out in the north of the lagoon that felt like the countryside.

Torcello was the original settlement of Venice, back in the 400s, when people were fleeing the murderous likes of Atilla the Hun on the mainland.

Basilica di Torcello dates from around 635, and it's amazing. (No photos allowed inside, unfortunately.)

The basilica and bell tower (under refurbishment) on the other side of a field of Queen Anne's Lace. 

Fantastic mosaics inside.
Note especially the bottom right corner of hell.
(Photo c/o the internet.)

And beautiful marble mosaic floors too. Multicoloured extravaganzas of so many pieces and so many patterns and so many designs, like a Griffin's sampler box, with a rough quality making them particularly appealing.

The chapel beside the basilica. 

There is only a small settlement left on the island. Maybe 20 inhabitants I think, if that. So most of the land is undeveloped, pastoral. At the edges you get a real sense of the mudflats that make up the islands in the lagoon. We wandered down every pathway (no real footpaths here other than the one in and out), eating wild blackberries and sweating in the heat. It felt like an idillic holiday day. We even gathered some damson plum-type fruits to cook up into a coulis for a future gelato event.

Picnic lunch in the garden between the basilica and the canal.
Note Finn's new Venetian pants - bright green. But just starting small, well, short. Maybe he'll graduate to full length Venice trousers come autumn, maybe they'll even be red.

Me beside a just-out-of-reach crop of ripe ripe figs.

To get to Torcello one stops at Burano to switch boats. It is a perfect transition point -- a brightly coloured fishing village* -- between Venice and Torcello. Actually it was kind of alarmingly bright and clean** and well kept compared to Venice. Where Venice is determined to maintain its decrepitude, Burano is the opposite. On our return stopover we took a gelato and explored the island. 

Candy coloured houses.

With candy coloured boats to match.

It felt more like Venice California than Venice Italy, with miniature canals, candy coloured buildings (so freshly painted - we even saw a man re-yellowing his already very yellow house), and lush gardens and parks. Families sitting out in the shade of their houses, the grandmothers making lace (really) while they chatted. It was, somehow, truly charming.

It was a wonderful day. Our best yet of any day of the week, I'd say, so we'll no doubt be back. For a completely different kind of view, it'd be a good trip to take in the fog of winter.

* Still working, one assumes with the number of fishing boats docked there. Finn noted that it was 'a shellfishing place', due to the type of equipment and contraptions located on the ships' decks.

** Barely a whiff of urine and not a dog poo in the place.

3 August 2011