So after a cool water taxi experience, we arrived at our hotel (for one night) called Ca Maria Adele. We had read about it in several articles.........quite a find! Only 12 rooms, located on a small canal next to Santa Maria della Salute. It is in Dorsoduro on the south side of the Grand Canal not too far from the Accademia Bridge (and museum). The water taxi pulled up to the front door......on the water! The guys at the desk were wonderful, particularly as we got to know them a bit later in the day. We arrived around 12:30 and they took us into a crazy parlor/lounge for prosecco and some small snacks. What was really nice were the chilled hand towels! The racing boat ride over needed a little cooling off. We were shown a couple of rooms and chose the one on the ground floor right on the canal.
But first a couple of more shots of the ride over in the water taxi!
LOOKING BACK AT SAN MARCO AS WE CROSS THE LAGOON
and Approaching the Hotel
and our Taxi pulls away!
TIME FOR ANOTHER BREAK! WE NEED SOME REST!
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A rest, a walk and now a quick push to finish Wednesday!
Actually, that's where we left things off. After a couple of hours of afternoon napping, we were on the trail again.......off to check out the interior of Santa Maria della Salute, and then a walk out to the end of the Punta Dogona.
Santa Maria della Salute (English: Saint Mary of Health), commonly known simply as the Salute, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the city of Venice, Italy.
It stands on the narrow finger of Punta della Dogana, between the Grand Canal and the Giudecca Canal, at the Bacino di San Marco, making the church visible when entering the Piazza San Marco from the water. The Salute is part of the parish of the Gesuati and is the most recent of the so-called plague churches.
In 1630, Venice experienced an unusually devastating outbreak of the plague. As a votive offering for the city's deliverance from the pestilence, the Republic of Venice vowed to build and dedicate a church to Our Lady of Health. The church was designed in the then fashionable Baroque style by Baldassare Longhena, who studied under the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi. Construction began in 1631. Most of the objects of art housed in the church bear references to the Black Death.
The dome of the Salute was an important addition to the Venice skyline and soon became emblematic of the city, appearing in artworks both by locals, such as Canaletto and Francesco Guardi, and visitors, such as J. M. W. Turner and John Singer Sargent.
THEN BACK TO THE HOTEL FOR APERITIVI.........A SELECT SPRITZ.
We found out that in Venice, Select is the aperitif of choice rather than Aperol......so we gave it a try!
and then OFF TO DINNER!
May 1st is a holiday in Italy......so restaurants were either very busy or closed. Fortunately, Andi made a reservation at a fun neighborhood 'bistro' not too far from the hotel......Cantinone Storica. It turned out to be great, and very crowded. We would not have gotten in without a reservation! and it was a fun walk over to the restaurant.
