We had a lazy morning and had lunch at home before heading out to the lagoon islands. Seeing Murano, Burano and Torcello was the itinerary for the day. Charlene hadn't seen them two years ago when she was here on her first visit. I planned the timing so we would be able to eat dinner on Burano at Il Gatto Nero when they opened at 6:30PM.
Apparently we caught the slowest boat to the transfer station in Murano. We had the milk-run route, in effect, as we went to every stop in the area, and it took longer than I remembered. Probably due to the time of day and the time of year. These routes change a little during the day so they can accommodate the tourists and workers so some boats have abbreviated routes, some have every stop. What can you do?
We transferred finally and on the 40 minute ride to Burano I made friends with a baby in his pram. I love happy smiling, no fuss children. He was a doll, and I had a nice conversation with his mother while playing pattycake and peekaboo with him. She told me she was relieved to have a short break from entertaining him constantly, in order to keep him occupied and quiet. The family is brazilian and spending Carnevale time in Italy, the first time they've been away from Rio de Janeiro's annual festival. She was surprised and pleased at how different it is than in Brazil – much more family friendly. It was a nice ride, even though we were on the deck and it was cold out.
Once on Burano we walked the 100 yards to the launch to catch the boat to Torcello. Showed Charlene the churches and took her photo in what has been name “throne of Attila” - a stone-carved chair which most likely never saw the backside of Attila the Hun, but we'll just keep that between us. No sense in spoiling it for everyone.
Charlene on Attila's throne
I don't know why the kitties are named Dingo, but here they are
We saw the sights and went back to Burano with a little bit of time to spare before restaurant opened. As we walked over to it I could see the outdoor seating was packed away, but in winter they are more likely than not to only serve indoors. Approaching the place one of the waiters came outside and I asked him if they opened at 6:30. He said Yes, then said No. Funny. Their closing day is Monday and here it is Friday. Then the owner/chef came outside so I asked him “Aperto alle diciotto e mezzo stasera, si?” Open at 6:30 tonight, yes?
No. Not open tonight.
Whaaaaaaaa? It was like the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld telling me “No risotto for you!!!” He wasn't mean, just matter of fact, but no explanation as to why.
Here Luke and I had been talking all day about the amazing food at Il Gatto Nero – the grilled fish and the seafood risotto – and we had her jazzed to go there, and it wasn't freaking open? I was trying just figure out why they weren't open. We walked over to the main drag through the island and it dawned on me. There were signs up for Carnivale di Burano, which I had seen days earlier when I was there with my group, but actually looking at the poster I could see it was huge community procession being held in the park on the island on Friday night. That had to be it – everything was shutting down for the locals to celebrate together.
Oh bother. So here's the lesson for the day: Carnivale di Burano means no risotto dinner for you.
And the teasing commenced. Charlene thought it was hilarious that she had been hearing so much about this famed risotto (dude, Tony Bourdain featured this place and the risotto making on his Venice episode, even though I've been frequenting it much longer than he has) and I make the oversight of not knowing the island shuts down this day every year. For the rest of the evening she would pop up with “Did you know? Carnivale on Burano is the Friday before Carnivale? And did you know? No risotto!” A new inside joke for our arsenal.
We took the boat back to Venice proper. Starving all the way.
I took us to Trattoria da Bepi which is located about ten minutes from the vap stop we disembarked from in Cannaregio. We had 20 minutes to wait for them to open, so we did. It may not have been the much-discussed seafood risotto, but we had a lot of great Venetian specialties mixedin with “regular” food. Luke had pasta aglio-olio, then cuttlefish and polenta, I had shaved artichokes (the castraure variety only grown in the lagoon islands) in a balsamic vinaigrette and then tagliatelle al granceola (the tiny spidercrabs found only in Venice) and Charlene had spaghetti carbonara, then scallops. We all opted for tiramisu for dessert.
All kinds of yum!
We meandered to Piazza San Marco to walk off some of the two liters of wine and all that food and then home.
Did you know that on Burano the Friday before Fat Tuesday there's a Carnivale celebration? Now I do.
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