Vogalonga 2013

One of my favorite Venice events is the Vogalonga, a 30 Kilometer rowing event that starts and ends at St. Mark's. It's a non-competitive race open to just about every rowing type boat imaginable from one man kayaks to 16 man boats, canoes and drum boats. This year's event began, unfortunately, in a light rain, that progressed to a heavy rain at a few points during the day.  Not a good day for the rowers. The good news is the sun came out towards the middle of the afternoon, just as rowers were finding places to pull up their boats to rest at the end of a long, wet 30 kilometers.

This year 1,700 boats and 7,000 rowers from all over the world participated.

Between 9 am and 3pm, the Grand Canal is closed to all motorized boat traffic, so no vaporettos available. If you needed to get somewhere today, you were walking, or taking a very long route around the outside of the city, or- worse case, renting a private water taxi that was also taking a long route to your destination as they also were not allowed on the Grand Canal  during the regatta. I have to say, while  we were waiting for the first of the boats to return to the Grand Canal, the silence on the canal is almost eerie. It's something you don't see too often, so when you do, you can't help but be awe struck by how just how grand this canal is.

Here's a look at the Vogalonga course, beginning at St. Mark's square, down around Sant'Elena, past Certosa Island, Sant Erasmo island, Burano, Mazzorbo, Murano and back through Venice down the Cannaregio canal to the Grand Canal ending at St. Mark's.

 I positioned myself at the waterfront at Sant'Elena at 9:00 am this morning, in the rain, and was able to get some great photos.

Later in the morning I was at Rialto, watching as rowers were making their way down the Grand Canal. Right in front of me I saw a man swimming. At first I thought he had fallen overboard off one of the boats. I looked closer and noticed he had flippers, a wet suit and swim cap, and was being accompanied closely by a gondola with 2 rowers front and back. This man hadn't fallen in, he was actually SWIMMING the Vogalonga!!!!  Made me think of Lord Byron!

 The next few photos are post-Vogalonga, after the rowers had completed the course. These colorful kayaks were stowed at the Rialto fish market. All of the participants who came with these boats were changing out of their wet clothing under cover of the fish market.

 Here a group of rowers were pulling their boats up at Campo San Trovaso, and headed to the wine bars across the canal for some spritz's.

And this guy pulled his boat up at the memorial in front of Giardini. A little unorthodox, but hey, it's Vogalonga. 

Blessed by the Risotto Gods

The sun was shining brightly Wednesday morning as we boarded the vaporetto at Piazzale Roma on our way to meet my friend Rita and her husband Derek for lunch at Da Romano.  Da Romano has a reputation for it's risotto, and Wednesday they did not disappoint.

After having placed our orders we were busy catching up - and drinking some wine- when the waiter returned to our table, inviting us into the kitchen to watch the chef prepare a risotto. We grabbed our cameras and made a dash to the kitchen, quite in disbelief to be granted such an opportunity!

Having thoroughly enjoyed the lunchtime entertainment- the chef was certainly happy to be sharing his cooking skills, but wouldn't share any secret recipes- we made our way back to our table. Just as we sat down, the waiter arrived with a large bowl of steaming hot risotto "Da Romano".  We had no idea the chef was literally cooking our meal as we watched!  Lunch couldn't have been any better- good friends, good food, good wine.

For me, it would have been unthinkable to leave Burano without stopping in at my favorite pastry shop to buy some Buranelle cookie, those delicious S-shaped treats.  Carmelina Palmisano's shop is right in the main square.

Here are a few more photos of Burano from that afternoon for you-

This last one is the most colorful house on Burano, also the most creatively decorated!

Karen's tip- when you are planning your trip to Venice, give yourself a little treat and stay one more day, just so you can spend it on Burano. You won't regret it!

365 days of Venice - Burano

Just a short vaporetto ride from Venice is the colorful island of Burano!




One of the northern lagoon islands, Burano, home to fishermen and lace-makers, is a kaleidoscope of colorful houses. It is said that the fishermen painted their homes in bright blues, oranges, yellows, and greens so they could be visible when they were out on the water.