Monday Meanderings: La Dolce Vita in Venice

An early morning shopping trip to the famed Rialto Market where we’ll stock up on fresh fruit and vegetables from the stalls of long-time vendors, then we’ll laze away the morning sipping cappuccino at one of its many cafes while ‘people watching’ . . .

In the evening we’ll stroll along the Zattere, the large concrete promenade that runs the length of the southern shore of Venice’s Dorsoduro District. It was originally built in 1519 to be a landing dock for the delivery of timber to build ships and buildings.  Zattere, Italian for raft.

Dorsoduro

We’ll be acting just like the locals with our shopping and strolling because for six nights we’ll be ‘living’ in Venice in an apartment we rented a month  ago as we planned how to fill the week following our cruise from Rome to Venice. The apartment is in the area of the red pin on the map.

We’ve found that one way to save travel dollars is to avoid the more costly hotel rooms – and Venice certainly has plenty of those.   So, after having enjoyed the apartment we rented in Madrid last year, we decided to try our luck with apartment living in Italy. (Maybe it is our way of working up to a longer stay somewhere, sometime. . .)

In addition to saving money on the accommodations, we’ll also eat a couple meals a day at home and not rely on the local bar for all our Happy Hours.

Of course renting travel accommodations based on books, photos, traveler’s recommendations and advertisements is always a giant leap of faith.   Joel, “The Scout” began researching our options several months ago.  When we found this apartment on Vacation Rental by Owner we were on our way to . . .

. . .La dolce vita; the sweet life, in Italian.

Have you any tips for us?  Have you rented an apartment? If so, what was your experience?  Add a comment below or send an email to us at travelnwrite@msn.com  And if this is your first visit, hope to see you back on Thursday when we look at the Joy of Travel.