Up bright and early – we have a busy day! Breakfast at the hotel is a veritable feast – everything from savory to sweet – including eggs, pancetta, lots of Italian cold meats and cheeses! We fortify ourselves for our boat ride to Sant Erasmo and the ensuing bike ride.
We’ve mapped out our route and Vaporetto times. Everything works so smoothly! We take the 8:50 line 3 to Murano, changing there for the 9:34 line 13 to Sant Erasmo.
Perfect! Not a hitch – except that its cloudier and chillier than we expected and Ed didn’t bring his jacket. Ah well, it’s just a little cold!
We arrive in Sant Erasmo a little after 10 and set off down the road to Lato Azzurro, a small hotel where we will rent bikes and have cichetti later (they call it bicichetti!).
Sant Erasmo is known as the vegetable garden of Serenissima. The island is said to produce much of the vegetables were sold in Venice, including the famous purple artichoke. It is peaceful, quiet and rustic, with only about 800 residents and no real motor vehicles to speak of, just little Ape’s (the mostly 3 wheel trucks that everyone uses to get around and haul things), scooters and bicycles. It’s quiet, peaceful, bucolic – an excellent escape when you are tired of the hustle and bustle of Venice.
We ride out on our bikes to circumnavigate the island. There is really only one road – so no worries about getting lost. Our first stop is the fortifications of the Maximilian tower, which is a restored fortress at the end of the island. We stop here to admire the view….and for Ed to show us his Arnold Schwartzenegger impression (because he is SO tough without a jacket!!!).
We spend the next hour sedately pedaling around the island, soaking up the pastoral fields, the glimpses of farm life and the waters surrounding the island. There is no one about – just a few farmers in the fields. The little road, nothing more than a narrow lane, is charming and empty of everything but us. The island reminds us so much of Holland, the scenery, the little canals, the weather. The only thing missing are the windmills!
Soon, we approach the little main town on the island. Very sweet, very small, with one lovely church (with amazing carved wooden doors).
Even with all the stopping and visiting and picture taking, it still takes us less than an hour to circumnavigate the whole island. We’re actually a little too early for our cichetti, so we take a pit stop at the park near the Vaporetto station to enjoy the scenery – and waste some time!
As we make our way back to Lato Azzurro, we are surprised to see the Ruby Princess sailing into Venice! What a coincidence! There she is right in front of us! It’s nice to know she’s arrived.
So, at last it’s time for cichetti! Back at the hotel, we settle into the dining area for our “snacks”. Oh my gosh! Snacks is a total misnomer! There is so much food, it is not even funny! First we start with 2 platters of antipasto…
Then we move onto fried vegetables with olives stuffed with meat and these delicious little cheese balls that we all (especially Sigis!!) enjoyed.
Next there are 2 platters of bruschetta – toasted bread slices with totally fresh cherry tomatoes drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. It’s just too much – we can’t even finish the bruschetta – when out comes two platters of fried mozzarella cheese and little caprese skewers. We seriously had to send those back. We were all stuffed! Not to mention beer and wine! It was fantastic and a huge bargain (only 15 euros per person including the bike rental!) amazing!
So now we are absolutely stuffed, and we have to run to get the vaporetto! Which is probably a good thing – we can work off some of this food! Off we waddle, with some of us lagging behind 
Back aboard, we prepare ourselves to head back into the melee of Venice proper after our peaceful little Sant Erasmo respite. (see the next blog entry)
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