The day started with rain. While the weather forecast did not promise rain for the day and our apps kept telling us it’s sunny outside, looking out the window, there was a lot of water falling from the sky for a sunny day. We had to dig deep in our packs and get our raincoats out (the horror!). It rained hard while we headed to breakfast but slowed to a light spritzing by the time we journey to the train station, then stopped by the time boarding commenced. We’ve seen worse.
Just like on our way in to 📍Stresa, we had to grab the replacement train, also known as a bus, to a station with an actual train to get us to Milano, to then board a second train to 📍Venice. Our first train departing from a station further down the line, we did an hour of bus travel instead of the 30 minutes we did when coming to town.
Buses, while designed to pack a maximum number of humans in a minimum amount of space, are not trains. Trenord (the regional train company) did not see fit to match bookings or capacity of the train with buses. Not only did the two busses show up almost full from all the other stations this replacement train serves, they were also 5 minutes late arriving. Everybody had the same short ten-minute connexion and was already stressing out. This left most people no better than feral beasts ready to mow down any people in their way to get one of the precious seats on the buses.
We managed to get on the second bus with a 15-minute delay that, if you’re good at math, would get us to our destination 5 minutes after our proper train departed. Also, the second bus wasn’t originally supposed to stop at our station but at the station before. Our very grumpy driver, who just took on the overflow from the first bus and a new stop on his journey, soldiered on and drove like mad, cursing every car on the road in front of his speeding bus. Cursing must have worked as, despite a stop to let off about half the people on the bus, he managed to get us to our train station (📍Sesto Calende) with 5 minutes to spare. That’s more than a 10-minute gain on a one-hour journey with an extra stop! If it wasn’t for the speed bumps that were definitely felt as he never slowed down for them, I could have sworn we flew there.
The rest of our train journey was as any one would expect from public transport in the north of Italy: mostly on time and smooth.
The last time we were in Venise was twelve years ago, almost to the day. Getting into the city brings back memories and, while I would not go as far as saying nothing changed, it’s still falls mostly within what we remember of the city. The one trait that we can say did not change are the people walking straight into us as we try to get from point A to point B. It’s as if we’re transparent and have to weave around people to avoid collision. I know for a fact we are not invisible. My theory is that the city enthrals people so much that they stop noticing their surroundings and only pay enough attention to avoid walls and falling into the numerous canals.
What did change is navigation. GPS and mapping data has improved leaps and bounds since our last visit. Back then a 30-minute journey would take us close to 45 mostly because we would have to backtrack multiple times either because we took the wrong Vicolo from the plaza or crossed the canal one bridge too soon without options to go in the direction we are trying to go. This time around, not even the slightest hiccup or mistake. We went from the station to our appartment without a single detour.
While modern technology has made travelling in Venise a lot more efficient, I feel like I’m missing out on the discovery of small corners of the city that we, willing or not, had the chance to see the last time around. Our plan for tomorrow is to walk about so we may get to catch up on discovery and adventure then.
After settling in the apartment, we patiently waited for our first dinner in the city. 📍Al Covino is a tiny restaurant with 18 seats and an open kitchen. The chef can talk to you about each ingredient in details including how confident he his that the flour he uses has never looked at a nut in its life. The dishes are small and come in three themes: fish, meat and garden. The chef also offers a chef’s menu in either fish or meat.
We went for the chef’s menu: we picked fish and meat and shared each plate. It started with a slow cooked limoncello glazed octopus over lemon mashed potato that tasted both sweet and fresh with its fleshed firm but not chewy. It was served at the same time aa oven baked rigatoni with slow cooked beef and aubergines. Nothing in this pasta was overcooked or soggy, a challenge for oven baked pasta, let me assure you. Somehow the chef managed to time everything down to the millisecond. Then that course was followed by an oven baked seabass over friarelli (Italian broccoli rabe, or more plainly: bitter greens). It has a slight kick to it thanks to the fresh garlic added at the last minute and the greens being cooked and seasoned perfectly. The fish came with the slow cooked pork ribs from Caserta and its mashed potatoes made from 50% potato and 50% butter. The ribs were sweet, flavourful yet meaty while the potatoes were simply divine (you can’t go wrong with anything 50% butter). For the desert booze showed up on the menu with Baba au rhum for Karine and the Tiramisu (with plenty of coffee liqueur) for me.
Everything was excellent, the experience a must. A high rating for us let me assure you. Very few places get to the top tier of our reviews. We’re sorry we’ll have only the one meal here this trip.
Places
Sesto Calende · 21018 Sesto Calende, VA, Italy
★★★☆☆ · Train station
maps.app.goo.gl
Al Covino · Calle del Pestrin, 3829, 30122 Venezia VE, Italy
★★★★★ · Bistro
maps.app.goo.gl
