Yesterday turned out to be another beautiful day so we decided to take the vaporetto to Giudecca and walk around there. Guidecca is a small island across the lagoon from Venice and is considered part of the city itself. We were on the vap and decided to get off at San Giorgio Maggiore a beautiful Palladio church on a tiny island next to Giudecca. Last visit during the Biennae there was an amazing column of smoke inside the church itself rising all the way to the top of the dome. This time, as you can see, not quite so thrilling. This is an inflatable, 11 meter tall copy of a work by Marc Quinn. Apparently there are a lot of other pieces by him around the island but we discovered the vap we were on did not stop there so we couldn’t get off to see them.

We got off at Le Zitelle which was closed but were able to see a really interesting exhibit at Tre Oci about Karabakh which is an area east of Armenia and north of Iran. It’s a photo show about the people who live there and the area. Really well done. Here are some pictures from our time on Giudecca.
Le Zitelle Church

La Pieta from Giudecca

San Marco from Giudecca

La Salute from Giudecca

Zattere from Giudecca

Side street on Giudecca

Side canal on Giudecca

Almost everything we saw on the island was closed down, probably for the winter, so we decided to take a vaporetto back over to Venice and go to the old Jewish ghetto. One of our favorite restaurants there is called GamGam and it is a kosher restaurant featuring Israeli food. We had their fried artichokes (totally unlike the ones in Rome), and there special appetizer plate with great falafel and one of the hottest harissa sauces I have ever had.
We were planning on meeting Nan for dinner at 8 so walked back from the ghetto area to our apartment. We pass this church when we go that way and it is just an interesting looking place. We have never been inside and don’t know the two women in the picture but thought we would share this piece of architecture.
Santa Maria Maddalena Church

Nan has lived in Venice now for nine years and she knows lots of little tucked away restaurants. Last night she met us at Osteria alla Frasca which is in Cannaregio, way off the beaten track. It was outstanding food and the guys who run it are great. We were there until after 11 and the three of us had great food, great wine and great company. Okay, enough said–here comes the food porn!
Octopus Salad

Shrimp and artichoke appetizer

Pasta with shell fish

Branzino

Grilled seppie with fruit and balsamic vinegar

Grilled mixed seafood

We also had three desserts–tiramisu, panna cotta with berries and crème brule but there are no pictures to show you. We ate them too quickly!