Due to the location of our hotel in the Cannaregio neighborhood, the Orto Stop on the Alilaguna was by far the easiest location to access. From the Orto stop, it was a short, three-minute walk to the Boscolo Venezia Hotel. Upon check-in, we were informed that our rooms would not be ready untl 2pm, so we stored our bags at the front desk and headed out to explore Venice.
The Boscolo Venezia is located in the quiet Cannaregio neighborhood β about a 20 minute walk from the crowds of the Realto and San Marco Square areas. We walked around the streets and canals of Venice before stopping for lunch near San Marco Square.
We settled on a restaurant with a nice courtyard where we enjoyed pizza and beer β both of which were excellent. After lunch, the rain started to come down, so we walked back to our hotel. Upon returning to the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that we were upgraded to a set of two garden villa rooms. The rooms were standard sized, but they each featured massive courtyards situated in a secluded rose garden away from the main building of the hotel.
Jet-lagged from the night before, we took a three hour nap before having a nice happy hour out on our patio of the Boscolo Venezia. We had a tasty dinner of pasta and seafood at a local place in Cannaregioβ Ristorante Diana and then retired for the evening for some much needed sleep. After a good ten hours of sleep, we woke up to a fantastic breakfast spread at the Boscolo, which was free due to my Marriott Gold status. The Boscolo runs water taxis four times per day to and from San Marco Square, so we took the 10am taxi through the canals of Venice right to the front steps of St Marks.
What a spectacular way to spend the afternoon! Marco Square. At that point, we were ready for a late lunch, so we lost ourselves in the winding alleyways of Venice and found ourselves at Ristorante Alla Conchiglia , a cute little restaurant overlooking a canal for a quintessential Venetian lunch of calamari, pizza, wine and beer. Later in the day, I stopped for about 45 minutes to watch the world go by in a nice plaza near the Rialto Bridge while my girlfriend shopped in some of the great boutiques.
