When planning our Italy trip, Tom and I didn't know where to go after Florence, so we made a last-minute decision and decided to hang out in Chioggia for a week, a decision that proved to be fantastic!
After a tearful goodbye at the train station, we bid Jodi Ciao-Adieu-Bon voyage, and headed off to an unknown city on the Venetian Lagoon. Only a 1.5 hour boat ride from Venice, Chioggia turned out to be a sleepy fishing village, where tourists were rare (though all Italian), and English-speakers even more scarce - with our very poor Italian, this proved difficult but a real adventure!
This was our regional train to Chioggia - I've never seen such a tiny train! We knew we were in for an adventure when we pulled into the Chioggia train 'station', which consisted of a bar, and that's it! We also got quite lost on the way to our hotel, since directions in Italian were not that useful!
After settling into our adorable hotel (family owned and run for 45 years!), we naturally set out to look for sustenance: lucky for us, we stumbled across a hole-in-the-wall pizzeria which was owned and operated by Mauro, a 2-time World Pizza Champ, and 3-time Italian Pizza champ! As you might've guessed, the pizza was DELICIOUS, and we ate it 6/8 nights! Pictured up top was our fave: crema di funghi.
Chioggia, as I said before, is a working fishing village, with a similar set-up to Venice, with canals and bridges criss-crossing the streets. It was a nice change from the various tourist-trap cities, like Paris and Florence, to be in a place where life is much slower and we weren't being hassled to buy faux Chanel bags at every corner. The city itself is an island, connected to the mainland by bridges; we stayed in Sottomarina, the 'newer' part of the city on the otherside of Chioggia's marina. Sottomarina is essentially a long peninsula with a white sand beach stretching the length of it, all of which is owned in sections by various hotels and campgrounds. The waterfront had a 70s resort feel to it, with Italian tourists walking around in speedos!
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| Our hotel owned several spots on a beach for its guests, so we didn't have to rent chairs and an umbrella like other visitors, which saved us some serious cash, as we went to the beach everyday! The water was like Sandbanks, with shallow water for long stretches and big waves! There was also GREAT people watching opportunities, with families of all shapes and sizes coming to spend the day at the beach - speedos, topless women, beach aerobics to Italian-dubbed Lady Gaga songs, black market handbags, the list goes on...! |
Twice a week there is what's called the 'People's Market', which Tom and I were hoping would be food, but it turned out be stall after endless stall of everything a person could want, non-food wise: pots + pans, hats, underwear, tablecloths, electronics, and of course, the infamous Italian Mama-frocks (pictured above - Jodi this one's for you!) I almost bought one. I guess there aren't too many shopping opportunities nearby, so the market is where everyone goes for their everyday needs.
Though not unique to Chioggia, these three-wheeled trucks made me laugh everytime I saw one - I had to include a photo on the blog!! The cab barely has enough room for one person, but they are all over the place! It's not much bigger than a smartcar!
Here we are on our favourite beach, having a last pizza meal before heading off to Venice, and then Austria!
More to come...Venezia is next!
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