This month’s travel link up is ‘Places we can’t get out of our heads’. I really struggled to narrow this one down, but in the end it was our stay in the city of romance that I wanted to tell you about. Mr B and I regularly reminisce about our stay in Venice, from our stunning hotel, the amazing food, our gondola ride or just the city itself.
Venice is like nowhere in the world with its canals and when we were on the island one of the first things that Mr B and I noticed was how different somewhere can sound when there are no cars.
You can spend hours walking around getting lost and sometimes that is the best way to explore.
For our base in Venice we chose Ca Maria Adele. If I had to sum this hotel up in one word it would be ‘sexy’, not usually a word associated with a hotel but it was just that! This adults-only hotel has won numerous awards including ‘Best Small Luxury Boutique Hotel Worldwide’ and ‘One of the ten Sexiest Hotels in the World awarded by Smith Awards’.
It was the perfect base for our romantic stay. Our room, which was one of the hotel’s ‘concept rooms’, was luxury and opulent, the walls were actually fabric and it had fabulous lighting features. My photos don’t do it justice, but our room was huge.
There was a separate entrance hall which held the wardrobe and a mini-bar which was full of complementary soft drinks, water and juice. The bathroom had a fantastic whirlpool bath and I have never seen so many complementary toiletries, which ranged from the obvious shower gel and shampoo to luxury bath salts and lip balm.
A stunning feature of the room were the full length glass doors which opened up onto a small balcony with stunning views of the canals and surrounding buildings, including the Basilica.
In the evening when we got back to our room, the lovely staff had been in for turn down service, left us rose petals with sleep mist and our breakfast menu from which you could order to your room, the hotel’s terrace or the breakfast room.
Talking of breakfast . . . there was everything you could want, including the most beautiful fresh flaky croissants, fluffy homemade pancakes, top quality cheese’s and meats and of course eggs done any way you like. We had a feast and the silver service we received in the breakfast room was so lovely and relaxed.
We knew when we went to Venice that we wanted to do a gondola ride and after we arrived on our first day and the sun was shining we took it as a sign! We booked it through the hotel, met in reception, were taken to our gondola and a bottle of Italian prosecco on ice was waiting for us to enjoy during our 30-minute ride.
It was such a magical experience and worth every penny.
Murano is a nearby island and is famed for its Murano glass. Do be careful when in Venice as there are so many shops claiming to sell ‘Murano’ glass when it is in fact not true Murano. Always do some research before you go or ask at your hotel as we did. Our hotel had all the chandeliers made with Murano and they kindly placed a call with the factory who booked us in for a tour.
We hopped on a private water taxi and enjoyed the short ride over. The Island is like a little Venice, with its beautiful buildings and water ways and coffee shops and restaurants lining the beautiful cobbled streets.
It will come as no surprise to you all that one of the highlights for us on our trip was the stunning food! Obviously when in Venice you have to have pizza, but again please be careful not to get caught in any tourist traps. We ate around St Mark’s Square and enjoyed beautiful wood fired pizzas.
A must-try when in Venice is cicchetti, which is basically Venice’s version of tapas. We asked our hotel and they pointed us in the direction of a lovely little place that was full of locals (always a good sign), where you can get small homemade bites whist sipping on Aperol spritz or Italian wines.
When you are cramming in lots of sightseeing in one day pizza-by-the-slice does the trick to keep the hunger at bay!
For our special night we wanted to try the best seafood risotto in Venice and our hotel managed to get us a table at ‘Ristorante Cantinone Storico’ after we failed to do so! We started with a beautiful light dressed crab.
Then the most amazing seafood risotto with which we enjoyed a perfectly crisp Italian white wine.
Of course you can’t visit Venice without sampling some (or a lot!) of prosecco.
I adore Venice! Loved this post
Author April 1, 2018 / 10:19 pm
Thank you Binny, glad you enjoyed it!
Venice has got to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited, no wonder you can’t get it out of your head!! I remember that hotel from my days working at Mr & Mrs Smith 🙂
Author April 1, 2018 / 10:21 pm
Thank you Angie! It is such an amazing city and staying in Ca Maria Adele made it even more special ❤️
Absolutely loved this post! It had me reminiscing as it was the first place Dr C took me to for my birthday when we got together! We also had a similar itenary. I’m totally not surprised you can’t get Venice out of your head! Love that concept room too!
Author April 1, 2018 / 10:24 pm
Wow that is an amazing birthday surprise! Glad you enjoyed reading it and it brought back such lovely memories!
Nice post! Venice is delightful isn’t it?! I think it must be close to 10 years since I visited it, but it still holds such quaint beauty despite its sometimes rugged exterior. I don’t think you can really go wrong anywhere in Italy for the food can you?
Author April 2, 2018 / 7:59 am
It is such an incredible city! Definitely can’t go wrong with Italian food!
I would absolutely love to visit Venice again – this time with my other half as it’s such a romantic city! Love the look of your hotel (super sexy indeed) and the food at Ristorante Cantinone Storico looks incredible!
Author April 2, 2018 / 8:01 am
It is a such a beautiful place. I think it’s somewhere you could go back to again and again.
This is exactly how I want to spend a few days with Frenchie!
I love Venice, but we were there at the most busy time of the year, and that was honestly a bit too much! Next time we will go in a less busy period! The hotel looks amazing – and the food as well! Got to love everything about Italy, right 😉
X Louise
Author April 2, 2018 / 8:04 am
Italian food is just amazing isn’t it! Did you go in summer? We went at the beginning of May, it was busy but not too much so xxx
Venice, oh Venice – it stole our hearts too!
Author April 3, 2018 / 11:56 am
It does that with most people I think!
Oh beautiful Venice! I went over 10 years ago. Need a return visit soon I think.
Author April 3, 2018 / 9:40 pm
It’s definitely one of those city’s you can go back to again and again!
What a beautiful trip to remember! I also have been to Venice, a couple times, and it is one of those places you never forget! And it helps that it’s so photogenic too!
Author April 5, 2018 / 6:53 am
Thank you Sarah, it is such a beautiful city isn’t it.
Your trip and hotel looked sooo dreamy! I can’t get over how the bedspread matches the wallpaper (what?!)! I need to remember the name when I book a long-awaited Venice trip (which I hope will be not so long from now). What exactly am I looking at in one of your food pictures – it looks like a big spiny shell? Is that from a crab?
Author April 5, 2018 / 6:54 am
The room was insane! Haha yes it is from the crab, definitely not as scary to eat as it was to look at!
It is definitely a city that lingers! I would
Love to return
Author April 5, 2018 / 6:54 am
I would definitely love to go back too!
Ohhhh Venice! My only memory of this beautiful city was as a child, when my ice-cream fell off my cone and hit the street and I started bawling. I think I need to go back ASAP and make happier memories…x
Author April 5, 2018 / 6:55 am
Oh no! I would be devastated if that happened to me now!
This sounds divine! Venice has been on my bucket list for a long time, think I need to move it further up the list…
Author April 9, 2018 / 8:20 am
It’s such a magical place, I’m sure you would love it!
Hi, I came across your post as I am researching Venice for a trip we hope to do later this year. This post is really useful and I am even more excited about the trip! I love the look of the hotel you stayed in, looks a great location, and will use that as my starting point to look for accommodation, Fab post x
Author June 10, 2018 / 9:17 pm
Thank you so much Kerry! You will have such a fantastic time, it is an incredible city. If you have any questions just let me know, I’d be happy to help where I can!