Italy - Lido

http://www.venicelido.it/

For most of the places that I am covering from our Italy trips, I went with the nephew of my aunt's late husband. There were no blood ties, but it was kind of like they were cousins.

Venice was the exception. GianLuigi is an actual cousin, and he loves Venice and goes there all the time,  so you could not have a better guide.

I will write about Venice proper next week, but as part of that day he took me over to Lido.

"Lido" is an Italian word for beach, which is probably how it came to mean a public pool or beach in English, which is certainly how you get the lido deck (the deck with the pool) on cruise ships.

Lido di Venezia is an island in the lagoon. You get there via vaporetto - a water taxi or bus.

People expect it to be crowded, but I think it depends on when you go. If you go at the time of the Venice Film Festival, it would certainly be crowded. If you go during August, when everyone takes off for the beach, it would probably be crowded. I was there in October, and although the skies were blue, and it wasn't really cold, it was practically deserted.

When you travel there are moments where it really hits you that you have gone far away. I had one of those moments on the beach here. Previously every time that I had been at a beach I was looking at the Pacific. Here I realized I was looking at the Adriatic, and that I was on the other side of the world.

We walked around the beach a little, and down tree-lined avenues going past hotels that were quiet, even if that is not their normal mode. We stopped for lunch at a little cafe where I had chicken, and the side dish was gnocchi with quattro formaggi sauce. When we make gnocchi at home, it is the main course, and I had never had quattro formaggi before, though it is really good - I highly recommend it.

There was a very peaceful feeling here. I don't know that everyone will have the same experience, but for me Lido was a perfect part of a perfect day. And that's kind of being dishonest, because if I think about the full day, I can remember that the train ride back was really crowded, or that the constant going up and down over bridges over canals and the cobblestones in Venice proper wears you out. I mentally know that, but when I look back on the day it feels golden and beautiful, and Lido may have been the most golden part of all.