Sitting on the Rooftop Terrace at Casa Caracol

Sitting on the Rooftop Terrace at Casa Caracol

Originally uploaded by darmorrow

Here’s the silk and cashmere shawl I bought at Azalea in Bellagio. It’s the perfect combination of materials. It’s not too heavy but it’s warm. I wear it often.

Azalea- The Silk of Lake Como, Italy

Okay, you should not go here if you don’t want to spend money. The store is in Bellagio which should be hint right away that money is involved.

They specialize in scarves, ties and shawls. Beautiful things. Bill bought a great tie, I bought two gorgeos scarves and an unbelievalbe silk and cashmere shawl. I wear it all the time. Every colour imaginable is there. And any colour combo.

The ladies and gentlemen have endless patience. You tell them what you’re looking for and they’ll start bringing merchandise out. If you pay in cash you get 10% off. Plus if you spend 160Euros you get the duty back. Very nice.

You’ll find the shop at Salita Serbelloni 31 in Bellagio. Tel and Fax: 031.951333/031.951180. Check out the goods online at www.azaleabellagio.com and email them at azaleabellagio@tin.it

There’s no shortage of silk shops in Bellagio but we found this to be a good one because of the 10% cash discount. Plus the variety was unbelievable.

Osteria Quatro Pass

We ate at this place the day before we left Varenna, Italy and I wish we’d discovered it sooner. The address is Via XX Settembre 20 and the phone is 034.181.5091. The house specialty is fresh fish. And it is absolutely fabulous. The service was great, the cook came out to say hi. Very nice.

It’s just a small place where the locals go. We had an appetizer, a bottle of wine, a bottle of water, 2 meals and 2 espressos. The bill came to 68 Euros. The fish was out of this world. Caught from the lake that morning. Go there and eat. You won’t be disappointed.

On the Way to Hotel Serenissima

On the Way to Hotel Serenissima

Originally uploaded by darmorrow

We walked by here everyday (before) and called it gondola alley. It was fun to see all the gondoliers and the empty, colourful gondolas. It was a good landmark to show us we were going the right way.

The Way to Hotel Serenissima

The Way to Hotel Serenissima

Originally uploaded by darmorrow

Just where you see the dragon with the umbrellas is a little street that you turn up. The hotel is just a short way up on the right side.

The Little Comforts at Hotel Serenissima

The Little Comforts at Hotel Serenissima

Originally uploaded by darmorrow

There was a nice little table where we could sit if we wanted and just next to that is the door to the bathroom.

Venetian Glass :-) at Hotel Serenissima

Venetian Glass

Originally uploaded by darmorrow

All the rooms have the chandeliers like this one. Some are a different colour. I’m sure they are the originals. Quaint.

The Windows at Hotel Serenissima

The Windows at Hotel Serenissima

Originally uploaded by darmorrow

You can see that we had two windows and a full length mirror in the room. It wasn’t a big room but it was complete with a wardrobe and bathroom with shower and one of those tubs you can sit in.

The Room at Hotel Serenissima

The Room at Hotel Serenissima

Originally uploaded by darmorrow

All the rooms are pretty much the same deco if the two we’ve seen are an example. We had a window that opened into a courtyard in the back where you can see the other hotel they own. That’s the Hotel al Codega.

Hotel Serenissima in Venice

This hotel is in a good location and is easy to get to and find. It’s between Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge.

The address is San Marco, 4486 -30124N Venezia. The actual street is Sestiere di San Marco, 44. The telephone number is 041.520.0011; fax 041.522.3292; email info@hotelserenissima.it

It’s run by a family and Mama still works there. She’s the hostess that serves you breakfast in the morning. She only speaks Italian. Robert, her son, manages the Hotel right behind them and also pops in to the Serenissima. He speaks English.

The room cost us 150 Euros for the night which isn’t bad by Venice standards. The rooms are simple. We’ve stayed there twice and it seems that twin beds are the thing. If you want to go to the trouble of pushing them together, go ahead. But if you’re lucky, you’ll get one of the doubles.

The price includes breakfast which is not necessarily a deal. I’ve never tasted worse coffee - seriously- so think about tea or hot chocolate…The bread basket comes with a couple of hard buns and two very nice croissants. If there are two of you, you get two croissants and two jams…The buns are almost inedible and you can put that gruyere cream cheese in the triangles on them. Yum. The orange juice is from something that probably doesn’t have any oranges in it at all.

But hey- this is Venice and who cares about breakfast. The first thing we did was go around the corner for a cup of great espresso and a pastry. I’m not much for sweets in the morning but there was no way I could eat the breakfast. Sorry Mama. She’s a lovely lady. The first time we were there my sister got one of the waiters to take a picture of the three of us - Bill was off somewhere. When we got back to The Hague, she mailed her a copy of the photo. It was a nice photo. Anyway Mama has been sending us Christmas cards ever since. That was in 2004 and we stayed for 5 days. I don’t remember the breakfasts being so bad..

Anyway, the rooms are clean and the beds are comfy. I would recommend the place because of that and the location. And Mama is really nice.

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