Alphabet Challenge: V

I’ve signed onto The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2021.

The challenge is to blog the whole alphabet in April and write at least 100 words on a topic that corresponds to the letter of the day. 

Every day, excluding Sundays, I’m blogging about Places I Have Been. The last post will be on Friday, April 30 when I finally focus on the letter Z. 

V: Venice

Before we headed for a Villa in Tuscany, (See: I: Italy) my husband and I and our friends, Bill and Mary Ann, had reservations to spend three nights at a monastery in a residential section of Venice. 

When we arrived in Venice, we couldn’t find the monastery. It was getting dark. We had the name and directions but no address. Thinking we were in the general vicinity, we stopped people who briskly passed us, perhaps on their way home from work. Most shrugged their shoulders as we showed them the name of the monastery on a sheet of paper: Casa Vacanza Madonna dell’Orto Patronato Pio IX

This was before cell phones so we hadn’t any way to contact the place. We didn’t see any phone booths nearby. Finally, a young man pointed to a large wooden door behind us. Our accommodations were hidden in plain sight. 

We rang the bell, and after a long wait, a nun opened the heavy door letting us into a spacious courtyard. After we registered, we each were handed two towels: a thread-bare bath and face towel. Our rooms were spartan: two twin beds, a desk and chair and a wooden wardrobe to hang our clothes. Thankfully, each room had its own bathroom and shower. 

The next morning, we shared the breakfast room with two other couples and the nuns, about six or seven, in full habit. They ate together at a long table in the corner of the room. 

On our breakfast table sat a basket filled with slices of Italian bread, pastries, packets of cheese, and fresh fruit. Butter, jam, and honey were placed alongside the basket. Over on a sideboard against the wall were glasses, cups, and utensils along with water, hot tea, a pitcher of milk and bowl of sugar. 

At the very end of the sideboard, the nuns left their cloth napkins neatly folded for reuse as they left the dining room. They laid a slip of paper with their name on top of each. 

We stayed at the monastery for three nights. During the day we hiked all over Venice. 

In the evenings, we ambled back to one of the trattorias in the neighborhood that we had scoped out during our earlier walk. 

Our lodging may have been simple but was more than adequate, and the location was exceptional.

Casa Vacanza Madonna dell’Orto Patronato Pio IX