Swept Away to Ascoli Piceno: Rialto Mercato & San Martino Alps

Today was a bittersweet day as it was our last day in Venice but that means that we are able to move on to our next adventure! We spent our last day in Venice touring the Rialto Mercato, which is a whole square in Venice dedicated to outdoor markets of fruits, vegetables, fish, and other sea foods. It was amazing to see all of the fresh fruits and vegetables at such a cheap price and know that it was all grown locally and organically. The vendors at the stands were all very friendly and appreciated our attempts at asking for the different items in Italian. And while the vendors were very nice, they were quick to take advantage of the struggling American trying to figure out how to ask for a certain amount of an item and to speak the language in general. One of the vendors took a plastic bag and just started filling it with everything in his stand, handed it to one of our group members and then charged her for the whole bag when she maybe only wanted one or two of the items. Besides that, it was definitely fun to use the Italian we've learned and interact with the locals.

Rialto Mercato

Le Fragole

Pomodoro

Fragole y Mirtilli

Pesce

Polpo

Mele

Pesce

Venetian Man Filleting Fish

After touring the markets we took our last tour through Venice to learn about the different scandals that occurred back in the 1600's. We were taken through the old Red Light District which is where they essentially quarantined all of the prostitutes in Venice and made them live in their own section of the city. They were forced to wear certain clothing to identify themselves as prostitutes and were treated very poorly. There is even this one famous bridge in the district where the prostitutes would stand on and when boats would pass underneath they would lean over the bridge so their chests were up against it and the callers (? I don't quite know what to call them) would choose who they wanted.

Ponte de le Tette - Name of Bridge for Prostitutes

After our last tour we headed back to the hotel to prepare to head for San Martino in the Alps. As we got back to the hotel a HUGE thunder and lightning storm began with pouring rain just as we were about to board our water taxis back to the airport. Needless to say the last place I wanted to be during a thunder and lightning storm was on a boat in the middle of the Canal, but hey! I guess that's all part of the adventure.


Kate, Christine, Katharine, Dr. Jesse, Hannah, Kristina, Rachel - Water Taxi

We took a 3-hour bus ride to San Martino in the Alps which has the most breathtaking views of all of the mountains. The town looks almost like a town you would find in Switzerland with all of the intricate architecture. We got to the Alps around 6 pm so we went for a short walk around town before settling in for dinner at 7:30. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera with me to dinner so new "foody" picks but I can describe it! For our first course we had a Pasta Dish with Tomatoes and a Bechamel Sauce, delicious! Our second course consisted of Roastbeef with a cinammon sauce, and for dessert I had Creme Brulee. I really enjoyed the pasta dish, the cinnamon was an odd flavor with the roast beef, and the creme brulee was cold. (The pickiest girl in the world being a food critic) BUT, despite all the criticism it still wasn't bad.