Venice/Veneto Archives - Gazing and Grazing

Venice and the Prosecco Road

September 20th, 2017

Prosecco and Venice go hand in hand. Since Venice is just a one hour train ride from Conegliano, and the start of Italy's "Prosecco Road", it's easy enough to explore the area especially if you have a car. We drove down to Valdobbiadene, the town on the other end of the Prosecco Road, from Cortina. As we headed south, the jagged peaks of the Dolomites turn to green slopes planted with glera, the grapes that make prosecco. To find out more about this increasingly popular aperitif, we spent...

Lago di Braies in Italy’s Dolomites

May 28th, 2017

Faced with a cold, wet day in Italy's Dolomites, we opted to visit Lago di Braies and were pleasantly surprised. Our B&B hostess recommended we visit this alpine lake given its easy access and knowing that rain would keep us from doing longer walks. So even though I'm sure the place would be stunning on a clear day, the mist and drizzle didn't make the views any less spectacular.

Also known as the "Pearl of the Dolomites", Lago di Braies is located around a 45 minute drive north of...

Walking in Italy’s Dolomites: Lagazuoi to Scotoni

May 21st, 2017

With just three days in Italy's Dolomites, the walk from Rifugio Lagazuoi to Rifugio Scotoni was a key highlight for us. This 11km or so walk starts with ride on a cable car up into the clouds to the alpine hut, Rifugio Lagazuoi before descending down to another charming alpine hut. If the place is somewhat familiar, it's because it shows up in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only and the views are indeed stunning. The Rifugio Lagazuoi also serves a good lunch so we had this to fill us...

Cinque Torri – Short, Pleasant Walk in the Dolomites

April 3rd, 2017

When the skiing season is over, the Dolomites turns into a picturesque location for great walks. Easy access by car from Verona or Venice and ample choice of good restaurants and lodgings, makes this a very comfortable destination. The walks are varied from relatively easy short walks to multi-day hikes. The latter is not something we're prepared to do so we focused on a few key walks that we knew we'd be able to manage. One of the easier and shorter walks in Italy's Dolomites is that...

Le Calandre, near Padua, is Worth the Detour

November 6th, 2016

Helmed by one of Italy's best chefs, Le Calandre is worth the detour to this modern Italian restaurant located in Rubano, on the outskirts of Padua. This was possibly the most fun 3-star Michelin experience I've had because the staff were incredibly fun and witty, very much in line with their boss, and the food was good, modern and yet, not too precious. Given the chance I would definitely come back here again.

We made the one hour drive to Le Calandre from Verona. We figured that we...