My Escapes Italy Venice Floating Worlds - Venice, Murano, Burano, Torcello Munch 'n' Brunch in Venice

Munch 'n' Brunch in Venice

Eating around in Venice can be terribly expensive. But there is a way around the heavy prices if you're a budget traveler.
On this trip, I purposely focused on cheap food. Food stalls, street food etc.

The finest restaurants are in the Rialto and Saint Mark's Square areas.
If you want to burn money, then they're the top places to go. Expect crowds. Despite the prices, plenty of people have money.

But, as mentioned, I focused on cheaper, simpler foods and drinks during this trip...

The very first thing I tasted in Venice was a wicked mojito cocktail.

It tasted like parsley. Can you imagine?

Nothing like the typical lemon & mint leaves drink, but one full with crushed ice and a strong parsley-like flavour.

At first, I thought either it's a rip-off or a locally "tuned" mojito - Venetian style. Yay!

The sales doris (cute blondie) said it was mojito. But the "mint leaves" tasted weird. Cross-over between parsley and mint leaves?

My mojito was really 90 % crushed ice with bear minimum traces of rum, scattered green leaves everywhere and some lime juice.

(It wasn't bad, but I would have love to sip my favourite piña colada, rather).

The stall where I bought the drink was overflowing with a selection of 100 % natural fruit smoothies. Prepared on spot, in front of everyone's eyes.

I skipped the good-looking fruits this time. The prices were terribly high considering the humble simplicity of the products. One could simply buy the fruits at a local supermarket.

The sight of the freshly cut fruit chunks made me think of gemstones.

Sipping my mojito, walking to my hotel, I stumbled across a cheap pizza seller.

Italian pizzas are rather simple, but we've all gotten used to those American-style over-enriched ones.

A small slice cost me 2 EUR, which can be considered "cheap" in Venice. It could easily score above 4-5 EUR in the central parts. That's only for a thin slice!

I don't consider myself a fast food fan, but not too far away from my hotel was a McDonlad's. Yes, there actually is a McDonald's in Venice.

Oh my God!

There's none on Antarctica, nor in the Vatican, but there is one in Venice.

At that particular Venice McDonald's, I was shocked at the sight of a guy walking in with his two huge black dogs. And shamelessly, he spend about 20 minutes at the counter with the canines occasionally looking over the counter.

Tail waggin', diggie sniffin', but at least there was no barking. No-one was bothered by this.
Hey, it's Italy!

I subsequently visited this McDonald's for the sake of the free WiFi connection. The only one I could find in the area at that time.

You'll find the McDonald's at the Calle del Pistor 3885 in Cannaregio.

As you can see above - Venice also offers wide varieties of pasta. To buy and take come...

In central Venice, I also saw lots and lots of sweets shops. Italy is a great place for pastry, sweets.

Looking around was enjoyable, but I avoided the "fatteners". It was kind-of-like a real life museum.

The marzipan varieties, chocolates, cookies and others looked very inviting for a sweet-o-holic like myself, but I held myself back!

I was standing there for long minutes, contemplating the products and admiring the creativity of the manufacturers.

These too were terribly expensive.
Once I'd start biting into one, I'd head down that road of wanting to devour the shop's entire "collection".

Look at these "cables" below...

At the end of my first day, I tasted the local beer. Yes, Venice has its own beer!

Birra Venezia ranked average on my personal scale.

It's not like a fine German beer, but it's less bitter and more delicious than the Madeiran Coral, the Catalonian San Miguel or the Chinese Tsingtao.

The Birra Venezia wasn't too bitter, but it slipped down my throat quite easily.

I found out later that Venetian beer production dates back to 1835...

Here's the Birra Venezia manufacturer, whose main office is actually found in central Venice.

Wherever I travel, I just have to get a taste of the local beer - provided that there is one!

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