Category: Venice

This was my first time departing from Venice Airport and the lounge won the 2025 Priority Pass lounge of the year award, so my expectations were reasonably high. It’s the sole lounge in the airport, so it’s used by airlines and lounge access schemes.

There was quite an impressive selection of foods, although, as a slight spoiler, the quality really wasn’t there with a lot of this. The meat burek was bland and stodgy, although the cous cous and rice were rather pleasant.

The falafel was quite dry, this tasted like a lot of generic food dumped into a fryer.

It all looks exciting and decadent, but there are a lot of bland tasting stuff in this selection as well.

There’s a lot of pineapple in those containers and that was one of the stars of the show, with the pastries all being a little generic. The cakes were OK, nothing overly exciting.

In terms of decoration though, this is a very nice lounge.

All of the drinks are served by a staff member which feels like a slightly odd arrangement. Peroni was the only beer, so that was a disappointment. The food here looks good, and the pineapple was pleasant, as was the rice, but the rest was dry and not really very exciting. Although that’s not to say that I didn’t eat it all of course, as I’m quite greedy…. Those potato slices could have done with actually cooking as well.

There were lots of different rooms located around the lounge.

I choose to sit here, as I like higher tables and chairs, with the added advantage that there were plenty of power outlets here as well.

It was all perfectly pleasant and it’s a very large lounge in terms of the size, although I imagine during the summer months this can get absolutely packed when it’s in the main tourist season. The staff were all friendly and it was spotlessly clean, they had more cleaners than I can remember seeing in a lounge before.

The food and drink was a little mediocre as I’ve mentioned, I suspect they’ve tried to go for the option of having lots of selection rather than any focus on quality. However, since I gained access with my unlimited lounge card, I was pleased to ensure my devices were powered and I had some food and drink. All really rather lovely.

The breakfast of champions, some tomatoes and crisps from the local Carrefour supermarket.

In the background is the Rialto Bridge which might look serenely permanent today, but this crossing has had some sub-optimal times over the centuries. The first crossing here was a twelfth century pontoon bridge which, being essentially a glorified floating raft, was never going to win prizes for stability. Its wooden successor of 1255 did a little better until 1310 when it collapsed during Bajamonte Tiepolo’s revolt, which must have been a lively afternoon. A later version soldiered on until 1444 when it gave up entirely under the weight of spectators watching the wedding procession of the Marquis of Ferrara, so I suppose that could be defined as memorable and then fire then damaged it in 1514 because Venice likes to keep things interesting.

After all that melodrama, the city perhaps rather sensibly approved Antonio da Ponte’s stone design, completed in 1591, and it has stubbornly refused to fall down ever since, as if determined to prove it can behave like a proper bridge. It’s got shops on both sides of it today and it has become the major bridge in the city and something of a tourist destination. Although there are no benches around here, so don’t come here expecting to eat tomatoes.

I didn’t have that long in Venice, it was a morning rail journey to my next destination of Trieste, but here’s some photos of that little morning meander.

After posting some photos on Facebook, I was fortunate that Ian (the one that’s important in CAMRA) noticed my post and commented that there was a craft beer bar in Venice. I had managed to miss this, so I embarked on a thirty minute walk to find it.

Now, this looks rather lovely, a joy to behold in Italy.

I had just eaten pizza, but they had some snacks available here.

It wasn’t that big a venue, but it seemed easy to just sit at the bar. The service was friendly and personable, so the environment felt welcoming. There was a variety of Italian and international beers, with a range of styles covered and a strong presence of Belgian beers.

My first beer was the Mary Hoppins from Il Santo Bevitore, an Italian brewer. It was a decent beer, being hazy, hoppy, floral and quite fluffy.

My second beer was Sour #1 from Evoqe Brewing and it’s a delight to see an Italian sour. Punchy lemon was the main element, but there was other fruitiness going on there. It was balanced and like a decadent Hooch, as if Hooch isn’t decadent enough….

This bar is certainly one that deserves to be supported, it’s on-trend, modern, welcoming and has a well curated selection of different beers available. The prices were moderate and there was food for those who needed some snacks whilst working through the beer options.