Italy has a phenomenal coffee culture. Developed over decades the coffee experience here is one of the best you’ll find.

Honestly with the absolutely amazing coffee around here I shouldn’t even be darkening the doorstep of a Starbucks in Venice. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what Italians think of Starbucks.

So I venture in only as an intrepid researcher looking to compare a Starbucks in Italy to a Starbucks in Canada.

So if I compare to Caffe Citra Di Italia a few blocks down the road? God awful.

If I compare it to a Starbucks in Vancouver? The same, God awful.

Coffee culture here in Italy is a stark reminder of how good coffee can actually be. And how we as Canadians accept the mediocre swill that companies like Starbucks and Tim Hortons give us every day.

i think it’s time we stop accepting this crap.

Let’s start a coffee revolution!

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It’s been quite a day in Venice.

We are up to 23000 steps, (27000 in Merilynn’s shorter legs steps) 3 bottles of wine, 4 Bacari and 20 ciccheti and a couple gallons of sparkling water and at 10 pm we find ourselves still needing a small snack before passing out.

Throughout the day we have been quite careful in our eating choices, doing a good job of avoiding the low quality, high priced tourist restaurants often found near the popular attractions.

But as we close our first full day here we let our attention slip a little and sat down at Ristorante Convivio without doing a quick google review check.

Whoops!

We didn’t want anything heavy this late. They didn’t have an antipasto plate with meats and cheeses, only one or the other.

They did have Carpaccio on the menu however, thinly sliced raw beef tenderloin served with cheese, arugula and balsamic. Well that’s how it’s traditionally served at any rate.

This was not Carpaccio as we know it.

That’s thinly sliced meat alright. But it’s not raw beef. In fact, the server was rather taken aback when we asked why it wasn’t raw beef. He seemed rather shocked anyone would eat beef raw.

But if you looked past the fact it wasn’t at all what you would expect when you ordered Carpaccio, it was actually fine.

The meat, whatever it was, tasted ok. A mild salami of some kind. The cheese, while a young Grana, still tasted great. Drizzle a little balsamic on there and it was actually a decent enough little snack.

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