September 01, 2005

造訪威尼斯的理由 A Reason to Visit Venice

威尼斯,美麗的水都,一個令我夢縈魂牽的城市。
Venice, a place that I never get tired of.

搬到義大利將近五年,離家不遠的水都,向來都是我出門呼吸新鮮空氣的首選。最初的兩年,純粹為了體會水都各季節的美,浪漫春漾,艷陽烈夏,醉人秋色,蕭瑟寒冬,每次踏進水都,總有番不同的感受。當我慢慢熟悉了這個萬種風情的城市,拜訪好友、參觀展覽、甚至購物,我在水都的活動,漸漸多了起來。
I’ve moved to Italy for almost five years. Venice is not far from Vicenza and is always one of my favorites if I want to go out for some fresh air. At the first two years, I went there to experience her beauty in various seasons, the romantic spring, the hottish summer, the fascinating autumn and chilly winter. There’s always something new every time I went to Venice. When I started to get to know the city, the must-do list of my Venice visit also started to grow.

我酷愛在水都裡散步閒晃,除了享受琳瑯滿目的商店櫥窗,我也愛上了在水都迷路的錯置感受,徒步穿梭在大街小巷之間,別有一番滋味。
I especially enjoy wandering around in Venice. Apart from window-shopping, I fell in love with the get-lost feeling. Every part of Venice brings me a different kind of feeling.

約莫三年前某個春末夏初的日子,我和外子一如往常,在早上十點多抵達威尼斯聖塔路西亞火車站。還記得那天造訪水都的目的,是要參觀某座還沒去過的博物館。時間上尚且充裕,我們便決定先逛街,順便找個地方打理午餐,下午再去博物館。出了火車站左轉以後一直順著路走,過了第一座橋,就會來到一個小市集,是當地人與觀光客採購食品的地點之一。這一天,也許是天意,順著風飄來一陣咖啡香,外子轉頭跟我說:「妳聞到了嗎?」「嗯!好香啊,去看看吧!」就這麼,我們聞香而至,來到了一間不甚起眼的咖啡店。
About three years ago, a sunny day around late spring early summer, Michele and I arrived Venice Santa Lucia around 10AM, nothing too different from our usual visit. I remembered that we went on purpose to see a museum. We’ve got plenty of time, so we decided to walk around, find a place for lunch, and then go to the museum in the afternoon. We turned left after we got out of the train station and kept walking along the main street. Passing the first bridge we arrived a small open-air market where locals and tourists do their grocery shopping. Along with the wind came a very nice smell of coffee. “Did you smell it? It smells so nice. Let’s go and check.” So, following our nose, we arrived a tiny and old coffee shop.

威尼斯的咖啡,向來都比其他地方的咖啡來得更甘甜。你也許會問我,為什麼?也許是水質,也許亦是水都風情所引發的感受,不過來到Caf? Costarica,甘醇的濃縮咖啡,讓刁嘴的我第一次感到驚艷!走近店裡,濃郁的咖啡香迎面而來,小小的吧台前,滿滿是一袋袋的咖啡豆,向前望去,店主正在另一個角落忙著烘培咖啡豆。點了兩杯濃縮咖啡,啜了一小口,口感竟是如此地甘醇柔順,比起我所鍾愛的I牌咖啡還要順口,這下子,好奇心旺盛又健談的外子,不由地與店主攀談了起來。
For some unknown reason, coffee in Venice tastes nicer than any other place. It’s probably the water, or the feeling induced by one’s emotion. But when I first came to Caf?’ Costarica, the sweet and smooth espresso was just a marvel. Entering the shop, a strong smell of coffee came to my face. Sacks of coffee beans piled in front of the bar. Looking forward, someone was busy toasting coffee at a corner. I thought he must be the owner. We ordered two espressos. A small sip of it, the smoothness and sweetness of the coffee spread in our mouth, much better than Illy. When I was still wondering about the coffee, Michele already started talking to the owner.
這家咖啡店開設於30年代,在威尼斯當地是很有口碑的老店。店主卡米羅對咖啡有著一股熱忱,原本就在咖啡業裡打轉的他,即使在退休以後,仍然靠著之前的人脈關係,從各地篩選、進口咖啡豆,而店裡的咖啡,全部由卡米羅烘培而成,絕對不假外人之手。店裡出售的幾種配方,又以「Caff? della Sposa」這種直譯為「新娘咖啡」,係由八種頂級阿拉比卡豆調配而成的配方最為出名,也是我的最愛;據店主表示,之所以如此命名,乃因為混合各種阿拉比卡豆而呈現的甘甜,就如新嫁娘般地甜美柔順。新娘咖啡無疑是這家店的招牌特色,店裡的某個角落,放著各式各樣的報導與獎狀,慕名而來者不在少數,甚至有人為了她特地從奧地利南下採購。
The caf? was open in the 1930s. It’s quite a famous old caf? in Venice. The owner Camillo is very enthusiastic about coffee that even when he got retired from the coffee industry he makes used of the network he built to select and import coffee beans. He bakes and toasts the coffee beans on his own. There’re several blends in Caf? Costarica, and the “caff? della sposa” is for sure the most famous one (and of course my favorite). It’s a blend of eight different kinds of arabica beans of supreme quality. It was named “the coffee of the bride” to imply its sweet and smooth quality. It is for sure the specialty of Caf? Costarica, and at one corner of the caf? lie various newspaper cuttings and reports from all over the world. Some people even come all the way from Austria just to purchase its coffee.

自三年前的那個日子以後,這間咖啡店成了我到威尼斯的必經之處,而新娘咖啡成了我家的必需品,在冰箱的咖啡罐快要見底的時候,我和外子都會互相提醒,「是該再訪水都了!」
After that day, Caf? Costarica has become one of my must-go whenever I go to Venice, and the caff? della sposa has become one of our necessities at home. When we’re about to finish coffee, we will always remind each other “it’s time to go to Venice!”

11 comments:

Bär said...

光看你洗鍊的文字就覺得咖啡好香捏...

DuduAline said...

Dear Thelma
看了妳的這篇文章 好像又把我拉回去威尼斯的景物當中
我喜歡威尼斯 它就像是一個少女一樣 靜靜觀看過來人往 儘管幾世紀過去了 它還是保有它的獨特氣質^_____^

Anonymous said...

妳住離威尼斯那麼近~~真羨慕^^
還有好香的咖啡可喝~~I牌的確有點酸!!

Anonymous said...

哇~~買咖啡的距離可以到威尼斯
真是羨慕你呢~~
威尼斯還是歐洲唯一個城市我一年中拜訪兩次
(英國不算啦~~因為我在那裡念書)
第一次和當時還是男友的老公去
大概因為想要看完所有的東西
我的感覺是要累死在這個美麗的城市
第二次和朋友去
可能之前都看過了
反而多了點悠哉的感覺
可以坐在運河旁或是躺在公圓草坪上
甚至可以整個下午泡在咖啡店裡
我超愛威尼斯那種小小的窄巷
好像隨便走都可以發現新世界
也許很多人說威尼斯太商業化
但是~~我還是超愛它的呢!!!

p.s 想要問你喔~~在咖啡廳裡,很多人點一種酒, 顏色大概是透明橘色或是紅色(通常還會附一顆橄欖), 喝起來甜甜的, 像雞尾酒的感覺, 連早上都很多人點, 你知道它的名字嗎?? 我照點了一次, 我很喜歡, 但是就不知道它的名字ㄋㄟ

Anonymous said...

好喜歡你的文字
很優雅 :)

Anonymous said...

在去威尼斯之前,看到你的網站。
我們真的去找到了這家咖啡。。
先喝了兩杯,真的很棒。。我老公認為。比後來在羅馬喝的什麼名店的都棒。
忍不住買了一堆扛回台灣。。

只是老闆娘不會英文,我們和她玩比手畫腳玩了半天。。
她大概很奇怪,為什麼會有兩個東方人,指定要250G一包,一口氣包了8包,還不讓她磨好呢。。

真謝謝你,讓我們找到這麼棒的咖啡。
也給了我們另一個重回威尼斯的理由。

Thelma said...

貓咪,

謝謝妳的留言. 我本來還在懷疑這樣子敘述不知道人家找不找得到, 謝謝妳解除了我的疑惑, 也很高興妳和妳老公喜歡他家的咖啡.

妳是我在背包客棧上看到的貓咪嗎?

Anonymous said...

Dear Thelma,

是喵咪喔。。原來兩個thelma是一樣的喔。兩個相片一時連不起來呢。
的確是很難找啦,我是先在Veniceexplorer找地圖,然後把地圖印好帶去,再加上一點誤打誤撞才找到。。

拿回來送人,每個人都說。。好香喔。。。

喵咪

Thelma said...

呃...有差那麼多啊?! 我老公就已經說我是千面人了, 每張照片看起來都不一樣, 妳這樣一講又讓我更...沮喪

不過話說回來, 你們還真是有心啊!

Sonata said...

我們預計七月份要去義大利旅遊.本身也是咖啡愛好者,由於採跟團方式,自由活動的時間可能有限,可否請教您推薦的這家咖啡店位置在哪裡?有沒有明顯可辨識的地標或是比較好找到的路線?
謝謝!

Thelma said...

Sonata,

從火車站前的那條路往前走(在火車站同側),過了第一座橋以後會在街上開始看到一些賣蔬果的攤子,從橋走過去大概不到兩百公尺,在左手邊。

老闆幾年前過世了,咖啡雖然還是很好喝,不過還是有點變了...

如果跟團,自由活動的時間大部分在聖馬可廣場附近,要摸到這邊大概很難(加上你路不熟),我還是會建議你放棄。