Hoo boy, where do I begin? I stayed on board yesterday to pack and rest
up for our one day in Venice. I
originally wanted to stay a few extra days and travel around Italy, but I think
we are both ready to go home (however, Michael would be a stowaway on the ship
if he could get away with it). Besides,
being tourists is really hard and exhausting work!
Venice is a very old and ancient city, and according to tradition,
was founded in 421 AD by inhabitants from the neighboring mainland seeking
refuge from the savage Barbarians who conquered Italy after the fall of the
Roman Empire. The city was built over 118 flat islands in the Venice Lagoon,
all connected with canals and bridges. The
first government was established by the Doges in 697, but the construction of
the Doges’ Palace in what is today St. Mark’s Square did not begin until
814. The Basilica of St. Mark’s was
built in 834, but the first one was burned down; the one standing today was
built in the 11th century. During
the Crusades, Venice became an important trading center for shipping in the
Mediterranean and the East. Much
wealth and many works of art were taken to Venice as booty, especially from
Constantinople, such as the four bronze horses of St. Mark’s (the original
bronzes can now be seen in St. Mark’s museum, while today the four horses on
the Basilica’s facade are copies).
There are some memorable characters out of Venice. The journey of the Venetian merchant Marco Polo from Venice to China
is one of the most fascinating true stories of the Middle Ages (1271-95). His adventures and his meeting with Genghis
Khan are recounted in the book, “Il Milione.” Then there was Casanova, the irresistible
lover; his adventures are recounted in the book, “Memorie di Giacomo Casanova.”
There are no cars in the city proper.
I have been to Italy, but never to Venice. This was the one stop I was most looking forward
to on this entire trip. So the morning
dawns early, but not bright. There was a
heavy overcast hanging over the city as we entered the waterway that would take
us by St. Mark’s Square and eventually to our berth in the industrial section
of town. Standing outside on Deck 10
forward in the cool air, we were treated to our first sight of Venice. I wanted to pinch myself to make sure this
was real (I couldn’t help myself with the pinching bit). It was real alright, and there before us was
a maze of waterways, and many different type of watercraft plying the waters around
us without any consideration for this big behemoth ship moving among them. Christine, who has been to Venice many times,
pointed out the different buildings and sights.
We were all anxious and ready to abandon ship so we could go explore the
city.
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| Our first view of Venice |
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| Sharing the waterways with many different types of craft |
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| A side street |
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| Nice neighborhood |
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| An old hotel on the Grand Canal |
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| The gondola; they do not sing |
After much discussion about what to do and where to go,
we headed off to the People Mover (an automated elevated train) to get into the
city from the port. A shuttle bus drove
us from the port to the People Mover, which was a short distance. Nevertheless, the still suffering Gimpcateers
were grateful to have any motorized conveyance to help eat up the distance that
we would otherwise have to walk. The
People Mover dropped us at the Piazzale Roma, where a short walk took us to the
public “bus” station to begin our ride down the Grand Canal. The Vaporetti is Venice’s diesel-powered
waterbus. There are seats inside, but
most people stand as they cram as many people on as there is space to
stand. We were lucky to find seats as we
began our tour down the center of the city.
We were headed to the Guggenheim museum store in the
Dorsoduro section of town (Christine wanted to buy a gift for a friend). As we travelled the main street of Venice, we
could see beautiful palaces and hotels, houses and museums, some carefully restored
while others were shabby and crumbling. Off
the Grand Canal, we could see the side “streets” with foot bridges for crossing
and boats parked alongside buildings. Sharing
the waterways were gondolas, water taxis, and “trucks” that are used to deliver
all manner of goods and services from flowers and vegetables to construction
supplies.
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| Flower delivery boat |
At the midpoint of the Grand Canal is the Rialto Bridge,
which is the busiest shopping district in the city. This is where we got off and headed to the
Museum shop. Venice is a warren of
misaligned streets that vary in width.
You cannot walk a straight line here.
So we wove our way up and over (there are stairs on the bridges), made
right hand turns, made left hand turns.
We blindly followed Christine and wondered why anyone in their right
mind would think that a 10 minute walk really means 10 minutes. Dragging our tired bodies and aching knees,
we plodded on occasionally looking in store windows. There was glasswork – Venetian and Murano –
of all kinds, elaborate carnival masks, and Burano lace. We hit shopper’s paradise! When I get too many choices, I go into
sensory overload. I wanted to buy some
glass earrings, but could not make up my mind.
Then I thought, how about a necklace to go with the earrings? Michael was getting fidgety and was hungry
for pizza (although we hadn’t eaten for at least two hours). We finally found the shop Christine was
looking for and she made her purchase.
Now it was on to business! The business of finding the pizza restaurant
that was recommended. Retracing our
steps, we needed to go in the opposite direction from where we got off at the
Rialto Bridge. Our leader had faith and led
the way, stopping occasionally to ask for directions. Just a three minute walk (uh huh, rolling my
eyes). Just go over two bridges and turn
left….. We were ready to mutiny!
But
Christine did not give up and we eventually found Al Profeta Pizzeria (calle
Lunga San Barnaba, Dorsoduro). When in
Venice do as the Venetians do – eat pizza! We each ordered an individual pizza, except Barry ordered
the lasagna. The guys were happy, they got beer. We enjoyed our meal sitting outdoors in a
backyard courtyard. Toward the end of
the meal, it started to rain.
Being from
the Pacific Northwest, a little rain never stopped us. With our trusty bumpershoots deployed, we
wound our way through the streets to find the closest waterbus station to
continue our tour of the Grand Canal and eventual destination of St. Mark’s Square. The southern loop of the Grand Canal is where
we saw most of the historic monuments and churches as well as the big
hotels. The waterway opens into the San
Marco (St. Mark) Canal where we disembarked at St. Mark’s Square.
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| Waterbus stop |
The Venetians call St. Mark’s Square simply the
Piazza. It is lined on three sides by
splendid palaces. St Mark's square was
described by Napoleon as the most beautiful dining room in Europe. It is
the only true square of Venice that is deemed worthy of the name. The
Piazza is dominated by the Byzantine Basilica of St. Marks that is a
unique architectural masterpiece and that forms one side of St. Marks Square. Facing St. Marks Basilica with
your back to Piazza San Marco, to the right is an opening to sea and the bay of
San Marco which in the old days was the main entrance to the city. The Doges
Palace sits next to the Basilica.
Since it was raining, the Piazza was almost
deserted. People huddled under the
covered walkways in front of the shops.
Yes, there were the requisite pigeons, but even they had the good sense
to stay out of the rain. We wanted to go
to the Doges Palace, the original 9th century residence of the doges,
but the line was too long. The line to
get in the Basilica was also too long, but we spied a door that was for tour
groups to enter. Christine and I
approached the attendant and asked if we could go in this door instead of
standing in the long line because we had a case of bad kneeitis. Christine lifted her pants leg to show the
brace she had on her knee and voila, in we went. They guys couldn’t believe it!
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| St. Mark's Square; the Doges Palace on the right |
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| A nearly deserted Piazza |
We toured the Basilica where St. Mark’s body was buried and
can you say, WOW! The first church was
built in 830 but burned down in 976. The
Basilica as we know it today was built in the 11th century; almost everything
in it was booty from the countries bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea
from Turkey to Egypt. The magical gold
mosaic ceiling covers almost an acre.
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| Basilica of St. Mark |
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| Gold mosiac |
After
our tour of St. Mark’s we headed over to see the Bridge of Sighs. This famous bridge got its name supposedly
from the sighs of the inmates as they were led over the bridge to face either
torture or death.
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| Bridge of Sighs |
At this point, it was still raining and what is the fun
of being outside at St. Mark’s Square if one cannot sit down at the myriad of
tables and sip some coffee or wine. In
the movies, you see the square jammed with people. James Bond would sit at one of the cafes and ….
Oh my imagination can run wild with all that intrigue that has taken place here
in the movies. So the decision was to
return to the ship.
We boarded a very crowded waterbus back up the Grand
Canal and shortly realized that we had gotten on a local instead of an
express. What a looooong trip back to
the Piazzale Roma. We retraced our
earlier route and arrived back at the ship in time for cocktail hour. We were totally pooped. Michael and I begged off dinner as we had to
finish packing. Our wakeup call was for
3:30 am; there was a car waiting for us at 4:30 am to take us to the airport
for our 6:45 am flight home.
Once again, we had a short time to spend in such a
splendid place. Venice, too, deserves a
return trip.
