Outstanding Venice

Back street Venice
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The following morning, after a formal tour of the property, Fabio took us to a bus where we went on to Florence to catch the train to Venice. We were very pleased to get on this train, as there were many trains cancelled that day due to a strike.

Arriving in Venice was like arriving in a different country. No cars, no bikes, NO MOTORINI!!, just people walking or boating. Much silence and beauty. The whole feel of the place was different. The architecture was baroque in the main, with a different look. Every Italian place we have stayed in so far has had tiles everywhere, but the hotel in Venice had deep red carpet and even the walls were covered in cloth. The buildings are all ancient and the floor is wavy like the water in the canal. You have to walk up hill and down dale to just get across the room!!

Wonderful musice in a wonderful setting
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It was amazing to realize the size and power of ancient Venice. This place, after the fall of Rome, basically boomed on the trade from the East and established itself as a world power, independent from the Church in Rome. The duke or Doge and the form of government and justice that they established was not Roman law, but was a very successful and prosperous society for 400 years.

After just wandering around St Mark’s Piazza for some time, just taking the magic of the place in both in day light and even more after dark was an experience. Negotiating the back streets is also an experience and just finding our hotel took us a while. There are no cars to worry about, but some of the lanes are little more than a metre wide and the buildings are tall. We finally figured out that there is a numbering system by block and used this to find our way to a very dark back street where our hotel door appeared.

This gave me an idea for the roof above the stairs at our place... Yeah right!! Was not meant to take photos in the palace, but snapped this one of the roof above the stairs...
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The piazza after dark is amazing with all the lighting on the buildings around it and the music from the various restaurants in the piazza and the people all with a seeming happiness to be in this place. Speaking of the people, this is the only draw back to Venice for me. There are millions of them, and they are pushing prams and people out of the way and shouting in very strange languages. Mostly European, but at times, I found it overwhelming, combined with the heat, which made a lot of people grumpy as well. Just too many people, all tourists. Some obvious honeymooners with stars in their eyes, other very grumpy couples with visible wars going on.

Kathy pensively looking up the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge. She just loved every moment in Venice.
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The Doge’s Palace was an amazing place. Fancy having the jail attached. Justice was very swift here – a court heard your case in private, gave the judgement and if guilty, off you went then and there across the Bridge of Sighs to a cell, so close to the huge opulence of the Doge’s Palace, with gold and fantastic frescos everywhere.

We also visited the Rialto Bridge, which is the famous bridge over the Grand Canal. It was a bit of let down for us, as it was very crowded, and well, it was a bridge with shops on it, but much smaller and with less "presence" than the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

Gondola on the Grand Canal. Too steep for us at 80 Euros for 40 minutes. We spent the money on our meal instead..
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The duomo was different. It was SO Baroque. The ceiling was virtually completely tiled in gold mosaic, so much so, it gave off a gold glow. Kathy was a bit put out by the display of looted goods from Constantinople that were displayed there. It was impressive, with golden candle sticks over a metre high, ornately carved in intricate detail etc. There was also the golden altar, which was about 4m by 2m and all gold with huge precious stones on it, rubies, emeralds, you name it. All this stuff was looted by Venetian Crusaders from the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople. It seemed so contrary to so many Christian principles. The guide book called it possibly the lowest point of Christianity up until TV Evangelism!!

St Mark's Piazza. Wonderful place.. The size of two football fields.
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Our ticket the Doge’s Palace gave us free entry to other museums, so we took advantage of this and spent a while browsing one. It turned out to be death by museum for Kathy and she was as anxious to exit as I was earlier from the street markets!

The other impressive thing about Venice is the glass from local islands. Some of the shop displays are fantastic. Also the masks from the Carnevale are everywhere and also some of these are works of art.

We had memorable dinner by a canal, which was wonderful and VERY expensive, but worth it for the memory and the experience itself.

A dinner to remember, both for the ambience and the bill!!
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After a tour of the Grand Canal the next day, we boarded the train for Milan, with mixed feelings about Venice. Wonderful place, just too many tourists for me, but having said that, I would return. The reason there are so many tourists is that it is unique and wonderfully beautiful in its own way and so well preserved since the 1300s and 1400s. It gives a fantastic window into life at that time.