‘vacation’ Category
Venice: Wrap-up
On Sunday, day three, we spent the whole morning and early afternoon getting to our ship, the new Emerald Princess. We just missed the bus in town and had to wait half and hour for the next one. There were lots of people (like us) boarding the bus with suitcases so we were worried about space, but we all fit. After arriving in Venice we wheeled our luggage the mile or so to the cruise terminal. We were later told there was a complimentary shuttle bus, but we never found it. After checking in at the terminal, going through security, dropping off our luggage, and checking out our room, we headed back out to Venice for some more sight-seeing.
Monday was our fourth and final day in Venice, and we woke up to overcast skies and light rain. We didn’t mind too much since we had three days of perfect weather, but most of the other passengers were probably a bit disappointed since they didn’t have much time in Venice. The ship sailed at 1:30pm, and it was a very scenic sail-away… especially since the top deck of our ship was the tallest point in all of Venice, towering above all the buildings. The rain and haze didn’t allow for any truly great photos, but that didn’t stop me from trying!
Venice: St. Mark’s Square and Belltower
After our tour of the Doge’s Palace we explored St. Mark’s Square for a while, including taking a ride to the top of the Campanile (belltower) for some amazing views of Venice (a photo of the belltower can be seen in the blog entry on the Doge’s Palace). The original belltower built over 1,000 years ago, unexpectedly collapsed in 1904, and was re-built as an exact replica of the original in 1912 (though somehow I doubt the original had an elevator!).
There’s also the time-honored tradition of feeding the pigeons in the square, which Kathie thoroughly enjoyed. As if the tourists don’t feed them enough, Venice feeds them every morning (very early) which is probably quite a sight since there are thousands of them.
When evening arrived we had our pre-arranged sunset gondola serenade. We knew going in that the gondola rides in Venice are purely for tourists, and overly expensive, but it seemed silly to go all the way there and not give it a try. We were all loaded up 6-per-gondola, into a little flotilla of 9 gondolas, where one (supposedly in the center) had the serenader who sang and played an accordian, amplified with a microphone and speaker. The ride was very peaceful as it goes through the side canals and you see a lot of the residences. The end of the ride passes into the Grand Canal and all the gondolas spread out so they are no longer one long line but rather a large grouping. It makes quite a sight, no wonder so many pictures of our group were taken. The gondola ride wasn’t really that spectacular — it’s tough to be romantic when there are 4 other people in the boat with you. Plus we’d seen most of the same views from walking around Venice and taking the vaporetto through the Grand Canal several times. It is a nice experience to do once, but not something we’d care to repeat.
Venice: Doge’s Palace
After St. Mark’s we headed to Doge’s (Duke’s) Palace for our Secret Itinerary tour. This needs to be booked in advance and sells out quickly (we booked directly with the palace over the phone to avoid mark-ups by ticket agencies). The Palace was the seat of Venice’s government for many centuries. The secret itinerary covers the third and fourth floors that other tourists and groups are not allowed to visit, including the various offices of the bureaucracy, prisons, attic. Our guide was excellent and as we walked through the palace rooms, explained what each was used for — where scribes made copies of official documents, where the Grand Chancellor collected and spent Venice’s money, and of course, the torture chamber and prison cells.
We also heard the story of Casanova’s imprisonment for over a year and his escape from the Palace, and how the largest room in the palace (made to seat 1500 people) was able to support its high, beautifully decorated ceiling with no columns for support. We even toured the attic above the giant room and saw the elaborate structure of supports (built by the ship-makers guild) holding the ceiling up. We learned about the Mouths of Truth, which were scattered through Venice almost like postboxes. Anyone was able to slip a letter into the mouth accusing someone else of crimes. These letters had to be signed since they were taken very seriously and if the charge was found to be false, the accuser could be put to death. Each mouth was for a specific crime — the one we saw in Doge’s Palace was for tax evasion. Two others were missing from the wall – they were destroyed by Napoleon since they were in the shape of Lions, the symbol of the Republic of Venice, which Napoleon conquered. After the secret tour, we were able to walk through the rest of the palace on our own. We found it very useful to have a guidebook (Frommer’s Portable Venice, from our local library) that contained information on the walking tour of Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica.
No photography permitted inside the Doge’s Palace either for whatever reason.
Venice: St. Mark’s Basilica
The central attraction of Venice is St. Mark’s Square (or Piazza San Marco as it’s called there). Before the cruise, we made free online reservations for entry to St. Mark’s Basilica at 9:45. This means once we arrived, we showed our confirmation and skipped the long line of tourists waiting for entry. Here’s a photo we took of the front of the Basilica, which shows the ornate Byzantine style of architecture:
The basilica, built about 1,000 years ago, is awe-inspiring both on the inside and outside. The Venetian mosaic artists really went all out for the interior of the church, the scenes depicted are quite amazing. Most reference Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, but other moments in Christianity are also covered. There are a few rooms inside which require small fees to see. We saw the treasury, a collection of Byzantine treasures. Some of these treasures are amazingly detailed and intricate, lined with semi-precious and precious stones with lots of gold coverings. It’s difficult to imagine these treasures were designed by hand so long ago. We also saw the golden altarpiece, also known as Pala d’Oro. According to a 1796 inventory, its decorations include 1,300 pearls, 400 garnets, 300 sapphires, 300 emeralds, 90 amethysts, 75 balases, 15 rubies, 4 topazaes, and 2 cameos. With these types of treasures various churches owned, it’s no wonder so many church clergy became corrupt. No photography is permitted inside the Basilica, but the photo below from Wikipedia gives you an idea what the inside looks like:
Here are some more photos we took outside the Basilica:
Venice: First Look
We were in Venice from Friday through Monday. After booking the cruise, we were unable to locate any hotel or bed & breakfast with a vacancy (except for a few really high-end places that were at least $400 per night), so we ended up staying in Mestre, on the mainland of Italy. From our hotel, it was a 10 minute walk to the local bus stop, then a 20 minute bus ride into Venice, across the long bridge connecting the islands to the mainland. Although we arrived at our hotel in the late afternoon, there was still plenty of time to start exploring! We purchased a 72-hour ACTV ticket (Azienda del Consorzio Trasporti Veneziano, the Venice Public Transport Company) which gave us unlimited use of land and water public transit systems. The bus dropped us off at Piazzale Roma, the major public transit interchange in Venice.
a station along the Grand Canal
Not really having a plan, we just picked a direction and started walking. The architecture of the buildings is quite breathtaking. Many of the buildings are old and suffering, yet they still seem quite regal and beautiful. Venice is built on 122 tiny islands (each island is a bit like a city “block”) separated by 150 canals, and connected by 400 bridges. It was smaller than I expected — you can walk from one end to the other in well under an hour if you know what you’re doing and don’t get lost. Getting lost, however, seems inevitable in the narrow, confusing streets that go in all directions. After a couple hours of wandering we stopped for a light dinner (a pizza and a sandwich) at an outdoor cafe, and then boarded the Vaporetto (water bus) at the next bus stop we came across, heading to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square).
At St. Mark’s we got a preview of some of the incredible buildings and architecture that were to be a recurring theme throughout the vacation. We also scoped out the area so we could find it easily the next morning, since we had a few pre-arranged appointments for a tour of the palace and entry to St. Mark’s Basilica. After a bit more wandering, our jet lag was catching up with us so we took the vaporetto back to Piazzale Roma, found the bus back to Mestre, and crashed in the hotel for the night.
