(Magnificent photo by Sarah)
Venice was great fun. It is such a unique and magical city, with streets made of water and complete lack of cars. We had a particularly wonderful arrival, which set the tone for our three-night stay very nicely. First, the train approaches Venice on a causeway, so we could see water on both sides, level with the train - it looked like we were gliding right over it. Very cool!
Then I decided to splurge on a water taxi because I remembered from my previous visit how hard it was to find a hotel in the maze of canals and bridges and tiny streets. Plus our hotel has its own pier, so how could I pass that up? It was ridiculously expensive, but we'll just try not to think about that. It was really something to come out of the train station onto the Grand Canal, climb in a nice boat, and glide through the city on the water straight to our hotel! Venice is so much quieter than other Italian cities for its lack of cars. Even the boats seem to have a speed limit, so their motors are never very loud either.
In the water taxi
Our hotel's own pier
Our hotel, the cheesily-named "Aqua Palace," was pretty great, too. Our room was spacious and the furnishings were new and opulent. And it had a great location halfway between Venice's two main landmarks: the Rialto Bridge and St. Mark's Basilica. We were very happy there.
A good warning! On my last visit to Venice, which was in the summer, we left a window open and I was eaten alive.
View from the window
Venice Overview
We spent three nights in Venice. Unfortunately, it rained most of the time. And when it wasn't raining, it was overcast. Venice's buildings are so colorful that it was a shame to only see them in dreary gray weather. But we did get sunshine on the morning we left, at least! Here are a few photo highlights of the main sights in Venice: the Rialto Bridge, the Basilica di San Marco (the cathedral), and the Grand Canal. The best view of the Grand Canal is conveniently located right next to San Marco - the cathedral's plaza runs right off into the water!
The Rialto Bridge, a 3-minute walk from the hotel
Side view of the Basilica di San Marco. It's a magnificent Byzantine cathedral that is unlike anything else in Europe. It's more like the churches they used to build in Turkey, so very exotic.
Glimpse of San Marco from beneath a Renaissance arcade across the square
San Marco and its separate campanile (bell tower), which is also used as a landmark from the sea
Campanile and column with the winged lion, symbol of Venice
Mosaics inside San Marco
Rainy day at the Grand Canal by San Marco
Gondolas and lantern-like shrine
Produce boat. Everything arrives by boat in Venice, of course! We saw garbage boats, construction boats, soft drink boats...
Venice Churches
The first day we spent walking a loop around the city, dutifully taking photos of churches and one synagogue. None of them were terribly attractive or exciting to us personally, but I know many people love the Venice churches. Many of them do have notable artwork by such folks as Titian and Tintoretto, but their paintings didn't impress me like Caravaggio did in Rome. Sarah wasn't thrilled either. But we did get a nice tour of Venice out of our church loop.
One of the nicer ones, with a rare bit of sunshine: Santa Maria dell'Orto
There was also this unpleasant surprise: photography is prohibited in virtually all the churches in Venice! That is very weird and obviously interferes with the main reason I came - to share the city's wonderful art and architecture online. I usually took some anyway, and in general the wardens didn't seem to care about enforcing the rule, but the rule itself stinks. Humph.
Interior of Santa Maria dell'Orto
So, unusually, the churches were not the main highlight this time. But there were plenty of other highlights!
Acqua Alta
Chief among these was getting to experience the acqua alta ("high water") phenomenon! It occurs primarily in November and is mainly caused by the tides. When the tide is high, there can be up to two feet of standing water in low-lying streets and plazas! It is really quite something. When this happens, they put up wooden planks to walk on, everybody puts their wellies on, and a good time is had by all. This happened every morning we were in Venice until around 10:30.
[Last photo by Sarah - these plastic shoe-covers were very popular!]
Evening at the Accademia
Another highlight was a pleasant evening spent at the Accademia Bridge at the end of our first day. I planned our loop so we'd end up there at dusk, and carried my tripod along all day so I could take some night photos from the bridge. We arrived with about a half-hour to spare, which was perfect for ordering some pizza at an outdoor table next to the bridge.
We both ordered Quattro Stagioni (Four Seasons): mushrooms, artichokes, ham, olives
Our table was right next to a little gondola dock, and we got to watch the two friendly gondoliers unload passengers and wait for new ones. The wife and little son of one of them also stopped by and joined him for a coffee break. It was a very fun slice of Venice life (no pun intended). And next to us were a fun-loving group of German ladies, one of whom pretended to almost fall in the water as she took a photo of her friends.
When the sun went down, I assumed my position on the bridge with my tripod. The view from here at night is a famous one that appears on postcards and travel guides everywhere, and I was determined to do my best to get a good one. I'm not super-thrilled with the results, but they are good enough, and it was just a lovely place to be at dusk anyway.
Set up the tripod a few times on the way home, too:
Campanile Climb
And finally, the morning of our departure we went up in the campanile (belltower) on the main square - the first time we haven't had to climb stairs! The elevator ride was fast and efficient and there was a good amount of room to move around at the top. And the views were spectacular!
We left at noon on Friday to catch a train for Verona. Since we knew our way around now, we saved a lot of dough on the way back to the train station by walking to the Rialto Bridge and then taking the vaporetto (water bus) to the train station. That was pretty fun, too!
Verona coming soon...
