Italia... Venezia

 

We arrived in Venice around midday on Sunday. Cars, of course, are not allowed in the city, nor could they even get there; so we found a parking garage outside of the city proper to leave our rental and after much investigation, finally figured out the Vaporette system (water subway, basically). We hopped on the Vaporette and headed to the closest drop off to our AirBnB. 

We stayed at an adorable little place next to the Ponte Chiodo. Ponte means bridge in Italian so there are sooooo many Pontes in the city. The one in front of our place though, Ponte Chiodo, is one of only two in the city that does not have sides. There isn't a lot of greenspace in Venice so when we opened the gate the the AirBnB property, I was soooo surprised by the lush garden area. Just beautiful! Our place wasn't fancy but it clean and nicely kept and the air condition worked well so that was a bonus!

Our room was in the pinkish colored house, window on the top left.

View from our room.

The AirBnB owner left a great list of restaurant suggestions to we picked a tapas place for a snack. Next, we headed out to St. Mark's Square which was quite a ways from our AirBnb because we elected to stay away from the touristy area. The Vaporette ride gave us great views of the main canal homes. 

Our tapas

Puppo riding the canal!

On Sunday we toured Doges Palace. Before Italy was actually Italy and Venice was a part of the country, it seems they were their own City-State. I am not an expert on Venice history by any stretch of the imagination though so this is just what I picked up touring the site. The Doges were elected as the highest government official of Venice and over the years, there were 100s of them (only one at a time though). I found it interesting that once a man was elected and took office as the Doge, he was confined to the Palace or St. Mark's Basilica which is attached to the palace. He rarely was allowed to leave except for occasional diplomatic reasons. It sounds terrible if you ask me! 

Doge's Palace is on the right. This is the outside of the wall of the palace that is on the left side when you enter the palace.

Inside the palace walls. The oldest part is obviously on the left.

The grand staircase

The rooms that the Doge would have lived weren't on the tour; it was mainly governmental rooms where councils and the senate met as well as rooms that were used for trials and where they held court. The rooms were all ridiculously ornate. SOOOO much gold! 

Golden Staircase

This was a ceiling.

Great Council room - every family in Venice had representation from the eldest patriarchal member, regardless of wealth or status.

In the 1500s a palace fire caused a lot of damage and much restoration had to be completed after it. The original wooden palace dated back to the 9th century; however the structure standing today began in the 14th century. We also got to tour the palace prison. There is an enclosed bridge that prisoner's walked over with carved windows on the sides overlooking a canal on their way to prison. It is called the Bridge of Sighs because the prisoners were told it was the last time they would see daylight. 

These were frescos that were discovered behind wood panels walls. They were damaged by the fire so they were just covered by wood panels during the restoration.

View from an opening in the Bridge of Sighs

After touring the palace, we headed back to the AirBnb to cool off and decide on dinner. We made a reservation at another of our host's recommendations. We enjoyed a very authentic Venetian dinner at locally owned restaurant. Our waiter shared with us that so many of the properties on the main roads in the city have been purchased by outside investors and of course, their main objective was to make money, not great food. 

View between the restaurant and the AirBnb

Pic I snapped on my phone when I went the wrong way to meet Chris for dinner.

Our dinner restaurant

Tortelloni (the larger cousin of tortellini) that was so delicious!!!

Chris had the beef shank

Salmon and Polenta - polenta is very traditional here.

Before we came to Venice, I was sure that I wanted to ride in a gondola. I mean, after all, it's just the Venetian thing to do, right? But once I was here, I decided it wasn't for me. It didn't seem authentic AT ALL - so commercial. Maybe others have been here during times that it was a better experience but most gondoliers weren't even fully dressed for the part. I found a few though and snapped some photos because it really is iconic. I mean where else in the world has gondoliers? 

The next morning, I wanted to check out a bookstore that I had read about prior to the trip. Chris wanted to go ahead and take our things to the car, so I headed to the bookstore, Liberia Acqua Alta. They have been flooded numerous time - which let's just be real - wet books is a book lovers nightmare! Therefore, they keep all of their books elevated in some sort of vessel or shelf - even a gondola! They have also recycled some books into what I would call installation art. They sell both new and used books. I purchased some fun postcards. A great visit for anyone that loves books! The walk to get there was bonus too!

So many piazzas in Italy! I can imagine how they were all such a hubbub of activity as they were the gathering place for the communities!

My next stop was the Rialto Bridge. The are over 400 bridges in Venice and for some reason this one is famous! It is the only one, I believe, that houses vendors on the bridge so maybe that's why. Honestly, the entire city is an architectural marvel. It is as if the buildings just rise up out of the water. You don't really see any land at all. 

Rialto Bridge

At the summit of the bridge - you can see the vendors on each side.

Next I headed back to St. Mark's Square to meet Chris and to tour St. Mark's Basilica. Supposedly, all or all least part of St. Marks remains were brought from Alexandria to this basilica and are there today. I am talking about St. Mark as in Matthew, MARK, Luke and John... The basilica is incredibly ornate both outside and in! Soooooooooo, much gold. The ceilings are covered in mosaics - tiny gold tiles, mostly! And the floors! The floors are all marble in 100's of different patterns. Geometric patterns, animals, lines, etc. Just stunning! 

The Belltower

The top of the basilica.

This is now a museum but was also part of St. Mark's Square

St. Mark's Basilica in the center with the bell tower to the right of it.

Sooooooooo much gold!

Tennis Shoes and Tiles

Y'all these are not pixels - they are individual gold tiles!

We left St. Mark's Square on the vaporette and headed back to the car. I am glad that we came to Venice because it truly is one of a kind. But I am also glad that we didn't plan to spend much time there. On to the next stop - Bologna!