As one guide put it, “Venice is a car-free urban wonderland of a hundred islands – laced together by 400 bridges and 2,000 alleys.” Unfortunately, this 1,500 year old well preserved city is slowly sinking.
Based on our friend April’s recommendation, we headed first to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. This modern art museum is housed in the American heiress’ former retirement palazzo (palace). The palazzo appears small and unassuming from the street, but opens to a beautifully landscaped courtyard complete with garden and terrace overlooking the Grand Canal. Photos are only permitted in these outside spaces…
but the collection includes works by many artists Peggy knew personally – including Picasso, Dalí, Pollock, Klee, and Chagall (to name just a few).
The public transit system is a fleet of motorized bus-boats called vaporetti. They work just like city buses except they never get a flat, the stops are docks, and if you get off between stops you might drown. Only three bridges cross the Grand Canal, however traghetti (gondolas) shuttle locals and in the know tourists across the Grand Canal at various locations. Here, Rich and I use a traghetti to cross the Grand Canal from Dorsoduro to San Marco…
The enclosed Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) is nearly two football fields long. It is filled with music, historic buildings, cafés, tourists, pigeons, and pigeon food vendors. Rich thought it would be fun to feed the birds… 
Venice gained religious importance in 828 AD when the bones of San Marco (St. Mark) were smuggled into the city. Basilica di San Marco (St. Mark’s Basilica), shown here… 
was originally built in the 10th century to house the remains of St. Mark. It is a mish-mosh of architectural styles with primarily Eastern influences underscoring Venice’s connection with Byzantium (which protected the city from Charlemagne’s rule). The basilica is decorated with booty from returning sea captains, and the gold Byzantine mosaics and colored marble throughout are absolutely amazing.
After fighting the hoards of tourists in the Piazza San Marco, we were ready for a more relaxing look at the city. Our tour book suggested a self-guided cruise of the Grand Canal. We boarded vaporetto #1 at Ferrovia for the slow 45 minute ride via Rialto to San Marco. We found outside seats at the stern of the boat (which were great until a huge storm blew in and soaked us). The Grand Canal is essentially Venice’s “Main Street” and is lined with rococo, Gothic, Moorish, and Renaissance palazzi.
Here we pass under the Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge), and you can see the storm brewing in the distance…
The Rialto was completed in the 16th century. This stone bridge on wood piling is actually the third bridge to stand here and was built to replace a wooden bridge and an earlier pontoon bridge that once was the only link between the two banks of the Grand Canal.
Here is the palazzo of a 15th century captain general of the sea…
These Venetian equivalents of five-star admirals were treated like royalty and honored with twin obelisks decorating their palaces.
After grabbing some pizza at the Academia vaporetto stop, we headed back to our hotel where oddly enough they had moved us to a new room. The view from our window in the new room out into the Canale Della Giudecca was gorgeous as the pink hues of the sunset illuminated the buildings…
Thursday, June 28 – Day 31 (Venice)
Divided into nine islets crossed by a wide canal, Murano is the island of glassblowing. Upon arrival, we walked along the Via Fondamenta Vetri looking for a glass factory that offered free glassblowing demonstrations…
Apparently we arrived just in time for the lunch break, but finally were able to get in to watch the artisans in action. Here Rich looks back at me as the artisan fires up glass in a furnace… 
Then, he literally blows through a pipe to create a vase shape out of the hot ball of glass.
We returned to the San Marco area via vaporetto to find the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs). Connecting two wings of the Palazzo Ducale (the Doge or Duke’s Palace) high over a canal, the enclosed bridge is said to lead to the city dungeons. The name comes from legend which tells us that condemned men were led over the bridge on the way to the prison. Along the way, they would take one last look at the glory of Venice and sigh…
As we headed back to our hotel to gather our bags and head to the train station for our night train to Vienna, we paused along a small canal to capture the city’s charm as the sun began to set behind the buildings… 
Based on our friend April’s recommendation, we headed first to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. This modern art museum is housed in the American heiress’ former retirement palazzo (palace). The palazzo appears small and unassuming from the street, but opens to a beautifully landscaped courtyard complete with garden and terrace overlooking the Grand Canal. Photos are only permitted in these outside spaces…
but the collection includes works by many artists Peggy knew personally – including Picasso, Dalí, Pollock, Klee, and Chagall (to name just a few).The public transit system is a fleet of motorized bus-boats called vaporetti. They work just like city buses except they never get a flat, the stops are docks, and if you get off between stops you might drown. Only three bridges cross the Grand Canal, however traghetti (gondolas) shuttle locals and in the know tourists across the Grand Canal at various locations. Here, Rich and I use a traghetti to cross the Grand Canal from Dorsoduro to San Marco…
The enclosed Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) is nearly two football fields long. It is filled with music, historic buildings, cafés, tourists, pigeons, and pigeon food vendors. Rich thought it would be fun to feed the birds… Venice gained religious importance in 828 AD when the bones of San Marco (St. Mark) were smuggled into the city. Basilica di San Marco (St. Mark’s Basilica), shown here… was originally built in the 10th century to house the remains of St. Mark. It is a mish-mosh of architectural styles with primarily Eastern influences underscoring Venice’s connection with Byzantium (which protected the city from Charlemagne’s rule). The basilica is decorated with booty from returning sea captains, and the gold Byzantine mosaics and colored marble throughout are absolutely amazing.After fighting the hoards of tourists in the Piazza San Marco, we were ready for a more relaxing look at the city. Our tour book suggested a self-guided cruise of the Grand Canal. We boarded vaporetto #1 at Ferrovia for the slow 45 minute ride via Rialto to San Marco. We found outside seats at the stern of the boat (which were great until a huge storm blew in and soaked us). The Grand Canal is essentially Venice’s “Main Street” and is lined with rococo, Gothic, Moorish, and Renaissance palazzi.
Here we pass under the Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge), and you can see the storm brewing in the distance…
The Rialto was completed in the 16th century. This stone bridge on wood piling is actually the third bridge to stand here and was built to replace a wooden bridge and an earlier pontoon bridge that once was the only link between the two banks of the Grand Canal.Here is the palazzo of a 15th century captain general of the sea…
These Venetian equivalents of five-star admirals were treated like royalty and honored with twin obelisks decorating their palaces.After grabbing some pizza at the Academia vaporetto stop, we headed back to our hotel where oddly enough they had moved us to a new room. The view from our window in the new room out into the Canale Della Giudecca was gorgeous as the pink hues of the sunset illuminated the buildings…
Thursday, June 28 – Day 31 (Venice)
Divided into nine islets crossed by a wide canal, Murano is the island of glassblowing. Upon arrival, we walked along the Via Fondamenta Vetri looking for a glass factory that offered free glassblowing demonstrations…
Apparently we arrived just in time for the lunch break, but finally were able to get in to watch the artisans in action. Here Rich looks back at me as the artisan fires up glass in a furnace… Then, he literally blows through a pipe to create a vase shape out of the hot ball of glass.We returned to the San Marco area via vaporetto to find the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs). Connecting two wings of the Palazzo Ducale (the Doge or Duke’s Palace) high over a canal, the enclosed bridge is said to lead to the city dungeons. The name comes from legend which tells us that condemned men were led over the bridge on the way to the prison. Along the way, they would take one last look at the glory of Venice and sigh…
As we headed back to our hotel to gather our bags and head to the train station for our night train to Vienna, we paused along a small canal to capture the city’s charm as the sun began to set behind the buildings… 
No comments:
Post a Comment