San Giorgio Maggiore, directly across from St. Marc's square.
It's election time in Italy. I'm voting for Wolfman Jack.
Yes, Venice is gorgeous.
Interesting architectural anomoly - this palace has its stairs on the outside to save space on the inside:
Everywhere you look in Venice, there is something picture worthy:
Keeping up with me:
Down a random canal - you see this all over Venice:
One of Venice's oldest churches (10th century!) - the church of Saint Moses (on the top, centre, with the commandments):
Santa Maria della Salute beckons from across the Grand Canal:
"Chicky Chicky". Those who were there will get it.
"These pigeons are so stupid!" commented Gabriela, as she fruitlessly attempted to have them eat out of her hand.
Walk up those stairs and enter the seat of power for 1100 years in Venice - the Doge's Palace.
In the cafe at the palace, Aidan enjoys the hot chocolate - which is essentially a cup of melted chocolate. Very rich.
In the courtyard of the Doge's palace prisons:
Out of the prisons:
We left our Waldensian Church run youth hostel early, by Italian standards, and walked the ten minute path to St. Marc’s Square. The hostel is ideally located 10 minutes from Rialto bridge and 10 minutes from St. Marc’s (at so-called Bresett pace) – an unbelievable find for the price. Any tour company that I know of books their hotels on the mainland, and the groups have to take the expensive and time consuming Vaparetto into Venice. Our hostel was built as a Palazzo – a palace – in the 16th century, and still has some original frescoes on the ceilings of the rooms. It has balconies over canals, and gives you the true sense of living, albeit very temporarily, in Venice.
At St. Marc’s, we visited the always impressive Doge’s Palace and St. Marc’s Basilica, and then had a walking tour, covering bits of history from the early middle ages, the Renaissance, the end of the 1000 year plus Venetian Republic (Napoleon of course!), Hapsburg rule, the Risorgimento (Italian unification), and Mussolini and his Fascist party’s alliance with Hitler. After the tour, we split into groups to go for lunch, shopping, Gondola rides, getting lost, getting found, and sitting down in a Venetian Tratoria for a delicious Italian dinner. We all met up at the Rialto for gelato, and made our way back to the Hostel using Mrs. Fast’s “shortcut”, of which Mr. Becker remarked “Why are we calling this the shortcut – isn’t the other way just as fast?” We didn’t want her to feel bad.
11 of us made a lighting quick decision to walk back to the Rialto to see a selection of Baroque music and more importantly opera arias, some of which were written right here in Venice. It was presented by a costumed orchestra and singers in a 15th century concert hall. I think we have some new opera fans (which will make my opera singing wife happy).
Venice remains a beautiful but alien place of canals and alleys and no cars and surprises around every corner. Unforgettable.
0 comments:
Post a Comment