Venice

Venice - La Serenissima, the Serene

There was a buzz of excitement as we all descended on the funicular on our way to Venice for the day from Castelbrando.  Mary intrigued us with her descriptions of the history and statistics of the city of 150 canals and 400 bridges, and of St. Mark, the patron Saint of Venice.  

View from Liberty Bridge towards the many large ships in the port of Venice

One of the ships

 After our bus cleared the Liberty Bridge and deposited us near to the docks where all the cruise ships were tied up, at least seven of them, we caught a waterboat or motoscafi  down the Guidecca Canal, and stepped off on the Riva degli Shiavoni.

Mary led us down a calle to Chiesa de San Zaccaria, a gothic, renaissance church to the east of San Marco.  The walls are adorned with beautiful paintings by Renaissance masters including the San Zaccaria altarpiece by Giovanna Bellini, Tiopolo, and Tintoretto (not on view to us because it was being restored).  We were unable to see into the crypt of this church because of rising waters.  This is becoming a major problem, with Venice sinking and global water levels rising.  Despite this water ingress, the churches continue to display these major paintings.

St. Marks Square

We met our Italian guide in front of St Mark’s.  She led us quietly into the Cathedral to view its vaulted ceilings, shining with millions of glass mosaics.  A mass was in progress, and the voices of a visiting choir inspired us with the beauty of their sound.  The floor of the cathedral was covered in marble mosaics, 3D, of infinite variety, colour and shape. Unfortunately, photographs could not be taken inside although some of certain nationalities obviously didn’t respect the signs or the cumulative damage that flashes of light do to the sensitive art works.  Our guide led us quietly out of the church and through the back streets to the Rialto Bridge.  Amazingly, there were very few people in the back streets, mainly locals.  She explained about the architecture, the damage to the buildings caused by time and wear, water and flooding.

View from Rialto Bridge along Grande Canal (we had lunch at a Restaurant at the lower right)

After lunch near the Rialto Bridge and a little time for shopping, Mary had arranged for us to take a gondola ride, not 20minutes like the usual tourist trip, but for 40 minutes.  This also included champagne to sip, plus a serenading gondolier with an accompanying piano accordion player.  We will always have a wonderful memory of floating down the Grand Canal to the sounds of ‘O Sole Mio’, and ‘Volare’.

Rialto bridge from our gondola

Our entertainment

Mary surprised us with a trip on three smaller motoscafi to take us along the Grand Canal and back to our bus connection.  The Venice Biennale is on at the moment and art pieces were prominent along the canals.

Views along the Grande canal from our water taxi

Competing traffic from private boats, vaporettos (ferries), water taxis and numerous gondolas with their cargoes of tourists, and boats with cargoes of linen from the hotels sent off to the mainland for laundering, gave us an exciting and visually stimulating trip.