Venice 2

We had 2 days in Venice so we left the ship after it had docked, walked into the tourist bureau area near the station square, crossed over a new glass bridge which has been built since our last visit and we bought a 2-day pass to use the local transport system, vaporettos (water buses) to ferry us around and across Venice. 

There were crowds of people in this area and the canal front vaporettos pontoons were were really overcrowded so we decided to negotiated our way to St Mark's Square and enjoy getting our bearings and our feel for Venice again after so many years. Across the canal was a beautiful 13th century aqua-coloured domed church with a marble portico supported by six tall Corinthian-styled collumns. We recall seeing it last time we were here so along with a map we were confident we' d find  the Square. We crossed over the canal via  a small, stepped marble bridge and did what all tourists do- we stopped in the middle of the bridge, lent over the marble railing and watch the canal traffic floating by. It was a warm afternoon and the sun sparkled on the ripples of water as gondolas, ferries and other craft passed under the bridge. Ahh, we were back in Venice and the sounds and smells increased our fascination to explore more. We passed several extremely narrow side canals, water-laneways between ancient stone buildings and we were reminded just how complicated and challenging our quest was going to be. But then that's what makes Venice so interesting. The intersections of canals and the stone walkways usually had steps or bridges to cross our jig-saw walk. Sometimes our trail came to a sudden end because of the wall of someone's house or another canal  adjacent to the path we were on, so we'd just have to back-track. This is the fun and puzzle of Venice. We often stopped to admire the wonderful stone architecture of the buildings we passed and were amazed at the skills of past stone mansions, sculptors, painters and stain-glass artisans. We were frequently surprised by the sudden  appearance of a domed bell tower (there are many in this city) as we peeped down a slither of laneway between a huddle of buildings. Enjoy these photo shots.

We finally reached St Mark's Square with it's many pigeons, hawkers and tourists. It is situated in the heart of Venice and is a central meeting place for many tourists. The Square is defined by stately arcades on three sides, the church to the east and bubbling pools of water that rise up at various times throughout the day or night depending on the tidal rhythm. Last time we were here waiters serving diners in the open air restaurants on the Square, were wearing boots as they served diners at tables surrounded in pools of water about 6cm deep. The diners had portable wooden steps under their chairs to keep their feet high and dry. Waiters in tucedos 'n rubber boots started a new fashion trend which could only happen in Venice. After spending some time admiring the Byzantine church and St Mark's Basilica with its' gilded facade, intricate detailed marble statues, elaborate  mosaics and extremely high bell tower. We left the Square on our next quest, to find the B&B place we'd stayed at 11 years ago. We spend ages searching laneways but after several dead-end trails we agreed that the place wher the B&B had been was now a revamped-upmarket boutique hotel. This could only be that because its' location being only two lanes behind the Square is a very a highly prized piece of real estate today. We noticed some other changes in some of the shopping outlets too and I was taken with the colourful window displays.  I was captivated by the satiating cake shop display we found on our jaunt around further laneways but resisted the temptation to buy when I calculated the calories they offered. We moved  on, walking down the cobbled pathways beside canal not yet visited and captured more ancient buildings and fellow tourists in our camera.

When we tired, we took several vaporettos rides around many of the waterways just to rest and enjoy seeing the many coloured buildings and learn to how we could navigate our way back to the ship later in the evening. On one trip we met a local girl travelling home with her cute, throughly spoilt puppy dog. Her name was Coco and she had her own little carry cage, complete with toys, a portable drinking bowl and snacks. During this vaporetto trip Coco sat on her mistress' lap and lapped from her portable water bowl, played 'catch it' with her dog lead and had a snooze; she was so cute. As we travelled on this vaporetto leg Ken cleverly worked out a route that would land us at a vaporetto wharf stop that was really close to the ship mooring area and would save us a long walk home later in the evening.

On a whim we decided to do a short  gondola ride. It was fun thing to do but our gondolier didn't serenade us as he manoeuvred us across the canal. 

We passed the famous Rialto Bridge lined
with tourists. This bridge which was opened in 1591,  links the two sides of the Grand Canal and is probably the most visited and photographed bridge in all of Venice.

The second most photographed bridge would have to be the "Bridge of Sighs" so named because of the sighs condemned prisoners made as they crossed over the enclosed bridge and straight into the prison. Prisoners left the courtroom via a door which opened onto the bridge. Two tiny windows in the wall of enclosed bridge looked down into a canal . This was the last sight of daylight prisoners saw before they were committed to a dark, damp dungeon in the prison on the other side of the bridge. It is said (maybe legend) that the sad sighs of the condemned could be heard through the tiny windo openings in the wall of the bridge.  We'd noticed lots of outdoor restaurants along the Grand Canal as we floated travelled the canal throughtout the rest of the afternoon and as we had decided to stay and see St. Mark's Square at night we also selected which restaurant we'd have an evening meal at, after experiencing the sights, lights and music of night-life in The Square.  We had a lovely Italian meal later in the twilight of the evening, for it doesn't get  dark until 9.30 pm in summertime here.





As we headed home we enoyed we walked

back past other tourists and locals dining or listening to orchestral music as they drank coffee. This is the magic of Venice.