We have managed to pack a fair bit in to our only full day in Venice!
An early-ish start found us in Piazza San Marco with the early birds - there are so many pigeons!!! We found a sneaky way to beat the long line at the Palazzo Ducale - Palace of the Dukes - and had time for a sit and a coffee before our time slot to enter the Edouárd Manet exhibition which was also being held at the Palace. The exhibition was very interesting and included many works we had seen at other galleries or reproductions of them. A pleasurable couple of hours!
The internal courtyard of Palazzo Ducale.
The Venetians have an amazing history! From fleeing into the lagoons to escape the barbarians to Doges (elected Dukes of their Republic) to the many wars and battles that brought them under the Italian tricolour. They're nearly as hard to keep up with as the French! Don't worry - our little mate Napoleon was here! He is blamed for destroying the lion statues - symbol of St Mark and of Venice! They have some great replacements though.
The Venetian lion is winged and in peace time rests it's paw on the open book of St Mark the gospel writer. During conflict the lion would be seen resting it's paw on a closed book.
Clock tower in Piazza San Marco (the only Piazza in Venice!). See the lion?
So, we did a tour of the Palace and learnt all sorts of interesting facts and walked across the Bridge of Sighs! Prisoners were escorted across here from the courts to the prison and sighed as they went, hence the name! Creative!
The Bridge of Sighs
After a rest and an expensive lunch (Venice is VERY expensive) it was time to join the line to enter the Basilica of San Marco. This is an interesting building from the outside and quite dark and dirty on the inside. St Mark is buried under the high altar (I think we only have Matthew and Luke to go!). Sorry - "no photos"!
Entrance to the Basilica of San Marco
No HOHO bus in Venice so we splurged on a vaporetto (water bus) ticket and did a loop of the Grand Canal. Sights were amazing! Buildings incredible!
Also found one of only 72 private bridges (there are still 417 bridges in Venice). Imagine having your own bridge in Venice?!
After our last supper in Italy our plan was for a gondola ride!
They were all packed up because it had rained! Bugger! Next time we are in Venice!!!
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Welcome to pigeon city! Aren't they disgusting! Rats with wings. They made me feel sick and they are still obviously there - how to poison them was what used to go through my mind when I was there - probably wrong I know!
ReplyDeleteWe have been blessed with some beautiful weather here - can you believe 27, 28 in warrnambool this week! We spent Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in Melbourne. Stayed down at the docklands - beautiful down there and great restaurants! The three of us are off to have some family photos taken this morning. Hope she has a wide angled lense!
Look out for bird poo, and I don't believe for a minute that being shat on is good luck!
Cheers big ears, Joel, Joel and Oscar xxxxxxxxxx