Sage and I arrived in Venice on Tuesday afternoon. There is a limit to the distance that the bus is allowed to travel and so we had to complete the rest of the journey to the hotel by water taxi. The water taxis can hold between 10 and 12 people so our group divided into three taxis and headed out.
Venice. What a captivating place. Our water taxi snaked its way through the canals of the city. Sometimes, our driver had to adjust his speed and switch from reverse to forward in order to successfully navigate the tight corners created by the irregular building angles of the canals.
We arrived at our hotel by docking along side the entry way. Our boat was tied to the tall red and white striped pillars that are located everywhere docking is acceptable. We checked in to our beautiful room, got settled and enjoyed a bit of a rest.
St. Mark's Square is located at the centre of Venice. All walkways and canals will eventually lead to St. Mark's Square so, although the walkways may seem like a labyrith where a newcomer can easily get lost, there is a simple way to get reoriented, that is follow the signs to St. Mark's Square and start over again.
Our tour guide led us down a few walkways to the square. St. Mark's Square includes the Basilica, the doge's palace, a beautiful clock tower, a couple of pillars where criminals were previous hanged, and a brick bell tower called Campanile. Liz lead us to a dock where we were to meet our gondalos. Dividing our group into smaller, acceptable numbers for the ride through the canals was a bit of a challenge but it was eventually accomplished. Sage and I joined another gentleman and enjoyed a very peaceful paddle through the canals of Venice. Gondala drivers, all dressed in navy and white striped shirts, will use any wall or other boat in order to help push them through the canals. Our ride was comfortable and smooth and relatively quiet. One of the gondalas ahead of us had an accordian player and a singer for our group as we journeyed. We were able to look around at the interesting buildings with laundry hanging across the canals and flower pots outside of the windows.
As our ride conluded, we hopped off our gondalas and hopped on to a water taxi. Liz guided us through our journey on the infamous Grand Canal.
Sage and I had to make our daily gelato visit. This time, Sage and I both choose chocolate mint. Delicious.
That evening, we enjoyed a dinner of lasagna, vegetables, pork, and a delicious caramel dessert at our hotel.
Wednesday morning was the first time that we had where we could sleep in a bit. So Sage and I opted for a leisurely wake up. Breakfast was served until 10:30 so there was no rush at all. After breakfast we took the short walk back to St. Mark's Square. From there we chose to walk along the waterfront. It was a beautiful morning. We crossed over many bridges that span the many canals of this city. Vendors were just beginning to open up their waterside cafes and stalls and the Gondoliers were begining their services also. Sage and I stopped to admire the scene and awed at the fact that we were in Venice!
We returned to St. Mark's Square along the waterfront and headed over to the Bell Tower or Campanile. The construction for this tower began in the 9th century and was used as a place of punishment. In 1902, the tower collapsed but the largest bell survived. The current tower was reconstructed and opened in 1912. We were able to take an elevator to the top of the tower. The reward for the journey up was the spectacular view. We were able to walk the four sides of the tower and look out beyond Venice to other islands and back on the roof tops of the buildings in Venice. It looked like a sea of red roof tiles. Interestingly, we could not see any of the canals from the top of the bell tower.
Back on firm ground, we walked through St. Mark's Square, doing our best to dodge the pigeons. Naturally, at this point, it was time for gelato. I chose caramel and Sage chose chocolate chip. Once again, delicious.
We met up with the rest of the tour group around noon and boarded a water taxi for at short ride to a glass factory. Murano glass is world famous. We watched a glass blowing demonstration. This was fascinating to watch. The gentleman expertly shaped the glass into a vase with two handles. After applause, he casually tossed his creation back into the kiln! The next object he created was a horse. It was so amazing to see a horse created out of a blob of glass. The glass makers train for years in order to be able to perfect this art. He made it look easy.
This visit was a bit of a sales pitch also. We were taken into the glass factory. The guide showed us some of the spectacular glass work that had been manufactured in the factory and then left us with time to shop and browse. Sage and I hightailed it outside to enjoy the sun and avoid any mishap.
The next part of our journey was to the island of Burano. This was about a 40 minute boat ride away. The water taxis are not permitted to travel at speeds greater than 7km/h when they are close to land but can speed up to a maximum of 20km/h farther from land. So, although the distance wasn't great, it did take a bit of time. We were heading to this island for a late lunch. Arriving there, we were greeted with multicoloured home, that reminded me of the homes in Newfoundland. Our guide told a familiar tale that the homes and the boats matched in colour so that the fishermen could find their way home.
Arriving on the island, the first thing that I noticed besides the colourful homes, was the peace. There is no traffic. Of course there are canals that snake through this island community also but there are not cars, scooters, buses, and the like. This is a walking community. And it is beautiful. The island of Burano is also known for their lace makers so there were many shops that sold Burano lace.
We arrived at the restaurant and were escorted to a room for our group. We were given wine to drink and then the food started to arrive. As we were on an island, many of the dishes were fish and seafood. We had toast and pate, risoto with seafood, pasta with zuchinni and shrimp, salad, and deep fried seafood - which I tried but I always think that the deep fry spoils the taste of the seafood. Sage has been accomodated for the entire trip with regard to the food that she eats. For dessert there was fruit and S cookies that we were told needed to be dipped in the wine. Finally, the server came around with espresso and a choice of Zambucca, Ameretto, or Limoncello. Needless to say, the journey back to Venice was a bit louder and friendlier than our outboard journey.
We returned to Venice and Sage had to stop for another gelato! We did a bit of window shopping and a wee bit of actual shopping then returned to our room full and exhausted.
The next morning after breakfast, we hopped on our water taxi and headed back to meet the coach on the mainland. That was it for Venice. We were now on our way to Pisa for a short visit and then on to Florence for the next two nights.
No comments:
Post a Comment