It's Venice!
As promised I'm going to share some of my photos from our day trip to Venice from Vicenza over the long Memorial Day weekend.
First, to set the stage, here is some information about Venice with help from my Rick Steves "Italy" book. Venice is comprised of 100 islands connected together by 400 bridges. The city was founded in a lagoon 1,500 years. During the Middle Ages the city was an important go-between for East-West trade and became very important and wealthy. The city's importance dwindled with the discovery of America and other routes to the Orient. The wealth accumulated prior to this decline funded continued high living and partying into the 17th and 18th centuries. When the bones of Saint Mark were smuggled into the city in AD 828, Venice gained religious importance and it's most important square is called Piazza San Marco.
Today, tourism is the city's life blood.
To get to Venice we took the train from Vicenza. It was a pretty quick trip...under 45 minutes. Here's Tom and I on the train.
The day started off sunny and warm and ended overcast and rainy. This photo was taken on one of the bridges just outside of the train station. As soon as you step foot outside of the train station you know you are in Venice. It is a definitely a one-of-a-kind city.
According to my guide book there are 2,000 alleys throughout the city. It was so much fun walking through the different alley ways and exploring, never knowing what you would find. It would be a fun city to get lost in. You technically couldn't get too lost because it's just a bunch of islands.
Here is Tony, Carmessa and I early in the day. I had grabbed a rain coat because there was a chance for rain. I ended up carrying it around most of the day but it did come in handy towards the end of the day when it started to rain. When the rain was at its heaviest we ducked into a cafe for some drinks.
A Venetian alley.
Tom and I had decided while in Venice we would try as many bonafide Italian gelatos as possible. Our game plan was to share them so we could eat twice as many. We weren't very successful. We had very high hopes but we only had two the whole day. We tried lemon and pistachio.
Here is Tom taking his turn with the pistachio one. I think this is one he would have rather NOT shared.
The first two pictures below were taken in the same place...the only difference is the addition of us. Tom's got skills when it comes to the self portrait.
Notice in the bottom right corner of the picture above the sign giving the direction to the Rialto Bridge and San Marco's Square -- two major landmarks in Venice. If you just keep an eye on these you'll eventually get where you are going.
Rialto Bridge was built in 1588 and up until the 1850s it was the only bridge crossing the Grand Canal, Venice's "Main Street." We saw the Rialto bridge for the first time from a gondola but later in the day ended up crossing it on foot.
Here are more pictures from our gondola ride through Venice's alley ways and along the Grand Canal.
Our gondolier didn't know much English but he took us along a great route and was able to point out a few things, including the house where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were living while they were in Venice earlier this year for a film Angelina was doing with Johnny Depp.
Here the gondola is entering the nearly 2-mile-long Grand Canal.
The canal is nearly 150 feet wide and nearly 15 feet deep. It is a remnant of a river that once spilled from the Italian mainland into the Adriatic Sea. Venice was built on the marshy islands of the former delta, sitting on pilings driven nearly 15 feet into the clay.
The city has been battling rising water levels since the fifth century and floods about 100 times a year. Basically the water is rising and the city is sinking. A bad combo. A consortium of engineering firms came together in 2003 and began construction on a project called MOSE, which is expected to be completed by 2014. Underwater "mobile" gates are being built on the floor of the sea at the entrances of the three inlets that lead into Venice's lagoon. When the seawater rises above a certain level, air will pump into the gates, causing them to rise, and shutting out the Adriatic. I'd be interested to know what some of my hydrologic engineer friends at the Army Corps of Engineers think of the feasibility of such a project. Only time will tell if it works.
The building in the center of the picture above is the Ca' d'Oro, which means "House of Gold." It is supposedly the best example of Venetian Gothic architecture on the Grand Canal. It is an art gallery today.
After our gondola ride we walked to the Rialto Bridge and found a canal-side cafe to have lunch. We had the Italian essentials - pizza, pasta AND calamari, which is supposedly in season in April and May in Italy. Calamari sounds so much better than squid, doesn't it? Tom and I have a thing for always trying the calamari in restaurants if it's on the menu. This calamari was good but I have to say not the best we've ever had.
After we got done eating we crossed the bridge and made our way towards Piazza San Marco (aka St. Mark's Square). If you've seen Casino Royale or the Italian Job, or any other number of movies filmed in Venice, you'll recognize this square. It's main attractions are the St. Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace, the Campanile bell tower and the Correr Museum.
Behind Tom and I is the Doge's Palace and you can sort of see the San Marco Column in the far right of this photo. The palace was the seat of the Venetian government and home of its ruling duke, or doge, and was the most powerful real estate in Europe for 400 years.
Behind me is the Campanile di San Marco, a bell tower. There is an elevator that will take you to the top for an incredible view of Venice. We didn't make it up the bell tower this time but hopefully next trip.
Below is my final picture. It is of the side of the St. Mark's Basilica. The basilica was constructed in the 11th century, replacing an earlier church. I loved the different colors of marble used in its exterior construction. My guidebook says the colored marble is used inside too. Gorgeous!
Entry into the basilica is free but the line was so LONG we decided to hold off on trying to go in. Plus I don't think we were dressed appropriately. There is a strictly enforced dress code for entering churches in Italy...no bare shoulders and no shorts.
It was a real treat getting to visit Venice on our first trip to Italy. I hope we will make it back again soon.
First, to set the stage, here is some information about Venice with help from my Rick Steves "Italy" book. Venice is comprised of 100 islands connected together by 400 bridges. The city was founded in a lagoon 1,500 years. During the Middle Ages the city was an important go-between for East-West trade and became very important and wealthy. The city's importance dwindled with the discovery of America and other routes to the Orient. The wealth accumulated prior to this decline funded continued high living and partying into the 17th and 18th centuries. When the bones of Saint Mark were smuggled into the city in AD 828, Venice gained religious importance and it's most important square is called Piazza San Marco.
Today, tourism is the city's life blood.
To get to Venice we took the train from Vicenza. It was a pretty quick trip...under 45 minutes. Here's Tom and I on the train.
The day started off sunny and warm and ended overcast and rainy. This photo was taken on one of the bridges just outside of the train station. As soon as you step foot outside of the train station you know you are in Venice. It is a definitely a one-of-a-kind city.
According to my guide book there are 2,000 alleys throughout the city. It was so much fun walking through the different alley ways and exploring, never knowing what you would find. It would be a fun city to get lost in. You technically couldn't get too lost because it's just a bunch of islands.
Here is Tony, Carmessa and I early in the day. I had grabbed a rain coat because there was a chance for rain. I ended up carrying it around most of the day but it did come in handy towards the end of the day when it started to rain. When the rain was at its heaviest we ducked into a cafe for some drinks.
A Venetian alley.
Tom and I had decided while in Venice we would try as many bonafide Italian gelatos as possible. Our game plan was to share them so we could eat twice as many. We weren't very successful. We had very high hopes but we only had two the whole day. We tried lemon and pistachio.
Here is Tom taking his turn with the pistachio one. I think this is one he would have rather NOT shared.
The first two pictures below were taken in the same place...the only difference is the addition of us. Tom's got skills when it comes to the self portrait.
Notice in the bottom right corner of the picture above the sign giving the direction to the Rialto Bridge and San Marco's Square -- two major landmarks in Venice. If you just keep an eye on these you'll eventually get where you are going.
Rialto Bridge was built in 1588 and up until the 1850s it was the only bridge crossing the Grand Canal, Venice's "Main Street." We saw the Rialto bridge for the first time from a gondola but later in the day ended up crossing it on foot.
Here are more pictures from our gondola ride through Venice's alley ways and along the Grand Canal.
Our gondolier didn't know much English but he took us along a great route and was able to point out a few things, including the house where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were living while they were in Venice earlier this year for a film Angelina was doing with Johnny Depp.
Here the gondola is entering the nearly 2-mile-long Grand Canal.
The canal is nearly 150 feet wide and nearly 15 feet deep. It is a remnant of a river that once spilled from the Italian mainland into the Adriatic Sea. Venice was built on the marshy islands of the former delta, sitting on pilings driven nearly 15 feet into the clay.
The city has been battling rising water levels since the fifth century and floods about 100 times a year. Basically the water is rising and the city is sinking. A bad combo. A consortium of engineering firms came together in 2003 and began construction on a project called MOSE, which is expected to be completed by 2014. Underwater "mobile" gates are being built on the floor of the sea at the entrances of the three inlets that lead into Venice's lagoon. When the seawater rises above a certain level, air will pump into the gates, causing them to rise, and shutting out the Adriatic. I'd be interested to know what some of my hydrologic engineer friends at the Army Corps of Engineers think of the feasibility of such a project. Only time will tell if it works.
After our gondola ride we walked to the Rialto Bridge and found a canal-side cafe to have lunch. We had the Italian essentials - pizza, pasta AND calamari, which is supposedly in season in April and May in Italy. Calamari sounds so much better than squid, doesn't it? Tom and I have a thing for always trying the calamari in restaurants if it's on the menu. This calamari was good but I have to say not the best we've ever had.
After we got done eating we crossed the bridge and made our way towards Piazza San Marco (aka St. Mark's Square). If you've seen Casino Royale or the Italian Job, or any other number of movies filmed in Venice, you'll recognize this square. It's main attractions are the St. Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace, the Campanile bell tower and the Correr Museum.
Below is my final picture. It is of the side of the St. Mark's Basilica. The basilica was constructed in the 11th century, replacing an earlier church. I loved the different colors of marble used in its exterior construction. My guidebook says the colored marble is used inside too. Gorgeous!
It was a real treat getting to visit Venice on our first trip to Italy. I hope we will make it back again soon.
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