Venice

Tuesday 18th September

Una fantastica giornata.  A fantastic day.  And so it was.  

Today we went across to Old Venice and I realized what we saw last night was only a very small taste of Venice.  Old Venice is what you see in movies etc. and it was exactly as I imagined it.  Beautiful buildings just seeming to appear out of the water.  

We arrived by launch and proceeded to St Marks square, the centre of the town and all the little alleyways open off this.  You can walk for ages, twisting through the streets containing all manner of shops.  

Everything is so colorful with the Venetian Glass and Murano glassware as well.  

This is where we started the day at the Murano Glass Blowing factory.  We were given a very quick demonstration from a "maestro" glass blower making a little jug.  He made this look extremely simple, but we were told it takes 16-18 years to become a maestro at this due to all the different steps involved in creating these masterpieces.  We were then taken into the shop and what a plethora of colours!  Don't you love that word.  In fact the whole time we were exploring I just kept seeing these brilliant colours everywhere.  It seems that every shop contains some sort of glass and the shop looks so inviting just based on the colours displayed.  If they didn't have glass in them, then it was colourful leather hand bags or gloves.  Simply alive with colour.

We had purchased one of the optional tours on offer today which was a gondola ride through the canals whilst being serenaded by an Italian singer.  This was a very popular choice and most of the other 60,000 tourists who had come in to Venice for the day had the same idea.  Fortunately as we were pre-booked we were given priority in the queue.  Before long we were on our way.  Due to the number of people it was not possible to have a "romantic ride for two" so we were joined by the people we were with yesterday.  I guess this was a little disappointing as of course it would have been really nice if it was just the two of us, but I wouldn't have missed this for all the tea in China.  I feel certain the others felt the same too.  Especially Kaitlyn and Josh as they are on their honeymoon, having been married only 2 weeks, so it was a shame for them too.

Having said that it was not without a deep feeling of emotion as we cruised the canals when you realize the enormity of where you are and what you are doing.  We are here in Venice, on a Gondola cruising the canals.  This would be the highlight of Venice.

 

These gondoliers certainly work hard for their money.  It looks to me like you need to be very skilled to navigate your way through the narrow canals and under the bridges that all the pedestrians use, which have very little clearance above the water.  What is sad though is to see these beautiful buildings slowly disappearing into the water.  

 

During high tide the main square floods as the water comes up through the ground where you walk.  There are big trestles that are put out in the square for you to walk on when this happens.

Following the gondola ride we had the whole day to ourselves to explore.  We had been warned it can get very hot in the square and that was not an exaggeration.  The further through the canals and alleyways you go, the cooler it gets, thankfully.  

We had pizza for lunch (of course) and then armed with a new sun hat, sunscreen duly applied and looking very much the tourist according to Colin, we headed off to explore.  

We walked through the streets and around every corner there were more shops, more historical buildings.  We found one church which was open to the public so we went inside.  There have been times on this trip when you see something and you feel overwhelmed with emotion and the tears can well up.  We got this in Westminster Abbey and today it happened again.  I wouldn't describe myself as overly religious but there is something about seeing these beautiful places that are so steeped in history that just affects you.

The main church in St Marks square had queues so long, that one would have expired in the heat waiting to get in so I consider this other church a real find.  The paintings on the ceiling really were something to behold, and further into the church you were able to pay 1 Euro each and get into the Golden Chapel.  This is from the 10th century and the altar is quite literally golden.  There is a crypt downstairs, that you can view, but it is mostly under water so you can only go as far as the last step.  

In the middle of the afternoon we stopped for a Gelato.  Mmmmm dark chocolate for me, (it looked like tar) and Rum and Raisin for Colin.

We had made arrangements to meet up with David, Beth, Josh and Kaitlyn outside the Murano factory at 5.30 pm so we could go somewhere for dinner. We were to meet the rest of the tour back at the jetty at 7.50 pm to return to the other side of the river.  We were joined by three others from the tour so we set off looking for a place for dinner.  Josh had sussed out a piazza with a choice of three different restaurants. I didn't care which one so long as it had spaghetti bolognaise on the menu.  What am I thinking, we are in Italy, every restaurant will have that on the menu.  

We made a point of telling our waiter we were on a tight time frame, probably a sin to not sit and enjoy a lengthy meal, but time was of the essence.  He was very good, having a good joke with us all and got our meals out very quickly.  It was divine and why wouldn't it be.  A balmy evening, enjoying a vino, good food in Venice with new found friends.

However, time got away on us even so and after our meal we realized we had only left ourselves 5 mins to make the 20 min journey back to the boat.  So off at a rush, we bounced that meal and wine up and down in our stomach, pushed our way past the other tourists who had time on their side and arrived at the boat, sweat pouring off us, to find Peter waiting for us.  The other passengers all cheered and clapped as we came on board and Colin pretend "mooned" them as he came past the window of the boat. 

Thank god for a sea breeze and a 20 min cruise to allow me to cool off before we boarded the bus back to our hotel. 

This was a big day and we were absolutely exhausted when we got back.  Faced with packing the suitcases again, we headed straight for our room for showers, packing and to bed we go.  Off to Rome tomorrow.