You can see how many little (and big) canals run through the island(s).
Now, let's see...we got in fairly late to Venice, so we decided to get a good night's rest and wake up early to explore the city. We woke up and had breakfast at our hotel on one of the larger canals. It was neat watching all of the different types of boats pass by and enjoying our breakfast. We then started our walk along the bridges to get to the Teatro la Fenice (Opera House). We were able to get free audio guides during our time in the theatre to learn a little more about the histroy. The main stage area was my favorite as it was impressive to see all of the box seats. We even sat in the royalty section for a while.
One side of the theatre's box seats.
The view from the royal section.
We traveled to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) to see the area and then visit St. Mark's Basilica. It was amazing how much flooding was everywhere. The entrance of the basilica was flooded, so they had to put risers up so we could walk over the water. The risers were actually spread out around the city in areas that tend to flood more often. Jeff and I were sad to see so much water inside the church entrance, as we know it will eventually ruin the marble floors. After visiting inside (no pictures), we came out and the street where we stood in line was completely under water now (ankle deep). People had their shoes off, and were cooling off in the water. Not sure where it was coming from, as we were not near a canal at that point.
If you look closely, you can see the flooding. We were standing in this area 30 minutes before the whole area was under water.
Before we found a spot for lunch, we visited Doge's Palace. We were unsure about our visit, as they were a little pricey...but we were glad we did as the palace was great. Jeff and I enjoyed seeing a Palace outside of the UK. It has a different feel, and obviously different history. It was a lot larger than expected, and the rooms were massive. We were even allowed to travel down into the prisons which was really interesting to see.
On the palace grounds
There were two large old globes inside the palace.
The picture doesn't do the size of this room justice. This large room was beautiful.
In the prison cell
We went off to enjoy our first (of many) pizzas in Italy. There are pretty large in size, and we both ate them all! We traveled over a few more bridges to get to the Basilica of Santa Maria. We traveled around the seaside to enjoy the lovely weather. We grabbed some yummy gelato, and enjoyed the city. Jeff and I watched part of the sunset, and went on our gondola ride.
Our ride was 30 minutes long, and we traveled out on some of the larger canals, as well as the small intimate ones as well. Our gondola guide didn't sing, although he was very knowledgeable about the city. We also learned that you have to have a license and take a course to become a guide. He had done the job for 30 years, but admitted he no longer lived in the city because housing has become too expensive. It was interesting to hear those types of things about the city, rather than just the tourist type things. We grabbed dinner, and headed back to the hotel. We had to take a couple trains to get to our next destination....Sorry you'll have to wait for the next post to find out where!
Onto the next adventure...
Basilica of Santa Maria
Canal leading to the sea at sunset. Pretty amazing!
Jeff's great photography skills in action.
On the ride!
Not the best picture, but we were struggling with the flash and wanted to get a picture of our gondola "driver"
One of my favorite things we did in Italy, and so glad I checked it off my bucket list!
Onto the next adventure...
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