Venice in a Day

Sunday, July 3rd, Venice in a Day.

Considering our intense itinerary, today we allow ourselves to sleep until 7:30 and after an 8:00 A.M. breakfast at our pension, we walk to San Marco Square. It is nearly 9:00 A.M. when we purchase our tickets to the Dodge Palace and enter the palatial courtyard. Although the Palace opened at 8:30 we have beat the majority of the tourists and after checking John’s backpack and my purse, we follow the arrows through the ornate rooms of the Palace. The baroque frescoed ceilings and walls are iced and sculpted in a gilded froth and reproductions of Roman sculptures sit on pedestals along the walls. Having seen the real thing, these reproductions are bland. Glass displays showcase Roman coins, ornate jewelry and fragments of pottery. It is the immensity of the Palace where the governing of Venice took place, not the collections housed within that is of interest.

Dodge Palace Courtyard

Dodge Palace Ballroom

View from within the Dodge Palace

 We follow the numbered arrows across the Bridge of Sighs where ill fated prisoners took their last look at freedom before going to the dungeons below. We wind through several floors of dungeon cells; impregnable and depressing with heavy steel bar mounted securely into the blocks of stone before being granted our freedom to exit into the bright sunlight of San Marco Square.

Dungeon doors and window bars

Detail of dungeon bars

John looking out from the Bridge of Sighs

Detail of stone window

Retracing yesterday’s route, we walk to the Zaha Hadid exhibit, get both a senior discount and a student discount and enter the elegant museum. This gorgeous Venetian style building is elegant and airy. Refined and delicate decorative paintings cover the walls and ceilings and when we reach the galleries, enormous and elaborate Murano Glass chandeliers decorate each room.

Staircase to the Zaha Hadid exhibit

Looking out the window

Murano Glass Chandelier

The building and the chandeliers are in great contrast to Zaha Hadid’s work. The exhibit is an excellent retrospective into her design, architecture and painting and we rest our feet and watch a video about her design process and her struggle to be acknowledged as a woman in her field.  After all the classical Roman and Renaissance Art we have consumed over the past two weeks, this exhibit is a refreshing glimpse of a contemporary genius.

Zaha Hadid Sculpture

Zaha Hadid Painting

Airport design

Architectural model for an airport

Zaha Hadid exhibit

John, Zaha Hadid paintings

We stumble upon a back street Cafeteria Bar, the Bacaro da Fiore on Calle De Le Botteghe. We are finally beginning to understand the system of pricing and levels of cuisine in Italy. These Cafeterias are not like our cafeterias but tiny delis with platters of appetizers behind glass that we can point to. They are all made in house, fresh and inexpensive and the Campari, prosecco, wine and beer are affordable. In addition, it is much more fun to be in this environment than at a tourist café where location determines the price and the quality of food is disappointing. There are just 3 stools and two tiny tables and a couple is just leaving one of the tables and the three of us squeeze and sit togetherorder our drinks and a platter of Italian tapas and enjoy the ambience of back street Venice.

Bistro cafeteria bar

We eat grilled eggplant, fried sardines and a various assortment of croquettes stuffed with mysterious meats and fillings. The sardines are not my favorite but the other tapas are delicious and I hesitate to give up our table but we have other museums to visit and walk to the Correr Museum, included in our Doge Palace ticket. After the world class art and museums we have recently visited, this museum is disappointing and after an hour we leave to brave the line to visit the interior of Saint Marks Basilica. After 30 minutes in the sweltering sun we reach the entrance to the Basilica and are told that we must go check our back pack and purse. We walk down a nearby street to the bag check and return to the head of the line and enter this fabulous Basilica. No photos are allowed inside but the tiny mosaic tiles glitter in the dim interior and we circumnavigate the uneven and ornately tiled floors. Aside from Notre Dame in Paris, this is my favorite cathedral/basilica by far. Wanting to memorize and absorb the magic of this Basilica, we circle back around and find the stairs to the terrace above. There are less than 200 steps up to the terrace and we pay our 5 Euros each and circumnavigate the platform that overlooks Saint Marks square and the Canal beyond.

Art, Marty and John, St Marks Basilica

View from terrace of St Marks.

Forbidden photo of interior

According to the Rick Steve’s guidebook, Cathedral Madonna dell ‘Orto is a hidden jewel and we make our way towards this out of the way church. John feeds the pigeons in the square before we pay our entry of 5 Euros each and turn on the Rick Steve’s audio guide and circumnavigate the airy Cathedral admiring the many Tintoretto’s, the airy architecture and Tintoretto’s elaborate tomb guarded by exquisite lions.

John feeding pigeons

Lion guarded tomb, Madonna dell 'Orto

Interior, Madonna dell 'Orto Cathedral

We wander back towards our hotel stopping at a back street café where the timing is perfect and we are allowed to sit and order Campari Spritzers before the prime dinner crowd. A very gregarious British couple gives up their seat for us and when another tired family arrives looking for seating, we slide down and enjoy our game of musical chairs and conversation.

Campari Spritzers, Venice

Happy hour, Campari Spritzers

Fun with olives:)

We wander off in search of dinner and are fortunate to find a not too touristy restaurant where John orders a whole fish and the food is tasty and reasonably good.

Whole fish

Gone fish

Florence to Venice

Saturday, July 2nd Florence to Venice

Our train to Venice leaves at 10:15 a.m. and I relax and write this journal on our high speed train traveling 300 kilometers and hour. Just as on a plane flight, a stewardess offers us drinks and snacks and we arrive in Venice in just two hours.  It is shortly after noon and Art rushes to the TI office to buy Vaporetto passes that includes a student museum discount card for John.

Canal scenes from the Vaporetto

Canal scenes from the Vaporetto

Vaporetto stop for Pension Guerrato

Detail of Venetian architecture

Within minutes we are stepping onto the #1 Vaporetto that will take us to the Mercado Rialto canal stop for our Pension Guerrato, a Rick Steve’s recommendation. The Pension is just short walk from the Vaporetto stop through the fruit and vegetable market and left down a narrow cobbled alley. The inviting and informal lobby is on the second floor and our reservations are in order. We are presented with a very heavy brass key to our top floor room, five flights up with no elevator. John sighs and hauls both his and my suitcase up the creaky stairs. Our spacious room is delightful with a rooftop view of Venice and heavy crossed beams across the garret ceiling and a sparkling modern bathroom.

Entrance to Pension Guerrato

View from the window of our pension

Within minutes we head out to explore Venice and walk the maze of narrow streets towards Saint Mark’s Square. The square is blindly bright and mobbed with tourists and I feel a bit disoriented but Art is prepared with the Rick Steve’s audio guide tour and we plug in our head phones and listen to the orientation to Venice and find our bearings.

View of Saint Mark's Square

Facade of Saint Mark's Basilica

The line into Saint Mark’s Basilica is impossibly long so we put that off for tomorrow and wander the back streets of Venice towards La Balute, a point across from the Grand Canal. On the way, we find a tiny corner bistro/bar with three available stools inside and cool down with late afternoon Campari Spritzers.

Tapas at a back street Venetian bistro

Narrow canal scene

We pass an exhibit for Zaha Hadi and pop into the museum to inquire about ticket prices with plans to return tomorrow when we have more energy to enjoy the exhibit. Away from the throngs of tourists we sit at the point in the shade of the Della Dogana Museum, our legs hanging over the edge of the cement pier.  Venetian style, Saint Mark’s square is across the inlet from where we sit and we watch the traffic jam of assorted boats zip by.  Vaporettos, gondolas, shuttle taxi boats and private yachts motor by and when a large cruise ship passes in the distance, waves surge and splash our legs.  Two artist’s sketch the scene and we are among just a handful of tourists and photographers enjoying this out of the way vantage point off the Grand Canal.

La Balute point, away from the throngs of tourists

Art on pier pilings, La Balute

The pier at La Balute

La Balute Plaza

Away from the throngs of tourists

We wind our way back through the maze of narrow streets, crossing tiny arched bridges and enjoying the intimacy of roads less traveled but the narrow streets soon join the main shopping street artery, swimming with streams of tourists.

Canal off the beaten tourist route

Main tourist artery, Venice

We pass shops of colorful Venetian glass, glittery jewelry and tacky tourist souvenir shops crammed with cheap and garish carnival masks, T-shirts and copies of Venetian sculpture. It is dinner time and in our usual dysfunctional manner, we read every restaurant menu before settling on a restaurant not far from our hotel. The restaurant only has inside seating and although, John and Art have a window view of those crossing the small adjoining bridge, I have no view and the restaurant feels claustrophobic. The food is not memorable and once again it is the affordable and very drinkable wine that puts a soft glow on the evening.

Evening light along the canals, Venice

Evening light, Venice

Outdoor cafe dining, Venice

The tide encroaches

 We finish dinner shortly after 9:00 P.M. and the “football” game between Italy and Germany has just begun. Art and John want to watch but there are no restaurants that will allow us to sit and order just drinks without dinner. Around the corner from our Pension, a throng of young people gather, standing room only, drinking beer and watching the game on large outdoor screen.  Art returns to our hotel and John and I continue to look for a bar where we can sit, drink and watch the game. Although there are dozens of restaurants spilling out along the canal, we must order dinner in order to sit. I notice that the tide is coming in and many of the table and chair legs are a few inches underwater.

Fans watching Italy vs Germany

Evening in Venice

We walk back to the square near our hotel where now charged and boisterous young people, stand, drink and cheer on the game. I leave John to enjoy the lively scene and walk the short distance back to our pension and climb the five flights to our room. As tired as I am, I am unable to sleep soundly until two hours later, I hear John softly enter our room. Italy lost to Germany.