Venice, Where the Streets are Water
I have not written in a while. The second segment of the Mediterranean cruise had a new port every day. There was no time. After we returned home, first I was exhausted; second, I was catching up on daily life and the time slipped away. Thirdly, the task is daunting. I took too many pictures and so much happened that it is tough to select what to report. I will keep at it and eventually post the rest of my experiences.
I took 375 pictures of Venice during our two-day stay there. Whatever I had read or seen of Venice, the real thing different. Michael and I got up at 4:45 a.m. to witness the Silver Wind's arrival. We were on deck by 5:15 and stayed there until the ship docked around 8:00 a.m. We sailed past the still under construction flood barriers, through the San Marco Basin, past Lido Island, into the Giudecca Canal and along the front of Venice proper past all the famous sights. The weather proved bright and sunny. I have pictures of San Marco Plaza in the very early morning before it became crowded with sightseers. I took pictures of famous and not so famous buildings. It was very difficult to select only twenty-five pictures to show you from the visit to Venice.
As soon as the Silver Whisper was cleared for passengers to go ashore, Michael and I walked down the gangway and into the city. I think that we were the first on shore after the tour staff.
At 8:00 a.m., the temperature had already passed 80 degrees F. The day was going to be hot and humid. Michael used the map of Venice distributed by the tour desk to find a walking route to get us to the train station in as short a distance as possible. He planned to get unlimited day passes for the vaporetti, or water bus system, that serves as Venice's public transport.
The walk to the train station proved to be a scenic introduction to Venice. We walked along back streets bordering tiny canals. We saw residential Venice with its obscure churches, schools and neighborhood restaurants. We got to the Piazzale Roma, the end of the autoroute to Venice, in about 15 minutes. There all the buses from the mainland were disgorging crowds of morning commuters and the multistory parking garage was filling up fast. We made our way through the crowds over a very modernistic bridge spanning the north end of the Grand Canal to the Ferrovia or train station connecting Venice with the rest of Italy and Europe.
Biglietto (tickets) costing 23 Euro apiece gave us thirty-six hour access to the public transport system. Vaporetti stops are floating bus stop shelters painted with the name of the stop in black letters on a yellow stripe. They usually are in pairs, one for each direction. The train station had four different bus stops. Only the stops at major tourist areas and the autoand train transfer points were usually crowded. The main stops at the train station were so crowded that morning that we took a less crowded vaporetto not one traveling the Grand Canal.
The vaporetto almost immediately made a turn from the Grand Canal into a large side canal. We got off at the Guglie stop. Guglie is the Italian for ghetto. It is in fact the origin of the English word. A ghetto in Venice was at first a residential district. The Jewish Ghetto was different because all Jews were compelled to live there and they were locked in at night. From there flowed a long sad history throughout Europe.
Since we happened to be right there, Michael and I walked through the entrance to the Jewish ghetto and wandered the streets for a while. The Jews of Venice had been exterminated during WWII as in most of the other places we have visited on this cruise. Recently there has been a revival of the old Jewish neighborhood. We saw tiny kosher restaurants and small bakeries in abundance. Two synagogues appeared to be active. Extensive renovations were underway at one of them. We saw some Hasidim strolling the streets and courtyards. Michael told me that the Hasidim had been behind the revival of Jewish culture in Venice. It was sort of like the sight one might see in parts of Brooklyn NY.
We walked over bridges spanning several small canals and wandered into another area dotted with churches of varying size and appearance. I really enjoyed this walk through the non tourist infested parts of the city. Eventually we saw a sign for a vaporetti stop and followed it. We came out on what I would call the back side of Venice. I could look across open water to Murano and Burano islands.
We had only a few minutes wait for a vaporetto. This one was a local that took us on a long ride around through most of Venice,back and forth across the canals until we reached a Vaporetti stop near St Marks Piazza.
By now, it was late morning and the crowds had begun to build. Michael wanted to find the place where he had lunched with his friend Jim Bisciglia six or seven years ago. We crossed two canals to the right of St. Marks and took a small narrow street away from the main waterfront. We saw interesting medieval and renaissance architecture, turned into a few blind alleys until eventually Michael decided that this was not the correct street. He was seeking a small square with a church and some tiny restaurants. Churches we found. Almost every street seems to have at least one. Many of the towers are leaning although they are not as pretty as Pisa.
We went back to St. Mark's Piazza. I would have liked to see the Doge's Palace but the line for entrance snaked about the building and into the square. The famous bridge of Sighs was draped in a plastic billboard as was part of the Doge's Palace. I'm guessing that they were under repair. We entered the square and I took pictures amidst the crowds. It was hot and unpleasant.
Michael took me out the back way into tiny streets. The streets were a maze of plate glass windowed stores selling high-end merchandise. (i.e. Gucci, Versace and the like) We walked in the direction of the Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal. Here is where I discovered that the directional signs often point in multiple directions for the same destination. We were both hot and tired. It was noon and we were getting hungry. We followed the signs for the nearest vaporetti stop. That was located just south of the Rialto Bridge. From here, I had my first ride on the scenic part of the Grand Canal. The vaporetto went up the canal. We passed the train station and the Piazzale Roma again. This time the vaporetto went out to the island where the large cruise ships docked. Unexpectedly, that was the end of this particular vaporetto's route. We waited ten minutes for the next #2 Vaporetto, which eventually took us to a stop near the Silver Shadow at the smaller port.
We had spent a fascinating morning riding boats and walking. I had even seen most of the major tourist sights!
Michael and I had a late lunch on the ship and ventured out again mid afternoon. We decided to take another boat ride. During the two days in Venice, we really got our money's worth from the vaporetti passes. We took another local bus (vaporetto) that went the other way: past the cruise terminal, Piazzale Roma and the train station. This route then gave us a most grand tour of the Grand Canal.I admired and photographed seemingly hundreds of wonderful buildings as well as the water traffic on the canal itself. It was clear that the buildings are gradually sinking into the sea. The water getting level is higher and the buildings are settling into the mud. Not all of the buildings are fully occupied and many need repair. The grand palaces are mosstly museums now. The vaporetto ride ended at St. Mark's Square. St. Marks was even more crowded than ever. A little confusion later, we found another local vaporetto that continued in an easterly direction all the way to Lido.
The vaporetti stop at Lido looked more like a ferry terminal than a vaporetti floating shelter. There were, in fact, ferries coming and going from there as well as numerous vaporetti. A wide boulevard runsfrom the terminal to the beach on the other side of the island. We decided to walk the half mile. There were a lot of shade trees so the walk, while hot, was pleasant.
Lido beach was not much like what I had expected. Most of the beaches in the Mediterranean, such as the one at Rhodes are rocky. Lido beaches are actually sandy. Though crowded, there weren't wall to wall people. There were many young families. The public beach was clean and there were a few cafes serving drinks and fast food in the shade. After a short rest while we watchede people , we walked back to the vaporetti terminal and found an express that took us back to a stop near the Silver Wind.
The cruise terminal for small ships was located not far from our ship. A barn like building, it had been outfitted with a magnetometer for passengers to walk through and an x-ray scanner for their belongings. When we left the ship, we walked through the back of the building directly on to the street. Returning, however, it was necessary to go through the inspection process. Most of our trips through the Italian security were relatively routine: put the camera and back pack on the scanner belt and walk through the magnetometer. This time a female security officer on duty gave Michael a hard time. His belt buckle tripped the magnetometer and it beeped. He was required to show his ship ID, remove his belt and put the belt through the scanner. All the while the officer harangued him in Italian. I don't know what she thought he was trying to smuggle out of Italy! The man behind us got an even harder time. His artificial knee set off the magnetometer and he was having a tough time trying to explain this to the suspicious security officer as we left the building. I must say though that all of the other Italian officials we interacted with were very friendly and polite.
Michael and I had dinner that evening in the main dining room. We finished as quickly as possible. That's not fast as the staff get in each other's way trying to provide excellent service. The evening was beautifully clear and warm. We wanted to walk the streets of Venice by night.
We took a vaporetto to St. Marks. Michael tried again to find the small square where he had eaten years ago. We noticed that the St. Marks area is so busy that there are three double vaporetti stops. There was a bridge over a small canal between us and the easternmost vaporetti stop. Michael remembered two bridges before the turn into a narrow street. The question was which two bridges. This time we went three bridges from the vaporetti stop at which we landed. When we turned into the next tiny side street Michael said, "This looks familiar." A short walk past three sidewalk cafes that occupied almost the entire street and we came out in a small square with a small Romanesque Italianate church on one side. There was a small restaurant with tables both inside and outside. Michael said that that wasn't the same one. We looked at the doors at the next establishment. They belonged to a restaurant closed Mondays. It was Monday and all the tables and chairs were inside. Michael said, "I think this is it. . .I'm sure this is it." If the restaurant had been open, we would have stopped in for dessert. It was nice to see that a small restaurant on a back street could survive.
We returned to St. Mark's Piazza. After the quiet of the small campo we had just visited, even the much-reduced crowds around the tower and basilica at St. Mark's seemed noisy. Cafes were busy all around the square. Live performances were offered at a number of them. We heard an excellent jazz combo at one, a not-so-good violinist and her ensemble at another. Street vendors were throwing LED powered swirly things in the air. It was all very colorful. While we were hanging out in the square, full night had fallen. It was pleasantly warm and we still felt like walking. Michael and I started along the major pedestrian streets. We took the long way back to the ship making a long arc that took us through major streets filled with colorful coffee shops, bars and cafes. I gazed in the windows of closed shops of every kind: diamonds and gold, high fashion, tee shirts and elaborate paper Mache masks as well as butcher shops and tobacconists.
Michael lost his GPS on the flight to Athens and was uneasy about navigating solely by the tourist map we had. I think I impressed him with my sense of direction and ability to read a map. I was able to retrace the route we had followed early that morning in the opposite direction and get us back to the Silver Shadow without a wrong turn. I think we may have had a Limoncello on the deck behind the Panorama Lounge before retiring for the night.
I have included representative pictures of our first foray into Venice. The post will continue with pictures of the Grand Canal, Lido and the next day.
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