VENICE

2017.


Another thank you to our son Ben for getting us to the start of this trip to Europe.
We had a long haul from Sydney to Venice via Bangkok and Dubai- about thirty three hours from departure to arrival! The Emirates A380 plane was really comfortable and we both sleep fairly well.


VENICE
Sunday..23April
On arrival in Venice and  following instructions from our exchange man Gianluca, we caught the bus from the airport to San Marco Square where we then bought weekly tickets for the vaporetto (boat) and met Gianluca without any problems at the appointed place on the Grand Canal. He took us to his tiny apartment and after a run-down on its peculiarities....took us on a short tour of our immediate locality to show us his favourite supermarket and restaurants so we could get our bearings...and the left us to our own devices. We ventured into the local supermarket and bought provisions and then went out for dinner at a local trattoria and had red wine and pizza... Of course!!! It is Italy you know! And we got lost.....of course!!!  

  

Bed was a godsend and we slept until 10 am the following morning.


First impressions.
There is amazing stillness and quiet. There is no traffic noise, barking dogs, lawn mowers, loud voices, music. The only sound I can hear now is the tolling of a church bell and the footsteps of a single passing pedestrian, the distant chirping of small birds and cooing pigeons.


Monday April 24
We set out with a plan to follow a walking tour of six hours duration. We caught the vaporetto to San Marco Sq and took the long way round so we could see the famed buildings alongThe Grand Canal from the water as they were captured in the paintings of Canaletto. 

We met an interesting couple from the USA and exchanged details with the view to a future exchange.
Then it was into the thronging millions of colourful and vibrant people taking selfies, queueing for entry into the cathedral, the camponile, food and souvenirs. From under the magic clock tower of Piazza San Marco, we left the city's centre stage to enter another world: the winding lower gut of golden consumption, the Mercerie.' The streets have always been lined with shops offering status products such as silks and spices and were the only ones originally paved with marble blocks. We poked in and out of every interesting little shop, church, nook and cranny and got thoroughly and happily lost.

We spoke to one artisan producing traditional ceramic and papier-mache Venetian masks and he kindly took us into the back and showed us his mounds and explained the entire process to us. We met his wife as well and talked to her about the paints, gold-leaf and varnish used to decorate the masks. It was fascinating.

 Eight hours later we had only done half of our walk so bailed out and caught a vaporetto home. We dined around the corner on linguine and seafood pasta with the obligatory house red.

Tuesday April 25
We started the day with a substantial breakfast of egg, toast, yoghurt, coffee and apple.
Then we had a foray into the local supermarket to stock up with goodies. We both love the challenge of attempting to decipher labels, making the currency conversions and trying the local delicacies.
We then met Gianluca for an aperitif at Capitan Uncino restaurant at Campo San Giacoma Dall'Orio.

The square is particularly lovely with tall shade trees and lots of space for children to play. It also had a community veggie patch and a water fountain and was lined with coffee shops and restaurants. We had Spritz, a pink/red, delightfully light and delicious, wine based Nth Italian drink, and herbed bread and oil and a long talk. We look forward to seeing him in Australia in November with his girlfriend.

After we left Gianluca we went home for lunch and researched the way to the Jewish Ghetto which he recommended as interesting. 

 We caught a vaporetto across to the other side of the Grand Canal and walked through the maze of streets and alleyways to the Jewish Ghetto. There are several plaques on the wall in memory of Venetian Jews who were sent to Nazi concentration camps. 

We walked further until we reached open water and could look over the Canale Delle Fondamenta Nouve to the city cemetery island of San Michelle. Venetians are buried here and after ten years their bones are removed to an ossuary so the grave site can be reused.

Eventually, we could walk no further so caught a boat home and collapsed with a hot coffee.

Wednesday April 26
We awoke to rain and a much colder day so we rugged up and headed for The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the second most visited museum in Venice after the Accademia.
The collection includes representative examples from the major movements of the 20th century and an entire room of Jackson Pollocks! Others include Max Ernst (whom she married), Picasso, Braque, Chagall, Mondrian, de Kooning and Surrealists Dali and De Chirico. Included were Brancusi's 'Bird in Space', and sculptures by GIacometti, both old favourites of mine. There were also some colourful, naive paintings by her daughter Pegeen, who inherited some of her mother's joie de vivre but tragically died at 42. 'It must have been this same spirit of fun that lead Mrs Guggenheim to erect something besides a palace outside on the Grand Canal - take a look at Mariano Marini's joyously obscene equestrian statue, the Angel of the Citadel!'

 
Mobiles by Calder floated above our heads as we shuffled through the packed exhibition and we were eventually spat out the other end into the beautiful back, sculpture garden where Peggy, along with several of her dogs, is buried.

After leaving the museum we wandered along past a shop front with wood sculptures of everyday items of clothing and accessories. The ability of the sculptor to achieve such realism amazed us.

 

Because the weather was so wet, and we were close to St Mark's Basilica, we thought we had the chance of a small queue.

 

 We were lucky and only waited about five minutes before entering. The interior was very gloomy, probably due to the heavy skies and the fact that there was repair work in progress on a large window so the gold mosaics were not so vibrant. The mosaic floors were beautiful and it is wonderful to walk over the undulations where time and and millions of footsteps have altered the surface.

Thursday. April 27

More rain and cold today and a late start after a well earned sleep-in.

Firstly we shopped for food. Then, following Gianluca's suggestion we caught the boat out to the remote Castello island of San Pietro which is surrounded by boatyards. The main purpose was to see San Pietro di Castello which was Venice's cathedral before Napoleon made San Marco the seat of Venice's patriarch.

 
The cathedral was extremely beautiful, light and airy.
We then made our way through the sea of umbrellas in San Marco Piazza,
called it a day and went home to thaw out. Interesting to hear that Sydney had morning temperatures of 11c too.

Friday. April 28
We returned to Castello to have a look at The Arsenale, which holds a unique place in the prehistory of the Industrial Revolution. Although Henry Ford sometimes gets credit for inventing the assembly line, the Venetians were using the same methods 500 years earlier to produce vessels which were identical as Modal T's!
As a result, all Venetian ships used uniform spare parts, available at all ports so ships could be quickly adapted for trade or war and all ships could be boarded by any crew who would immediately 'know the ropes'.
In 1423 it was said that the Arsenale employed 16,000 men and during the fighting against the Turks it cranked out a ship a day; on special occasions to impress visitors like Henry III, King of France, the arsenalati produced a beautiful galley between the antipasto and dessert courses of a state feast!

 

 

As we walking along the canal beside the Arsenale wall on our way out, a busker started playing his saxaphone so we stopped a while to listen to his beautiful music.

We ate delicious pizza for lunch nearby before going into The Naval History Museum.
Only the boat section of the museum was open but the interior was impressive because of its immense size and the number of very large boats on display.
The most ornate was The Royal Barge. 
Despite more rain, we walked over The Rialto bridge, through the city market place and caught the vaporetto home. The rain stopped and the sun came out so we finished the day in Campo San Giacomo Dall'Orio, sipping yet another glass of Spritz, watching the kids kick a soccer ball while their parents chatted with friends. The Italians are a relaxed and social people who make good use of their public places.

Saturday April 29.
At last we managed to catch the garbage man...... Well ... actually Glenn chased him down the alleyway in his pyjamas!!! The system here is unique.
Garbage is kept inside and can be taken each day before 8am and thrown in the garbage boat at our nearest vaporetto stop. (Mundays are always too late for that!)
OR the dustman rings the doorbell between 8.30 and 10am and you take the garbage to him.
Today we made a sandwich for lunch and sat on a rarely vacant bench seat under a tree in the sun to eat at nearby square and watched the world go by.
Eventually we decided go to the Rialto market to buy dinner and came home with salmon, prawns, asparagus, sundried tomatoes and strawberries and lemons. We really enjoyed the shopping experience where we took a ticket and waited our turn. The locals all jostled and chatted good-naturedly and chose fruit and veggies at the front of the huge stall and threw them to the vendors at the back to be weighed. We took our produce home and later prepared dinner.

We then went to the Doges Palace which was very impressive.

 
 The queue was short and we were quickly inside the huge colonnaded courtyard, audio tour in hand. This grand gothic palace, the facade restored with white Istrian stone and Veronese pink marble, was the Doge's official residence for nearly seven centuries, where he lived on the first floor like a caged lion, unable to leave without permission. The lavishly decorated second floor chambers are the real highlight, and house the 22mX7m painting, 'Paradise', by Tintoretto's son Domenico.

Outstanding was Sansovino's 24-carat, gilt, stuccowork, Golden Staircase.

The Grand Council Hall, was the largest space in Europe without supporting pillars. Around the ceiling are portraits of 500 prominent Venitians.
We walked over the famed 'bridge of sighs' which prisoners crossed on their way into the dungeons, ducked our heads under low stone ceilings and tried to imagine the hellish existence of men imprisioned there. We did read that the wealthy were able to buy food and clothing to improve their lot, but the poor did not have that luxury!

Our seafood dinner was a standout, prepared by Chef Glenn and served with a good wine.

April 30

This is our last full day in Venice and we are weary after so many days walking and exploring. We read a few articles and recommendations about San Simeone Piccolo, (across the Grand Canal from the railway statio), and decided to attend Mass. The 11am service was fully sung in Latin by three men; a tenor/organist, and two baritones. They were wonderful to listen to. The priest also sang. I grew up with the Latin Mass so really enjoyed the experience although the 1.5 hrs duration was a little much for Glenn!!

 

We sat in a nearby park in the sun for awhile and then bought gelato and explored the very busy railway station. In a small backstreet we bought an irresistible screen printed scene of Venice from a local artist named David Ariel. Our first souvenir.
We ended our week in the beautiful Campo San Giacomo Dall'Orio with a spritz! It's our favourite square (and drink), and not far away.

Highlights
No aggression
So many helping hands to assist a wheelchair person on/off the vaporetto.
No anti-social behaviour.
Daily shopping for fresh food.
Families in the squares relaxing and socialising.
No graffiti.
No traffic noise.
Church bells
Peace and quiet.
No 'nanny state' rules for kids on bikes.

Tonight at 7pm we went into a small supermarket (they are all small) to buy food for dinner. The elderly woman at the checkout handed her purse to the young man on the register. He unzipped it, took out the required amount of money, zipped it up and handed it back to her while she packed her groceries.
I think that is wonderful!