July 30, 2007
A Tiny Room with a Grand View
We spent two nights in Venice in a tiny, and I mean tiny, hotel room. However, the room had the redeeming quality that it was on the Grand Canal with a view of the Accademia Bridge. Considering that there are only three bridges that cross the Grand Canal, this was a great location. With only one and a half days to spend in Venice, we didn’t spend much time in our hotel anyway.
Venice has a way of immediately winning you over. As soon as you step out of the train station, the Grand Canal greets you, and you are surrounded by palaces still showing signs of a glorious age. We took a vaporetto, which is a boat that functions as a public bus, the length of the Grand Canal to our hotel, passing by countless palaces, bobbing gondolas, and the Rialto Bridge.
During our first afternoon there, we climbed the campanile (bell tower) on San Marco (Saint Mark’s Square). This was a great way to get they lay of the land, so to speak. That night we hung out in a cafe/bar on the square that charged a steep cover, but provided live music and great wine.
The following morning, we returned to San Marco to visit the Doge’s Palace and the Basilica. Because of Venice’s position on the Adriatic Sea, it had a strong connection with trading centers in the Middle East, thus its art and architecture reflects the Byzantine Style. We were amazed by the opulence of the Doge’s (Venetian Duke) palace, which was on par with Versailles in terms of living in autocratic style. We were also impressed by the basilica, the only one we visited on this trip in the Byzantine orthodox style. The gold mosaics lining every inch of the dome were beautiful. We also visited the treasury, filled with treasures looted during the crusades, and saw some horse statues that date back to the era of Alexander the Great.
Despite being worn out from the heat and walking, we decided to squeeze in a trip to Murano Island late that afternoon. We took a half-hour long vaporetto ride that circled the island, and arrived a little too late to see a glass blowing demostration, but we did get to purchase some traditional Venetian glass.
We did not take a gondola ride during this visit, which we considered too expensive for the thrill of being run over by a vaporetto, but we did take a short traghetto ride, which is crossing the Grand Canal via a gondola in areas that lack a bridge. The traghetto cost .50 euros, vs. 90+ for a gondola ride.
The next morning, we caught an early train for Florence. By the time we get a chance to write about that, we may be back in Seattle. LeAnn just posted about our time in the Cinque Terre, so read below for a post about our trek up and down the terraced cliffs. We are now in Rome and we return home in two days.
Update: view photos of Venice.
Filed by Eric at 12:23 pm under Europe 2007
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