Mark says, “After a hectic previous day making our way from Bellagio through Verona to Venice, we would have liked a good breakfast and a day off. Alas, it was a poor breakfast and another busy day. Breakfast was so bad it’s not worth recounting!
The first thing we wanted to do was go back to San Marco square, take photos in the daylight and visit the Doge’s Palace. Unfortunately the corner of the Palace that has the Weeping Noah and the canal with the Bridge of Sighs was all boarded up – the exterior was being renewed. The hoarding was covered in advertising – as it turns out this was a common occurrence, even in San Marco square – so it just made the perspective unappealing and demonstrated that Venice is all about taking advantage of tourists.
Even though it was about 10am in the morning, surprisingly there almost no line for the Doge’s Palace so we headed in. It turned out to be remarkable – it had its own piazza with the Giant’s Staircase guarded by Neptune and Mars, and had countless rooms decorated in murals, gold paint and some great art. I was particularly impressed to see the original of ‘Hell’ by Hieronymus Bosch. Crossing the Bridge of Sighs led to the former prison of the Doge, let’s just say that this was a three-story building with very few windows, a lot of cells, and a lot of bad energy. (Michelle: the prison was very yukky indeed. We had read that it often flooded to about knee height, and the cells were small and cramped and smelly anyway. There was a lot of old, old graffiti – I can joke and look for the ‘Life of Brian’ references, where they made Brian redo his graffiti as the Latin was incorrect – most of this graffiti was in Latin as well. The palace itself was lovely though – every room was filled with frescoes and murals – no need for hung paintings in this place!)
After the Palace we headed up the Campanile in the middle of San Marco square to catch 360 degree views of the city from many metres up. The views were lovely, not just of the monuments, churches and water setting, but especially in the plethora of small balconies covered in greenery that locals obviously use to escape their rat race.
After more photo’s of the Basilica de San Marco and a break for lunch, we headed out into streets of Venice to just walk around and soak up the atmosphere. We headed in the general direction of the Rialto bridge… (Michelle: and walked, and walked and walked. But it seems this is the way to see Venice, as the narrow streets with all their shops and cafes are just charming. Each corner you turn holds another sight for sore eyes. The small canals you wander along all have the odd gondola drift past and it makes you feel like you are in a different world).
We finally found the Rialto Bridge, covered in advertising and as a result not really meeting our expectations. (Michelle: It was a shame, I guess I had pictured something very romantic, but the advertising in Venice is just all a little overwhelming – hence why the side streets are so great. One side of the bridge was all advertising, the other was all graffiti, and it seemed like the entirety of Europe was on the Bridge hustling for photos).
After crossing the Rialto we headed around the corner and found an outdoor bar just a few metres from the water’s edge of Grand Canal. We promptly sat ourselves down to have some drinks and watch the passing canal traffic – of which there was plenty. It was pretty interesting watching the slow gondolas navigate (and stay upright) through a maze of very large water buses, fast water taxis and other general canal traffic.
Tipsy from a few drinks, we headed off again into the streets and canals, and eventually ended up at the train station, which is on the other side of Venice from where we started! We had passed through tiny streets, over canal bridges, avoided countless ‘mask’ shops, encountered big and small piazzas and too many churches to count. We were tired and hungry so promptly went into a restaurant that had Grand Canal views and sat down for an early dinner.
Tip for beginners – don’t eat in restaurants on the Grand Canal, they’re there for your tourist dollar, and generally have poor service and rubbish food. At least that’s what we found. We got ourselves out of the restaurant as fast as we could, apart from the bad food we don’t enjoy sitting among a bunch of loud, whining Poms. (Michelle: disclaimer here! Not all poms are loud and whining, but sadly this bunch were!)
We walked another few hundred metres to the next canal, and found exactly what we were hoping for – a gondola! Not hard in Venice, let me tell you! The sun was just starting to set so we climbed aboard for the ‘2 km’ trip. The gondola ride was easily the highlight of our visit to Venice…we started at sunset and ended in darkness, we went out into the Grand Canal, we passed buildings with either significant and/or purportedly important histories, and we were taken through a myriad of small canals. It was very pleasant, made all the better by being there with my wife. (Michelle: Awww, isn’t he sweet? It was very romantic to say the least).
We ended our day in Venice with a worrying water bus ride through the canals back to San Marco square. We did make it, although we went the complete opposite direction to what we thought we would be, as did many other people who were mostly in party mode and a little too exuberant – nice clothes though!
Venice, tick, been there, done that. Did I enjoy it – yes. Would I go back – no, it’s a town that is set up to rip off tourists, they’re not subtle about it and they don’t care that you know it. Next!
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