Venice!

We flew into the Venice airport, which we found small, logical, easy to navigate, and having great bathrooms.  (A definite plus when traveling abroad!)  David got our tickets (15 € each) for the Alilaguna,  a sort of ‘water bus,’  and we were off on a scenic  hour and a quarter boat ride to our S.

A view from the Alilaguna

Zaccaria stop. 

 

 (Venice is built on 118 small islands and has lots of boats of various sizes used for transportation.) 

 

Hotel Owners

 Then, armed with our map and directions, we made our way down narrow streets and over a small bridge to our hotel, the Hotel al Piave  (which we would recommend, by the way).  The hotel was charming – with Murano glass light fixtures, helpful staff, good breakfast buffet, with cappuccinos made to order - plus we were in easy walking distance to many of the sights.  This hotel has been in the same family for generations, and we were told Rick Steves stays there when visiting Venice on his own.

A View of the Doge's Palace from the Piazza

We do have to admit Venice was a bit of a disappointment.  Maybe it’s because we had heard about it for so long and expected too much?  While it is a fascinating city because of its history and setting, most of the buildings appear to be in poor repair, and a declining population has resulted in many restaurants being owned by non-Italians, serving rather poor food.  (It's good to know that the condition of the buildings, etc. has received international attention to the point that UNESCO has set up a "Venice in Peril Fund.")Even in late October, the major streets and squares are overrun with tourists and with shops and booths selling shoddy souvenirs.  The matriarch of the family that owns our hotel told us that she no longer liked Venice, as it had become ‘Disneyland’.   That being said, we enjoyed seeing the sites that we had heard about for so long, such as San Marco Square, the Doge’s Palace, the Grand Canal, etc.  [Starting around the 6th century,  Doges were the rulers of the independent city-state of Venice; they were essentially  elected princes whose heirs had no hereditary rights - when one Doge died, a new Doge was elected.]  We also had some fun experiences in some of the restaurants and shops, as many of the wait staff seem to have assumed the role of entertainers when interacting with customers.  Most spoke English, which was a good thing as our Italian was completely non-existent. 

There are some astonishing churches with beautiful works of art in Venice – it’s truly amazing that

Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo
(with scaffolding on exterior)

such huge structures could be built on what amounts to marshy islands. One of our favorites was the Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo.   It dates back to the 1200s and is the final resting place of a number of Doges and other notables.  It is huge, beautiful and contains lots of great art, including Bellini.  As usual, there was an irritating group of particularly noisy tourists who ignored the signs stating that this is a church and requesting soft voices.  We were impressed when a priest actually told the group to quiet down – good for him! 

Then we were off to see the “must sees" such as  the Basilica San Marco (alas, only from the outside), the Doge’s palace (VERY impressive!), and the Bridge of Sighs.  Even in late October, the piazza was 

Bridge of Sighs

packed with tourists and, of course, pigeons.  We had pizza for lunch (in a restaurant run by Chinese) and then a delicious soup for dinner (our server was from India, and, alas, the place was packed with Americans).

The next day we were off exploring again (Venice is a very “walkable” city).  We walked as far as the train station (Venezia Santa Lucia).  It definitely seemed odd to see a highway with cars, trucks, and a bus on it in the distance – it sure didn’t take us long to get used to the larger “streets” being canals!  At lunch our server was the son of Hungarian and Romanian parents and the owner is Egyptian.  (According to our server, about 65% of restaurants in Venice are now owned by Egyptians who came to Venice 25 years ago and bought them from Italians.  Interesting.)

A View of the Grand Canal - which is lined with lined with

some impressive homes in a variety of architectural styles.

We wanted to do more exploring on our last day in Venice so that morning we headed off towards the Arsenale district.  What a difference!  This area was refreshingly free of the mobs of tourists and vendors and appeared to be largely modest buildings, and shops catering to locals. 

Then it was time to board the QE II and get ready for its departure on Tuesday, the 29th.  We were off on our next adventure...