Our trip started in Venice: a most unique, magical place. It is called "La Serenissima" which translates to "The Most Serene One." Venice is a series of islands where there are no cars, just cobblestone lanes and alleys, and canals and bridges -- lots of them. We did a lot of walking, but you can also get around town using the vaporetto (water bus.)

Without the rush of traffic there is very little noise, and the pace is much slower than Rome (or even Seattle.)  On the down side, thing tend to be more expensive. Since there are no cars (or horses and wagons), everything you see has arrived by boat and most of it was moved by hand at least once.

Since it's an island, you don't worry much about getting lost. We felt completely safe wandering down narrow back alleys late at night, just to see where they led. It's interesting to see some bridges leading to a home's front door, and even more amazing to see the doors that just open onto the water. It's also a place where you can throw away your map after a couple of days. Navigation is mostly accomplished by following the signs that direct you to major sights rather than following street signs: "Per S.Marco ->" means this street leads to St. Mark's Square.


Above: A view of the Grand Canal from the crest of the Academia Bridge, which was a short stroll from our hotel. Spectacular palaces line the Grand Canal, but due to frequent flooding, many of the first floors are abandoned. Venice gets acqua alta (floodwaters) about as often as most other cities get rain, we still think this would be a really cool place to live.

Right: Part of the residential (and un-touristy) neighborhood of Santa Elena.  We bought some fruit from a floating fruit stand on one of the canals here.

   



   At left is Piazza San Marco, including the Basilica, Square and the Campanile (belltower, which we climbed and which has spectacular views.)  There are alot of people in the square in this picture - almost more people than pigeons.

One of the most stunning parts of Venice was entering St. Mark's Basilica.  The interior is covered in beautiful gold mosaics--a spectacular site when lit up.  We just walked (No photos allowed, though.) Below is the last remaining original mosaics on the front of the church. Note the marble columns on the facade, in a palette of different colors.


Above: We visited Ca'Macana Venezia, which provided masks to the movie "Eyes Wide Shut". Making and wearing masks are Venetian traditions during festival times. What happened in Venice at festival time was supposed to stay in Venice, but the masks were there just in case.

Left: Following a narrow, unassuming alley, our tour guide brought us to this "snail" tower and garden - something we probably would have never found on our own.
Right: One of the great things about being on a tour: we had a chance to visit one of the last few working gondola shops in Venice. In the photo is Roberto of D'Tramontin & Figli, a third generation craftsman, who still makes the banana-shaped boats using traditional methods. Roberto spoke no English, and Taunya translated everything for us.

Gondolas are custom made specific to the the gondolier who will use it: so it glides with perfect balance, the stern may be more or less bowed, based on the weight of the gondolier (who cannot gain or lose more than 20 pounds during his career!)
While most tourists think of gondola rides as romantic, we actually piled all of the tour members into four gondolas and sailed on our merry way. Because it had rained earlier in the evening, no singers or musicians were available. True to what our local artist told us, it is a very different perspective of Venice from the water. The small canal we traveled on had no walkways on the side, so this was a section of the city you could only see from the water. And so quiet! Although Venice is much quieter than most cities since there's no motorized vehicles, it's amazingly serene when you're the only people in sight, gliding along. Except when your modern gondolier takes a call on his cell phone. (We do not jest. See the photo in the gallery section.)

Canal photo courtesy of Dennis and Marie Smith, Copyright © 2005.

 Left: One of the many small canals. Notice the personal "vehicles" parked along side the homes. It's amazing to see doors that open right onto the water, or in some cases, a bridge that goes directly to someone's front door.

Below Right: The church of Santa Maria della Salute, which was built as a thanks for Venice being spared most of the ravages of the plague of 1630 that decimated so many in the rest of Europe.

Above, Bob stands next to one of the giant heads placed around Venice as part of La Biennale-- an international art festival, held every other year in the city. On the main grounds there are small buildings where partipating countries host their art exhibits. We spent a morning perusing the various contemporary exhibits, which was a nice balance to all the Renaissance art.  We also had a chance to visit the Peggy Guggenheim Museum on one of our free afternoons.
Of course, Italy was a delicious food-fest, as well.  One of the great things about a tour is that for our group lunches and dinners, Taunya and Trina would order for us.  It gave us the chance to try some delectable dishes that we might never have ordered on our own. Venice food adventures: stuffed sardines and stuffed baby octopus.  Also, a local specialty: spaghetti al nero (in cuttlefish ink) - very tasty.  And this Diane ordered on her own!

In all, Venice is the most amazing, place: relaxing yet facinating.   Had our trip ended in Venice instead of Rome, I'm not sure you could have dragged us onto the plane.  We will definitely go back.
Trip Home Page Venice Photo Gallery 
On to Florence 

Copyright © 2005-2006 Robert & Diane Zormeir. All rights reserved.