We were fortunate enough to spend 3 days in Venice. Included with our cruise, was a walking tour of the city and a special private evening tour and cocktail party at the museum, Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista. Then on our second day we went to the airport, said goodbye to our friends from the cruise and picked up our son Brad who had come to Italy to join us for our road trip down to Rome. Here are the highlights of our 3 days in Venice.
Early morning sail- in to Venice. Gorgeous views and weather and we even were served a glass of prosecco
Piazza San Marco
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| Crowds of people on the bridge to see Bridge of Sighs (upper right of photo) |
After we docked, we were off on our tour. We took a vaporetto (boat bus) and docked near Piazza San Marco or St Marks Square and walked along the waterfront to the very famous square.
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| Island of San Giorgio Maggiore |
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| Bridge of Sighs |
The Doge Palace
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| A closeup of one of the columns of the Doge Palace. All pillars were equally intricate |
Piazza San Marco
St Marks Basilica (nicknamed the Church of Gold) was seen as a symbol of Venetian wealth and power from the 10th century. It is an example of Italian Byzantine architecure and very little of the building has changed over the past 1000 years.
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| The only original mosaic from the 11th century |
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| A replacement mosaic from a later period (Renaissance ?) where you can see more 3d shading in the art. |
After seeing the waterfront and the we did a wander around the maze of streets of Venice
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| Traffic jams on the canal - DHL and UPS had delivery boats |
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| Bride and Groom in a Gondola - This was also the wedding day of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle |
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| The famous Venetian Opera House, La Fenice. We were supposed to get a private tour but was cancelled due to another event :-( |
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| Surprisingly we saw many garden spaces in Venice. |
The Grand Canal
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| Rialto Bridge |
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| Not all streets had a canal |
Our evening tour for the Aegean Odyssey cruisers of Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista was very interesting. The website for the museum is here
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| The facade to the courtyard built in 1454 |
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| Baroque additions to the original building |
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| Cocktail party serving Bellinis, Prosecco and canapes |
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| A stunning floor with purple and aqua marble |
We had a beautiful evening walk back to our vapretto and then back on the ship for a late supper out on deck.
The Next morning we took the bus to the airport, said goodbye to our friends old and new, and picked up son Brad. We had the hotel shuttle drop off our luggage at the hotel and then we took the train back into Venice.... about a half hour train ride.
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| The Quarto d"Altino train station is right beside the hotel- quick and easy way to get into the city for the next day and a half |
The train station in Venice - the only modern building there
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| After a delicious meal of Gnocchi and Pizza, we went explorring |
We wanted to find Mario Baratto hall in the University. Our tour guide told us about this famous professor that had a beautiful conference/lecture room named after him. It overlooks the Grand Canal and was designed by a famous architect and is open to the public to see. Unfortunately the university was closed for the weekend and we couldn't get in.
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| The University Gates |
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| A display in the courtyard about the designing of Mario Baratto Hall |
a photo from the internet
Aula Mario Baratto - a gem of modern design
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| Which way now? |
Murano Glass shops were everywhere - selling nick-nacks, to Jewelly to pieces of art - and all quite beautiful
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| A restaurant with Murano Glass sconces and chandeliers |
Mask shops were also everywhere with masks selling at every price point.
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| Many shops hand make the masks |
yup, we saw kayaks and canoes on the canals. Not sure why that surprised us but it did.
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| We witnessed a canal rage incident here. Loud "discussion" on which side of the canal to be on just after this photo was taken :-). |
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| The Grand Canal was filled with rowers, dragon boats and kayaks on a Saturday afternoon. |
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| Many many shops by and on the Rialto Bridge |
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| Very upscale dress shop on the canal. |
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