With Verona having grown on us we were now a little
reluctant to leave, but with a destination like Venice on the itinerary not too
reluctant, of course. My driving
paranoia had also settled down and I was a lot more comfortable both going
through town and navigating on the autostrada. Soon we were pulling up to the Marco Polo airport where we
managed to ditch the car for free thanks to a very helpful car rental
agency. I’d mention them by name
but it seems they are in the middle of merging and changing their name so it
may get a little too confusing to be specific.
We were met at the airport by Vania, who would be our host
on the tour boat ride we had arranged through our Lake Como contact. The package we had arranged ahead of
time included a pick up and drop off from airport to hotel (and back again)
plus a two hour tour of Venice.
You really got a sense of where you were when we hopped into our boat
straight outside the airport. The
smell of the sea and the constant whirr of motorboats gave it real atmosphere. We quickly crossed the lagoon and got
into the canals, which we negotiated for a few minutes before popping out on to
the Grand Canale. We got to see a
small section of the canal before arriving at out hotel, but arranged to meet
the boat again in a few hours to complete the tour.
Our hotel was great, a small boutique situated right on the
canal front. We were ushered up to
the topmost floor to the Giaccomo Casanova room. The host who brought us up kept telling us how “romantic” it
was, dropping broad hints at what the expectation was for a young couple in the
Casanova room.
The room was beautiful indeed, with plush upholstered walls
in a great shade of blue and a nice window overlooking the canal. It was quiet and although we thought we
might be plagued by sounds from the canal all night, we heard nothing.
We stepped out for a quick bite to eat before heading out on
our tour. It really is amazing how
we never seem to get sick of good, authentic pizza. We’ve already said quite often that we were done with the
pizzas, yet we always find ourselves ordering them again. It had something to do with the perfect
crust – crunchy yet chewy - and a
nice mix of cheese and herbs.
Always perfect for lunch.
After lunch we hopped back into the water taxi with Vania
and Nicola and made our way slowly down the Grand Canale. Vania pointed out all the important
piazzas and bridges along the way.
We saw how they all had marble only on the facades in order to save on
weight and impress the right people – those on the canal. There was one building in particular
that had brilliant glass mosaics depicting scenes of glass makers. Apparently the family that owned the
palazzo also owned a glass making factory and they used the space on the front
of their home as advertising.
We sailed merrily along and into the Bay of St. Mark where
we got our first good view of the Basilica di San Marco and the Doge’s Palace,
two of the major tourist destinations.
We drifted on under the Bridge of Sighs, where prisoners being taken
from the Doge’s Palace to the prisons would get their last view of
freedom. It’s a slightly more
depressing story of why it called the Bridge of Sighs than the traditional
babble about finding your love on the bridge.
We ducked off into some of the smaller side canals for the
second part of the tour, seeing some of the other 180 islands that make up
Venice. We were told that each
really wanted to be as independent as possible so each island had its own square
(campo), well and church, which is why there are over one hundred churches in
Venice. We noted some of the
bigger and better looking ones and promised to return for a longer look. We rounded the east side of the main
island group and went along the walls of the Arsenale, where the Venetian boat
makers used to hand-craft the fleets of ships that made Venice a world
power. Apparently, during a time
of war, when all the man-power was mobilized they could turn out a new ship
every 24 hours.
Our last stop was to be the island of Murano, famous for its
glass-blowing industry. With their
constant use of fires and furnaces it made sense to put them as far away from
the rest of the inhabitants as possible.
Our tour hosts had arranged for us to meet with someone at one of the
glass-blowing factories who showed us the back rooms where they work the glass
and create the beautiful Murano glass found in all the shop windows. As they work around 1500 C ovens all day,
they work reduced hours in the summer and I think the master craftsman who was
to give us our demonstration was being made to work after hours. His heart didn’t seem into it and both
his attempts to create a glass failed.
He did succeed, however, in showing us what a difficult art it is. As all good tours do, this one ended in
the gift shop, which for us was the second floor of the display room, where
they keep the more artistic pieces.
It truly is amazing what they can do. We had four or five pieces that we considered before settling
on a beautiful vase in blue, red, white and sand. We’re having it shipped straight back to Aberdeen, so we
hope it survives the trip. We look
forward to having it in our growing little collection of art.
Dinner was back on the Grand Canal in one of the restaurants
lucky enough to have a terrace overlooking the water. It was nothing overly special. The wine was decent and we got a very pleasant evening in
which to eat.
Overall it was a good start to our Venice leg of the trip.
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