Venice

Piazza San Marco


The first thing we did when we arrived was have a latte machiatto at the cafe across the steet. Then we started wandering the streets. The crowds are mostly near Piazza San Marco and near the Ponto de Rialto. We had to cross the bridge to find the place where I wanted to eat; a seafood place near Rialto called Trattoria Madonna. The place was elegant, lots of art on the walls. Delicious food, but a snotty waiter. He was scandalized that I ordered a mixed salad to go with my spaghetti vongole (venus clams). An Italian lunch is supposed to start with an appetizer, continue with a first main dish (rice or pasta), followed by a fish or meat dish with which one orders the vegetable. So ordering a salad to go with the first main dish was obviously a major breach in eating etiquette. However neither my wallet nor my stomach can manage that much in one sitting. We tried to redeem ourselves by ordering dessert though.


Campo Santa Margherita


After lunch we visited the gothic church Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari which has some beautiful paintings by Tizian, as well as his grave and other works of art. Afterwards we had gelato sitting in the Campo Santa Margherita, and watched a couple of little doggies play with their tennis ball. The Campo was quiet in the afternoon. The tables from the market just about cleared away. After a nap at the hotel we went out for pizza and then strolled in the warm and gentle evening along the Canal Grande to Piazza San Marco – the crowds now gone – listened to the music playing in front of the fancy cafe's where a coke, or a cup of tea costs as much as a medium expensive pizza (€10).


Musicians at a cafe on Piazza San Marco



It rained the next morning. Just a few drops when we got up and went across the street to have our breakfast of brioche, cafe latte and peach juice, but soon a veritable downpour began, punctuated by thunder and lightning. People hurried by with their umbrellas up, on the way to work or walking their doggies, and one lady brought her two little doggies into the cafe. Apparently you are allowed to do that in Italy.

Venice in the rain

I wanted to experience the weather so we opened our umbrella and ventured out. We were soon soaked, and as it turns out that the water doesn't really drain away, our feet got soaked as well. We hung out under the colonade waiting for the San Marco Basilica to open and were among the first to enter. Because of the rain there were no lines and no crowds. We could look around in peace and quiet. The basilica is stupendous, the floors tiled with colored marble, the walls and ceilings covered with gold mosaics. So beautiful!. From the gallery we could see them quite close up, as well as a great view of the square, the pillars and the harbor.


One of the doors of Basilica San Marco

After the basilika we went back to the hotel to change clothes, and then out to have our midmorning coffee. We sat at the edge of the canal, watching the water taxis and barges (water trucks?). It was high tide, but had stopped raining. Before I went to pay we made a bet on how expensive our 2 coffees were going to be. Husband bet under €10, I bet over. They were €12 (€6 each) so not as bad as on the Piazza San Marco but still outrageous.

Having coffee and reading guide book at edge of canal

On the piazza San Marco however there seemed to be more water than ever. In fact you could see it gushing up from the drains, and people had taken off their shoes and socks and were wading in front of the basilica.

High tide after heavy rains on Piazza San Marco

We continued exploring the city. We found the winding stair of the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, but unfortunatly it was closed for restoration.Near Ponte di Rialto we found the fruit, vegetable and fish markets and had delicious tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms and jumbo shrimp for lunch at a little restaurant there.

The stair at Palazzo Contarini del Bovolos

We had read on the internet that there is a free concert every weekday afternoon at Santa Maria della Salute, so we made our way there. The church is situated nicely with a view over the canal towards Piazza San Marco, but it lacks the intimate atmosphere of even the larger churches we were in.

The toll station with gold weather vane and Santa Maria della Salute behind.

However we did get to hear a 30 minute organ concert in one of the side chapels. The only problem being that we didn't want to go in because of a sign saying that it was only for prayer, and sitting outside people wandering around in the church kept talking. After the concert (which was followed by afternoon mass, but we didn't stay for that) we walked along the Zattere toward the ship terminal for the big cruise ships. A giant clipper ship was anchored there. Amazing. I'd never seen anything like it.

Clipper ship at ship terminal

After stopping for ice cream we walked along the canals of the city quarter called Dosuduro, where people were painting and fishing off the bridges. We finished the day with a visit to the ducal palace and dungeons.

Courtyard in Ducal Palace

Woke up to a clear bright day, with the sun shining from a cloudless sky. Our project for today was to visit Murano, the glass blowers island. Now, the second time I was in Italy I had discovered the crime novels of Donna Leon which are set in Venice. I'd gotten 2 at the library to read on the trip. It is fun finding the places spoken of in the books on a map, especially when you have been in Venice and can imagine what it looks like. I had been unable to figure out where the Questura, or police headquarters were on the map, but as we were making our way north to where you take the ferry to Murano, suddenly there it was. It was even marked on the map.

Murano

On the way to Murano the island of San Michelle. The whole island is one big cemetary, where venetians have been buried for centuries.Murano is like a smaller, quieter version of Venice, with canals, bridges and waterbusses. The piazzas are decorated with fantastic glass sculptures.

Glass sculpture in Murano

In the shop windows you can see the most incredible glass art, from large sculptures, to jewelry featuring glass «gems», tableware, knick-knacks, and souvenirs. There is also a glass museum, a couple of churches with rennaisance art, marble tile floors, beautifull gold mosaics and a life size glass crucifix. You can peep into the factory workshops and see the glass blowers at work. As usual it was facintating to see how maleable this usually hard and brittle substance is when it is hot.

Glassblowers workshop and showroom in Murano

We had lunch in Venice. I don't remember the name of the square or the church that it belonged to, but it had trees and rosebushes in it. Venice is fascinating, but it doesn't have much in the way of parks and what there are are not very well maintained. I guess the city administration has enough to do maintaining all the historical buildings. Apparently there isn't a single building newer than 400 years old. As usual there were restaurants and tratorias around the square. The owner of the one where we ate had 3 little dogs that wandered around the tables looking for petting and scraps. Here we had a vegetable risotto. Now I have always said I hate eggplant, but this was good, and I could not even detect an unpleasant flavor in what was obviously pieces of eggplant in the risotto!

By evening we had been without internet for 3 days, and were starting to feel a little out of touch, so we got our laptop at the hotel and took it to Hard Rock Cafe behind the Piazza San Marco, where we had heard there was internet.

It was a dissapointment. We sipped our hot chocolate and suffered through way too loud music in a venue foreign to my taste, but all we managed to get was 5 minutes of internet each. Enough to log onto your net-bank and to pay for internet, though what we did was read e-mail.

Tor Idar enjoying 5 minutes of internet at Hard Rock Cafe

We took the waterbus down the entire lenght of the Canal Grande on our way to pick up the rental car. It was still early morning, the day tourists were only just starting to dribble in and there were even fewer going in our direction, so we got seats at the front of the waterbus. I got so caught up in admiring the palazzos, some with mosaics, reliefs and statues worked into their facades, and watching the water traffic: ambulance boats, police boats, water taxis, delivery barges... The traggettos (passenger ferries that cross the canal) a kind of gondola seemed to contain mainly venetians on their way to work: I saw nuns, businessmen absorbed in the newspaper, standing up of course, though there were seats, I think venetians are as comfortable on the water as on dry land...

The door to Casa Linger

I had forgotten my drivers licence in Norway, and the car reservation was in my name. The guy at the desk was quite nasty about it:

"So, you forgot your drivers licence? Too bad! Not our problem!! - No you can't just change the reservation to your husbands name."

I pointed out that the car was already paid for. The solution ended up being that they charged us €7 pr day extra for a second driver (husband) and let us have it. Grrr. I don't know what had inspired husband to reserve it in my name as I actually had planned on driving as little as possible myself in crazy Italian traffic.