Venice - 1st Full Day
We started our first full day in Venice with breakfast at our beautiful and very old (15th century) hotel. The serve a simple but easy breakfast in an amazing setting. It was a bit cool to eat in the garden so se ate in the main entryway which puts you back in time.
The hotel is located in the Cannaregio District of Venice, one of the 6 main districs. Our hotel was by the Pruili family whiich was one of the most affluent families in Venice. They dealt in the spice trade. All of the chadeliers, frescos and many of the furnishings are original. The original entrance was the canal side entrance and where the water taxis come to pick up and drop off guests.. The beautiful gardens used to be much larger but are perfect for sitting in during the afternoon and enjoying a glass of wine or just relaxing.
After breakfast we elected to take the Vaporetto (public water bus) down to St Mark’s Square where we spent much of the day.
We had pre-booked tickets for the Basilica which saved an hour of wait time.At the entrance relearned that the construction underway is putting a plexiglass barrier up around the church to prevent water from getting in during extreme high tides which flood the entire square. The original church dates back to the 9th century but it was destroyed and rebuilt in the. The present structure is the third church and dates back to 1063. The sstyle of the building is Byzantine as a result of Ottoman Empite influence. The interior of the church has beautiful domes laiden with beautiful gold mosaics. The marble floors are also beautiful and some are very similar to those in our hotel.
After visiting the church we did a walking tour of the area which took us near the very crowded Rialto Bridge and past a home that was owned by Marco Polo’s family and reportedly, the place he was born.
We also did a Gondola Ride. You can’t go to Venice without riding on a Gondola. It was short but enjoyable.
For lunch we followed our guides suggestion and went to a very crowded counter service restaurant and had a friend sandwich stuffed with mozzarella and prosciutto. I hate to think of the calories it had but it was delicious.
In the afternoon we did a tour of the Doge’s Palace which is connected to St Mark’s Basilica. The 7 Doges were the governing body of Venice from 726 until 1797 when Napoleon conquered Venice. Thehas both byzantine and gothic influenced on the outside and in the courtyard. But the inside is laden with gold framed paintings, many painted by Tintoretto. The building housed the Doges, and was the seat of government for Venice for 1000 years. It shares one wall with St Mark’s Basilica and another with the prison. Trials were held in the palace and convicted prisoners, which most were, were escorted through a dark coridor to the prison where they passed a grated window overlooking a bridge, the Bridge of Sighs, their last view of the outside world.
We had been standing for a long time so when we left the Doges Palace we stopped at a cafe on St Mark’s Square and had a glass of wine and just people watched.
We took the Vaporetto back to the Hotel from St Mark;’s Square. The views along the way were beautiful with the light from the late afternoon sun. Former homes, called palaces, of the rich and elite of Venice are along the route on the Grand Canal. We got a spectacular view of the Rialoto Bridge, one of the key landmarks in Venice. We have been so fortunate with respect to weather on this trip. We’ve seen sun every day for most of the day and the temperature has been perfect. We’ve seen crowds but mostly they have been managable and sometimes pretty low.
In the evening we took a walk to the Jewish Ghetto along a canal full of small cafes and restaurants. We stopped to get a small bite to eat at a little cafe that was just at the entrance to the Ghetto. The food was not memorable but the ambiance was terrific.
Tomorrow we do a boat and walking tour that includes Venice gardens. There is very little green space in Venice that one can see. Our hotel is an exception as is, we are told the places we will see tomorrow.