The Magic of Three Nights in Venice

"A realist, in Venice, would become a romantic by mere faithfulness to what he saw before him" -Arthur Symons

I must admit that while relaxing in beautiful Wengen in Switzerland I was half dreading the week before us. After so many weeks on the road the next seven days seemed like more than we could take. One night Luzern, one night Bellagio, three nights Venice and two nights in Florence. In retrospect words can not describe how wonderful this week was, though sublime and transcendent comes closest. Whilst Luzern and Bellagio were lovely stop overs Venice and Florence were amongst our trip highlights.

You will be pleased to hear that I was able to resurrect the TZ40 and so I can share the beauties of these beautiful places. After learning I had Bucklies chance of getting my camera fixed and as replacing it in Venice was going to cost me 200% of what I paid in Fremantle in November I used a last ditch attempt to fix it myself. I wont tell you exactly what I did as it is just as likely to destroy your camera as fix it. Lets just say after a carefully applied slip of paper, a hairdryer, a few good thumps and a few hard tugs and a good clean my camera is now fully operational. A word to the wise, don't keep your camera in your pocket or the fluff and dust will collect and jam up it up.

To keep the very long story of Venice short I will attempt to give you the highlights package and so here are our highlights of Venice with kids:

Paddling in Piazza San Marco

While I have visited Venice two times before I have no memory of the Piazza being flooded on a summer’s day. I had told the kids that in winter people cross the square walking on raised planks and platforms and they wished they could see it like this. Apparently due to a combination of Venice sinking around five centimetres every ten years and global warming rising tides flooding is becoming much more common. And so the kids wishes came true as they were able to play and splash to their hearts content.

When we arrived in the Piazza with the intention of visiting the cathedral we found the front entrance closed and flooded and we were forced to take of our shoes and wade across to the other side of the piazza. There we found a short queue to enter the cathedral, which we quickly joined having expected a long wait.

It probably took ten minutes before we went in, but this gave the kids time to splash about with all the other kids and get fairly wet in the process. After our visit to San Marco we then relaxed in the Piazza while the kids danced, pranced, splashed and generally had a marvellous time in the huge puddles. Rob and I enjoyed watching them and listening to the beautiful live music from the nearby cafes.

The kids attempted to get the pigeons to land on them but as we had no food with us, and they don’t sell bird food in the square these days, they had to be contented with watching them sit on the arms and heads of other people.

Basilica di San Marco

After paddling our way in we enjoyed our visit very much. Rob and I had not visited on our whistle-stop honeymoon but I had visited years earlier and my lasting memory had been of the incomparable mosaics. Sadly most of the floor was covered in matting probably to keep the water off, but the ceiling is magnificent. No photos are allowed inside but I did snap this photo outside as I balanced my way along planks in a flooded porch outside the front door.

After a brief look inside the I suggested we go upstairs to the museum which I remembered allowed you to get up close with the mosaics on the ceiling. We were not disappointed it was glorious to be able to see the tiny pieces that make up these glorious scenes, apparently over 8000 square metres worth. We wondered at the skill of the artists who must have hung from the ceiling to apply the tiny little tiles. 

Before we looked around the museum upstairs we wandered out on the veranda outside for fabulous views of the Palazzo and to get up close to the horses that look out over it. The views are incredible and also offer the opportunity to see the mosaics out in the sunshine.

Rob and the kids spent some time soaking up the sun while I found a shady corner and a chance to sit down. A fair portion of the façade was covered in scaffolding, something you expect to see in Europe as these treasures all need ongoing TLC to ensure they are still standing for future generations.

I told the kids that the horses outside are not the originals and we went inside to see the real thing. The Triumphal Quadriga came to Venice from Constantinople in the early 1200’s but were originally created in the 4^th century BC.

 We wandered all through the museum, really enjoying seeing the fragments of mosaics as well as many wonderful treasures such as medieval carpets, tapestries and beautifully embroidered church vestments. We had the whole place to ourselves and we wondered why, that is until we arrived at the gift shop and found it closed. It was very easy to spend your time here.

 

 Palazzo Ducale

 

We didn’t plan to visit the Doge’s Palace but as we walked past the Bridge of Sighs and the kids saw hands sticking out of the Bridge, Julian expressed his immediate desire to go in. Rob and I had never visited before and the queue was non-existent so even though we were completely “castled out” we agreed to a visit.

The kids enjoyed seeing the armoury and the dungeon as well as crossing the bridge of Sighs to get there and back. We were amazed at the size of the Chamber of the Grand Council, one of the largest rooms in Europe with its beautiful fresco. Again no photos allowed inside so we had to make do with outside photos.

 We enjoyed a nice lunch simple lunch in their café and found it really interesting that the café has a back door that lead directly into a canal. As we watched plenty of gondola's past the door we noticed that half the back stairs and a good portion of the door was under water.

Riding the Vaparetti

On one of our days we bought a Vaparetto pass so that we could ride the Vaparetti all day as much as we like, even going to Murano if we wanted. It was a toss up, do we buy the pass and not have to walk to San Marco from our hotel in Sante Croce or do we spend a bit more than that for half an hour in a gondola. While the kids would have loved a gondola ride I regret to say we decided to save the money and got the vaparetto pass.

Still we had a lot of fun riding the water buses. We got on the Rialto Bridge and would see where it would take us. We started off travelling back towards the train station and were forced to get off near the Tronchetto, the artificial island and carpark at the western tip of Venice.

We then caught another that took us out into the lagoon, where we saw massive cruise ships and luxury private yachts. Coming upon San Marco from this direction is a real treat as you can imagine what it would have been like as a trader in bygone years coming home to Venice after travelling to far flung parts of the world and seeing the Doge’s Palace and the Campanile in distance letting you know you have arrived in Venice.

After our visits to San Marco’s sights we took another vaporetto that would take us along the Grand Canal past Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute, the Ponte dell’Accademia and back around to where we started at the Rialto Bridge.

We had planned on either visiting Lido or Murano in the afternoon but due to our visit to the Palazzo Ducale there was no afternoon left. We got good value from our tickets however and we could even use them to get back to the train station in the morning as they were valid for twenty four hours.

 

Wandering the Back Streets of Venice

One of the things Rob and I most enjoy about Venice is wandering its streets. Venice really is quite small and easy to navigate and as you wander you can find special places you would miss if you only travelled on the water.

I had received a number of recommendations to find an apartment around San Giacomo dell’Orio in Sante Croce. Unfortunately I was unable to find an apartment in the area for our three night stay. Instead I resorted to booking a hotel through Hotwire and was able to get a bargain on a nice hotel on the Grand Canal in Sante Croce, Hotel San Cassiano Ca’Favretto.

The view from our bedroom was onto a neighbours washing line on the other side of a little canal. However the view from the breakfast room was a delightful, from the veranda we had fun watching the river traffic. From here we were easily able to walk over the fish markets and fruit and markets near the Rialto bridge.

On our first day we wandered miles looking for camera shops, including all the way over to Piazza San Marco. On our walk back we found a shop near to the Rialto bridge and close to home that was an instant favourite with the kids. It was called the Stickhouse and there they sold icecreams and sorbets on a stick. After choosing your flavour you can then have your icecream  dipped in your choice of chocolate and nuts. They were delicious and the kids were thrilled to find one of these shops in Florence too.

On our last night we made sure to visit the Campo San Giacomo dell"Orio which had come so highly recommended. We were so pleased that we did, it is a terrific place filled with local families playing ball games, riding bikes and scooters and tending a community garden in the square.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal in the square, with delicious fresh fish, grilled meats, pasta and vegetables while we watched the local kids play.

Much to the dismay of our kids and the delight of the locals Rob decided that after dinner was the perfect chance for him to practice his handstands. So he got up from the table before the kids could stop him and went out into the square and performed his best ever handstand and the crowd went wild. I'm not joking there was applause and even wolf whistles and it may take a while for the kids to forgive him.

But of course all good things must come to an end and with Florence to look forward to the next day we got ourselves packed and ready. We are expert packers by this stage but from time to time we learn our lessons such as don't pack the fresh garlic in the kids lunchbox in there suitcase when you wont be cooking for a few days because a few days later you will be searching for the source of the stink in your hotel room.

I would love to hear from any of you who has a favourite city, like Venice or Luzern, that you recommend that we visit. We still have time up our sleeves and from September until January, when we head home, we have no plans yet set in stone.