This would be our only full day in Venice and we woke to clouds and a forecast of rain - still a terrific view from our room - and we are determined to make the best of it.
For us, Venice is so different than anywhere else we've been, it's almost a fantasy-land...but for those who live, work, or go to school there, it's just another day...
Venice has plenty of taxis just like any other city....only these taxis are boats...
and garbage needs to be taken away...that first boat has a trash compactor on board....
and supplies must be delivered...oranges, peppers....just another day in the life of a Venetian grocery supplier...yet fascinating to a visitor...
Yep, everything has to be moved by boat in Venice...everything....
and LOOK! blue sky!
As there are 4 cruise ships in port, we decide to forgo the main attractions like the Rialto and San Marco areas till later in the day, and board a vaporetto to the Ca' d'Oro stop and then walk to the Fondementa Nove A stop for the 45-minute vaporetto ride to Burano.
The Chiesa San Stae on the Grand Canal....
A small fruit & vegetable store on the way to Fondamente Nove (Venetian dialect for "Fondamenta Nuove....a fondamenta is a sidewalk along a waterway)...where we find...
a reminder of our last vacation...
In Venice, it seems there is something to see at every turn....the fondamenta dei Sartori...
which is a good thing, as it is so easy to get lost there that we end up making a lot of turns....we come across the first Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta that we would see on this day. The statues are of the 12 Apostles....the church was built in the 1700s...
We then board Vaporetta #12, bound for Murano & Burano. But first, Chiesa di San Michele, this island is Venice's cemetery...Igor Stravinsky, Christian Doppler, and Ezra Pound are buried there,
We decide to skip Murano, whose main attraction is the glass-blowing industry, figuring the cruise shippers would be there in numbers since it is the closest island to Venice and continue on the Vaporetto for another half hour to Burano.
Burano's attraction is mostly its history of traditional lace-making and its colourful homes, apparently to assist the fishermen to find their homes after dark...hmmm....
And even on a gloomy day, the houses do stand out so maybe there's something to that fisherman's story after all...
note the laundry...a common sight actually...(try that at our building in Canada!)
Actually, not laundry this time....stuff for sale...
so much colour everywhere...
and the narrow alleyways too, just like Venice...
We decided we wouldn't spend much time on this fondamenta...
instead, we found a panificio/pasticerria near the Chiesa di San Martino Vescovo and the Cappella di Santa Barbara......
for coffee and Italian pastries - this one's chocolate, I think - since this is no weather for Gelato...
the entrance to the Cappella di Santa Barbara is on the right below the cross...it's fairly non-descript from the outside....
but with a lovely little simple chapel inside...
and next door the Chiesa di San Martino Vescovo, from the 16th Century...much larger and more ornate (ornatier??)
And a confessional, an interesting one as it was once used by Pope Pius X before he was made Pope...
Then it's back out onto Burano's colourful calles...
and into the rain...
So we break out the ponchos, adding even more colour....
and the wet fondamenta now just adds to the visual appeal of Burano...reflecting the colourful homes...
and leaving us virtually alone to enjoy it all...
and explore...
Time to return to the vaporetto...a few others heading there too...
under the watchful eye of a carabinieri..
but a few more colourful scenes on the way....and to coin a phrase from a family trip a long time ago, it's a cacophony of colour everywhere you look..
But instead of taking the vaporetto back to Venice, we decide to take the short ride to Torcello. It would turn out to be one of the real highlights of the entire trip.
Our arrival on the island of Torcello, which was the first settlement in Venice, the tower you see is part of the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta, which was built in 639AD!
We linger, look around and see the beauty of the rain in the flowers and plants...
and let the crowd disperse a bit...this photo taken from the Ponte del Diavolo - the Devil's Bridge...
The unassuming but famous Locanda Cipriani...Hemingway lived in a simple rustic home on Torcello and was a regular here. Elizabeth II, Princess Diana, and the Queen Mother were guests too, as well as Charlie Chaplin and many other Hollywood stars, famous athletes, and politicians.
and the menu that day...let's see...antipasto about 25 euros....primi piatti another 25 euros...secondi piatti 30 euros...and dolci about 12 euros...now where's my abacus? ok...total about $300Cdn for the two of us...
To Have and Have Not....we choose the not...and leave it to Hemingway.
And then the magnificent Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunti.....with most of it still standing since 639AD...
(photo courtesy Google Streetview)
a well-worn step, can you imagine how many feet have touched this spot over the last 1,380 years?
and have crossed this threshold....we likely will never see anything older than this...
"erected in the VII century"....
There were no photos allowed inside the church, though like in most places we visited, many people ignore the rules so this photo courtesy of Google Streetview (hopefully they got permission)...it's our favourite kind of church, small and simple. There was a very enjoyable audio guide that told us all about this ancient chiesa. Really a wonderful place to visit and remains one of the best of memories from our trip.
And there's still the campanile to visit..all the way up there???
sure, why not...
It's a long way up..
but we make it to the top....
to once again enjoy the view of those wonderful colourful homes in Burano...with a vaporetto about to arrive..
and of Torcello, with the fondamente we walked along after disembarking from the vaporetto on the far right...
apparently there is an alarm that sounds before the bells start ringing....
that would certainly encourage one to not linger on the way down...or is this up....
Time to return to Venice via vaporetto....one last look at Burano (note the public water fountain, a common feature in Italy)...
on the vaporetto....an emergency fire house...."Safe Crash"???....something lost in translation I guess...
Back in Venice now and it's time for a brief rest and refreshment stop, with a traditional aperitivo....sparkling wine, soda water, and Aperol.....looks terrific, tastes ok but not terrific....
and a reminder that Italy is a skiing country, that's a Spyder coaches' rain poncho...not at all what we expected to see in Venice...
But back out onto the streets we go, finding some of those narrow Venetian alleys...on our way to San Marco
with some traditional shops...this is an old-style printer's shop, you can see some of the "type" behind the certificate...
Ponte Widman in the sestiere Cannaregio ...and a bit of blue sky!
Calle dei Miracoli....perhaps hoping for a miracle to see more of that blue sky...it's still poncho weather...
It also turned out we'd need a miracle to find our way around too...we discovered we'd walked in a big circle and found ourselves back at the same vaporetto stop that we'd got off from an hour or so earlier..."I chose the road less travelled, now where the heck am I" ringing in our ears once again...
Well now we know where we are at least..."Campo di S.S. Giovanni E Paulo"...we know 'cause that's what it says on that white sign on the far right...
Well we've been walking around in circles, in the rain, so we figure by now we deserve a gelato...mine was a double...
Refreshed and renourished, we head out again to try to find San Marco, it's big enough you'd think it would be easy...hopefully we find it before we need this...
"look," he's thinking, "two more lost tourists, and they put US on a leash..."....
And there it is! I'm so excited to have finally found it that I cut off the top of the Campanile di San Marco...
almost got it now....wait...are we in Pisa???
It's late afternoon on a rainy day, so it's relatively not busy from what I've heard...the Basilica and Palace are now closed but it's not unusual for a two-hour lineup to get into them. With only one full day in Venice, we didn't want to spend a couple of hours in one place when there is so much to see. But there is no doubt that Piazza San Marco is special...
Procuratie Vecchie and Basilica San Marco..
San Marco facade...built in the 11th century...
Procuratie Vecchie...from the 16th Century, with the sun trying to poke through those clouds...
Torre dell'Orologio, from the late 15th century...the time is actually above the dial, on two square blue panels on either side of the statue of the Virgin Mary...it shows V 35...535pm
one of the doors on the facade of San Marco...and the terrific mosaic above it...
which seems to glow...
another of the five doors on the facade...
live classical music on Piazza San Marco - why not sit down for a coffee and enjoy...
hmmmm....15 euros (C$23) for a Cafe Americano...um, maybe we'll just listen to the music for a moment...
A final look at the Basilica and the Doge's Palace...
and the crowded bridge near the Bridge of Sighs...a quick above-the-heads shot and we move on...
Then it's back onto the vaporetto (we'd bought the 2-day unlimited use pass and made good use of it)...Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute on the left of the Grand Canal as we sail counter-clockwise back towards Piazzale Roma...
but not without a photo of this stop...for a good friend back in Montreal that I've known since September 1960, 59 years ago Jimmy DiGiglio!
The sun finally pokes through so we decide to walk a bit more....the sun sets on Campo Sant'Angelo...
and on the Campanile di Santo Stefano...
by the time we are back on the vaporetto, it is getting dark..
and by the time we pass under the Ponte Rialto...
even the gondoliers are calling it a day and heading home...
so time for an excellent spaghetti carbonara and prosecco at Trattoria da Biasini, right next to our hotel...by now we are tired after a long day of walking, and cold...
yes, we're cold but how could we say no...there's a gelato stand right next to our table...and the cherry gelato was awesome!
(photo courtesy Google Streetview)
so it's a beautiful moonlit night now....
and we say good night to a soggy yet still magical day in wonderful Venice...
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