Continued from page 1 on Venice
Venice has a large handful of colleges and universities (you might recall that Flo, Francesco's and Doni's daughter attended graduate school there). Graduation is a bit different in Italy than here in the United States. The student has an oral presentation of their thesis, along with a handful of other students. If the student passes, they are given their certificate and a crown of laurel wreaths. (See a description here by someone from England.) These two young men should be very proud and pleased! They are standing, appropriately enough, on the Ponte dell'Accademia.
The Ponte dell'Accademia is one of the 4 bridges that cross the Grand Canal. The oldest and most famous of these four is Ponte di Rialto, or Rialto Bridge. The original version of this bridge dates from 1173. The current grand stone structure was built from 1588 to 1591. It obviously had to be one of our stops, given how much Paul likes bridges.
The bridge has 5 lengthwise sections: a pedestrian walkway, covered stores, a wider pedestrian walkway, covered stores, and another pedestrian walkway. In this next photograph you can see 4 of these, and in the following picture you can see the walkway on the other side. Passing under the bridge is Venice's version of the city bus.
The shops had a large variety of items, from clothing to jewelry to (of course) souvenirs.
Although a busy spot, the bridge did provide lovely views of the grand canal in the evening. Of course, Francesco and Doni are even lovlier than the view is.
Before going to the bridge, we had enjoyed some gelato at Gelateria Nico while sitting along the canal.
Then we had a relaxing walk along the canal, with the sun starting to set over Giudecca, the island that is just south of Venice.
As we wandered the streets looking for a place to eat, we saw these patriotic lights shining on a building.
Dinner was pizza at a small pizzeria. It was fun sitting outside with the canal behind us.
Francesco had read about a beer pub that was nearby, Il Santo Bevitore, so we went and checked it out. Anne had a Farmhouse Sour, Paul had a Dubbel, and Francesco had a Chimay Trappist Light. (Doni passed; she doesn't care for beer.)
It must have been high tide at this point. One of the walkways (fortunately for us not in front of the pub) was covered with water at this point.
There was plenty of activity in Venice on this lovely October evening. It was entertaining to view these young men utilizing the surface of a boat to eat their food and drink their wine.
Doni had been on top of things, and on our walk to the rental she had bought some pastries at a shop. So the following morning we had a traditional Italian breakfast of baked goods and coffee. Anne of course skipped the coffee. She would like to warn you that the tap water in Venice is disgusting. They must have to add a lot of stuff to make it safe to drink, but the result is that the taste is awful.
We checked out of our rental, and you might be wondering what we did with our luggage. Checking out of your lodging but wanting to spend time in Venice is obviously a common problem. There are numerous small businesses where you can check your baggage for the day for a small fee, so we took advantage of that. On our way to our selected spot, we passed another typical scene of a city on the water: a fresh fish market. It was busy with people getting ready for some delicious home-cooked meals. We can't say that the offerings looked appealing to us, though. (Yes, those are octopi.)
In addition to providing food and transportation, and causing flooding problems, the water is also causing the land to settle - and not always evenly. That is perhaps why Venice could be as famous as Pisa for leaning towers. The Church of Saint Stefano struck us first, visible between some buildings that are much straighter than the tower. Later we saw the tower of San Giorgio dei Greci (which we read is the only Greek Orthodox church in Venice).
For our traditional picture of the interior of a church, we offer Parrocchia di Santa Maria del Rosario. The exterior door makes the name somewhat obvious. Anne adores the floor tile of the interior.
Doni asked a local resident for a recommendation of a lunch restaurant, which was Trattoria Al Vecio Portal. You can see it on the right in this photo; Francesco and Doni were checking out the other locations on the piazza. The restaurant's water glasses were of the famous Murano glass.
We saw a shop, Mimosa, selling Murano glass. It was tempting to buy a couple pieces, but it seemed too difficult to get them home safely and at €60 to €80 per glass that wasn't a risk that we wanted to take.
A shop that was even more tourist oriented was this one on the Rialto Bridge that sells Carnival masks.
The shop is likely named in honor of the winged lion that is a symbol of Venice and is shown on the Venetian flag as in gold on a red or blue background. An interesting building that we saw has lions - but without wings - in relief on the exterior near the door and a winged lion high above the door. This building is Santi Giovanni e Paolo Ospedale, the major healthcare facility in Venice. In case you are wondering, yes, the hospital has canal access and ambulance boats. The building also houses a museum. So if you had to stay there, your visitors could see the museum while you slept. Although the museum seemed to be closed when we stopped by.
In the same square as the hospital entrance was an impressive statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, a Venetian military leader from the 1400s. The horse is very dynamic looking, and (according to Wikipedia) is the first bronze statue that successfully represented a horse supported by only 3 legs.
Another unique building that we admired is tucked away in an unassuming neighborhood of Venice on a quiet street. It has the attractive and ornate Scala Contarini del Bovolo, which seems to be the Venetian dialect of 'Stairs of the snail'. It is a spiral staircase. It dates from around 1500. Of interest was a sign that said it was restored from 1979 through 1986 with funding from the Minnesota Chapter of the World Monuments Fund.
By this point, you are probably wondering if we ever made it to the famous Piazza San Marco. Of course we did, and our activities there and in the buildings on the square get their own page.
Move on to the third of our Venice trip report.
Updated August 2024