Back to the railway station and off to Venice we go, we sit next to a couple from Maine USA who are the leading authoritarians and experts on all things Italian and worldwide cause they have been everywhere, unfortunately, including New Zealand…all lectures given were 10 decibels to o loud so the whole carriage got to know our new chums too…The Operator feigned sleep for half an hour to escape having to nod acknowledgement…the time did go fast and then we were crossing the bridge causeway onto the island of Venice.
Out of the station we came and immediately in front of us was the Grand Canal. The sight was incredible, straight away the colour, noise, hustle and bustle, the lapping of the water and roar of boat engines, hit you, it was total sensory overload, there was so much going on.
The Operator nudged Rosie who picked up her jaw off the cobbles…we had an Italian to meet at the Rialto Mercato waterbus stop, we were to ring him once we were there and then he would take us to our apartment. The Americans on the train were very concerned about this…I hope you haven’t paid him already for the room? Somehow I think it might be a scam, they smugly said….I guess we look like we were born yesterday. We bought travel passes for the three days we are in town, unlimited trips on the waterbuses and to the islands…me thinks Rosie will be doing a few circuits to see the sights of the beautiful palazzos from the water.
All went well, Waterbus No 1 was packed, so many people, so many suitcases. 4 stops later we were at the Rialto Mercato and standing in a corner while The Operator rang the number for our Venice contact….all very covert….all of a sudden a phone chimed next to us, a tall Italian looked at us, we looked at him and we had met Giovanni. Perfect.
Giovanni spoke little English and even though he was a strapping lad he must have had an arm injury cause he never offered to help The Operator with the suitcases. The Operator bounced two huge cases over the cobbles and up and over a bridge with 15 steps each side no troubles. Through the market, up an alley, down an alley along the Grand Canal front past a waterside restaurant and into another dinghy alley, there was our door 579 San Paulo.
Rosie was quite shocked when she saw the apartment, it had totally undersold itself on the internet. For the lowish price (it is Venice) she paid, it never said there was a canal view, Rosie wasnt expecting one….and here we were three huge opening windows that look right out onto the Grand Canal itself.
The Rialto Bridge is to the left and beautiful gondolas moored outside gorgeous palazzos to the right. OKay everything cant be perfect…The Rialto bridge is currently undergoing renovation and is pretty much covered up, to give credit though, a picture of what it looks like is printed on the construction paper though.
Our three windows are directly above the Hotel Marconi lettering, on the third building from the left.
Our apartment has the best priced Prosecco in town, ice cold straight from the fridge with an elevated view over all the comings and goings. You could just sit in the window for a week and never get bored.
No time to dally, across the Rialto we go to a tour we have booked through the Ducale Palace on the other side of St Marks Square. In each of the three cities we have come to the streets are getting narrower. The streets of Venice are the narrowest by far, twisting and turning but very well sign posted. Then, from under a little covered walkway you emerge into St Marks Square, it is a big space, the huge white geometric colonnade stretches in a huge rectangle, with restaurants and shops under it facing out into the square. The huge bell tower dominates and St Marks rears up at the end.
Behind the Bell Tower is the palace of the Doges, the Ducale Palace.
The Doges ruled the city of Venice for over 1000 years, one man was elected by the city states aristocracy to rule over Venice. It was a position for life, commonly the man selected was the shrewdest elder in the city, it wasnt uncommon for them to be elected on their late 70s…(less time to live if it turned out they were bad at their job)…his job was to be the chief magistrate and leader of the city.
The Palace itself is amazing, the delicate lacy Venetian Gothic exterior is actually a light pink in colour, when the evening light shines on it is is so beautiful and warm looking.
Like every other city in the 1500s, propaganda on how great they are and how rich they are is rife, (left, these are the main doors and staircase into the palace). The Venetians did have a right to brag a little, they are pretty amazing, having built their city on piles in a malaria ridden swamp and turning it into a major trading hub largely prospering on the production of salt from its lagoon.
When it lost its seafaring and exploration edge in the 16th century the city turned on the charm and became known Europe wide for its art, music and over 12,000 registered prostitutes.
Left is the courtyard inside the Palace, the doorway to the right leads up the stairs to the palace which is the pic above.
By showing other city states how wealthy, splendid and how beautiful they were was easy for the vain Venetians. The Doges Palace was lined in the finest marble, grand staircases lead everywhere, the main being the Golden Staircase. 24 carat gold painted onto the roof of the stairwell that all major and important visitors travelled up.
The receiving and meeting halls are vast, elaborate and darkly painted murals by Titian feature everywhere.
Judgement for criminal acts by the doges was final. If you were a murderer or thief, conspired or committed treason against the city state you were thrown into the prison. The prison was located inside the palace and the most inhospitable cells were located in the Pozzi (wells) which were small rooms below water level and freezing cold.
The upper class criminal or those awaiting trial were housed under the roof, which was lead….roasting hot in summer and freezing cold in winter. The most famous inhabitant of the prison was Casanova, in 1756 he was the only one to escape onto the roof, slide down a drainpipe, enter into the palace, calmly walk out the door and escape in a gondola….legend has it he had a coffee first on the way to the gondola in St Marks Square.
The Bridge of Sighs is a covered limestone bridge that connects the interrogation rooms in the Doge Palace to the prisons.
The name comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of Venice through the stone grills of the bridge as they were led to their prision cells and locked away. The prison was still in use up until the 1930s….many prisoners have graffitied the walls with their names using candle soot.
Anyone found guilty of crimes against the city state or murderers were hung, the scaffold was positioned between the ‘city gates’ seeing as there is only lagoon, the entry to the city was designated between these two columns which represent gates. Local superstition is that you must not walk between the columns because it will be bad luck to walk through the place of death….check out the giant cruise ship going by…..everyday there is 5 new cruise ships parked out in the lagoon. 55,000 people live in the historical area of Venice and 24 million visit every year.
Walking home through the night market Rosie and The Operator are going on a Grand Canal Tour tomorrow and are looking forward to wandering the streets on a leisurely Sunday…..Rosie is on a Venice buzz and she doesn’t think she will be able to sleep much tonight….go on, just a final peep from our window…..
