Arriving at Venice - Dawn of a gorgeous day.
A beautiful basilica we saw as we entered. Venice has almost as many churches as homes. Each church has a small square referred to as a "campo."A few interesting facts about Venice:
1. Venice was a great power from the medieval period up through the 16th century. Venice was the biggest trade center on the Mediterranean during the middle ages. It became a major commercial center because goods came through Venice to go to northern Europe and Venice was known for the exceptional boats built there. During that time, Venice was a city of 200,000. At that same time London's population was 50,000. Today Venice's population is 60,000.
2. Venice includes 118 islands, 74 canals, and 400 bridges. Venice is connected to the mainland by 2 bridges. (Not pictured here)
Rialto Bridge on the Grande Canal.
People moved to Venice to escape attack. The lagoon was very much like a moat so that they didn't need a fortress. The canals follow the path of old rivers, and the buildings were shaped to the canals.
We were told that these are very expensive apartments. They also mentioned that there are 200 palaces on the Grande Canal. We did not get to see them so no pictures.
3. Venice was firmly established as an independent city by 900AD
4. Like many other places in Italy businessmen ruled Venice. We were told that the Doge, who is suppose to be the elected for life top man, is really only a puppet of the council which is made up of the businessmen.
These were the only businessmen I saw. Don't think they were part of the council. :D
When in Venice you must take a romantic ride in one of the gondolas. No fair splitting the cost with other people. Just you and your sweetheart.
A Gondolier who helped an old lady out of the gondola quite gracefully. A happy Italian, thanks.5. St. Mark is buried in Venice. His bones were acquired from Alexandria in 829 AD. St Mark's bones gave Venice much status in the same way that St. Peter gave Rome status. Essentially they claimed independence from Rome at this time because they had St. Mark's bones.
St. Mark's symbol is the lion, it is found all over Venice.
6. St. Mark's Cathedral took 500 years to build and decorate. It has many murals which tell the Bible stories for all of us and those who couldn't read.
This tile mural over the high altar shows the body of St. Mark being prepared for burial.
St. Mark's Square
Straight ahead and to your left are the entrances to St. Mark's Cathedral. On the right is a piece of the Doge's Palace.
One of the attractions is feeding the pigeons. There are hundreds but somehow we only caught a picture of us trying to feed them. :(
The Doge's Palace is on the square.
We will need to see the inside of the Doge's Palace another day. We ran out of time because we wanted to go to Murano to see them blow glass. The glass factory in Murano is renowned for their glass sculptures. We took a water bus to Murano. It took quite a while because we looped clear around Venice and saw some beautiful scenery and it was wonderfully relaxing out on the water.
We enjoyed watching them do their stuff with glass. Really quite incredible! We found a lovely glass sculpture of a bird that we bought and brought home.
All that is left to say is that we flew home from Venice having had a super wonderful time in Italy, and all the other magic places.
