Venice, Italy

     Venice is an amazing place which has been around for 1500 years -- very expensive and an island shaped like a fish in a lagoon of the Adriatic Sea. The population of Venice is 58,000 people which is less than half of what it was three decades ago. In fact, Venice has sunk 9 inches in the past century.

     Venice is reached by a causeway for trains, buses and cars which only go to the island  train station or parking lots, but not into the city itself.  To get though it you walk, take water taxis or gondolas. The water taxis are much cheaper than the gondolas and they follow the Grand Canal, whereas the gondolas wind through narrow canals which take the place of many roads or streets throughout the city.

The Grand Canal which winds like a snake through Venice.

One of the few bridges across the Grand Canal

     We opted to walk across the city filled with 2000 narrow pedestrian streets and alleyways as well as 400 bridges.  Many shops, hotels, restaurants and churches line these streets.  Residents live above the restaurants and shops.  One can’t get permanently lost there since you are on an island!    As long as you know which site you are wanting to see and follow the painted arrows at street intersections , you can get around fairly easily. 

Narrow Streets 

Canals of Venice

     We decided against taking a gondola since it was slightly windy and cool. It is February! We only heard one gondolier singing as he passed by us.  Sounded as if his teeth might be chattering.

Gondola on a canal

Gondolier waiting for customers

Like taxis, Out of Service

      We didn’t just walk narrow streets and cross bridges.  We also visited churches and palaces.  Venice, during the Middle Ages, became the richest city in the world.  It no longer holds that title.

     The largest church and plaza in Venice is St. Mark’s Basilica in the Piazza San Marco.  The Basilica is on one end of the Piazza while on the other end is the Doge Palace.  It was the seat of the Venetian government and the home of its ruling duke, or Doge.  It was the most powerful half acre in Europe for 400 years.

The Basilica of St. Mark in Piazza San Marco

The palace of the Doge (former rulers)

     On the back side of the Doge Palace is a prison.  There is a bridge across a canal leading into the prison.  It is called the Bridge of Sighs, because the prisoners who were entering the prison were heard to sigh because of it being their last few steps of freedom.

 I decided it was a good time for me to sigh in front of the Bridge of Sighs because of being dragged through so many art museums and having to carry so much in my pockets! 

     The day we were in Venice was Dale’s birthday.  Not going to reveal her age but she was born in 1948!

The Birthday Girl

      We took a river taxi/bus from the opposite end of Venice back to the train station.  It gives you a different perspective on the city than what you get walking through it.

Another of the bridges over the Grand Canal

A former palace on the Canal

A church on the Grand Canal

     We stayed in Venice Mestre, which is a town on the mainland about 2 miles from Venice itself.  Lodging there is significantly cheaper than in Venice as are the restaurants.  We were two blocks from the train station and the cost to ride to Venice was a little over a dollar each.  The airport is outside Mestre so it made for an easier trip when we were ready to leave.