Day 4 - Monday, June 17 - Venice - St. Mark's and Doge palace
We took the vaporetto down to San Marco - I couldn't resist taking a photo of the cutest little girl who smiled at me when I looked at her. She was with a couple who looked like they just gotten married. We exchanged our pre-paid vouchers for tickets to the Doge palace and 3 other museums. We paid for audio guides which were very helpful and informative.
Venice was founded as a trading city in AD 421 and has been a republic led by a "Doge" from the 8th century until the late 18th century. When I asked one of the guards about a painting, he emphasized that Venice was a republic and was not led by a king - he seemed quite proud of that. There were various governing bodies ranging from the 1500 citizens who would have weekly "town" meetings to the "Council of 10" that made major decisions. There was a judicial body that made decisions in secret about the fate of people accused, often anonymously, of various crimes. Venice was for centuries one of the richest and powerful countries, with a large navy.
The Doge's palace was his residence as well as all of the administrative, judicial offices and prison of the republic, originally built in the 800s but most of the structure is from the 1300s. There is a very large open courtyard with St. Mark's Basilica looming large in the back. St. Mark's was the doge's "chapel". In many ways, the Doge's palace is very similar to Versailles and other royal palaces, with many paintings by famous artists, completely covering the walls and ceilings with large amounts of gold gilding.
The palace has one of the largest collections of weaponry from the time of the Crusades and the Middle Ages, including armor, lances, swords and crossbows. Some of the swords are so large it is hard to imagine how someone could carry and fight with them.
Although not all that significant, one of the most famous parts of the palace was the "bridge of sighs" which connects the palace to the adjacent prison. This is where the prisoners would get their last view of the outside world before being locked up. We were able to walk through much of the prison with many unpleasant cells. You can see graffiti that the prisoners scratched into the soft stone. Some of the lower cells would flood at high tide, driving out the rats!
There is typically a very long line to get into St. Mark's Basilica, one to two hours, but one can buy in advance "skip the line" tickets.for a specific day and time. When we presented our ticket, we discovered that that I had purchased a ticket for the wrong date! After a short discussion with the ticket-collector, he made an executive decision and let us go around the turnstile - what a relief as we wouldn't have waited in line.
The basilica is huge but comparable to other cathedrals in Europe. One distinguishing feature is that the entire ceiling with all its religious artwork is composed of mosaics, millions of tiny tiles with gold and other colors. Due to its popularity, there is a single path through the basilica with a steady stream of visitors with not much time or space to contemplate the structure, not the most pleasant of experiences. I think it is overrated, especially as there are many other huge churches in Venice that are almost as impressive and more pleasant to visit.
Near the basilica exit, there is a long and steep stairway to the museum which was worth the 5 euro entrance fee. From there one can look out over the interior of the basilica and see the ceiling in much better detail. Inside are 4 large bronze horse statues which were stolen from Constantinople during the crusades - these were originally on the loggia overlooking the square but were brought inside to protect them and replicas placed on the loggia. One can go out onto the loggia for fantastic views of the whole square.
On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a shop for Murano glassworks and purchased a few items that we liked. When we were there, a young couple came in and asked if there was any glasswork of Micky Mouse - the proprietor said "no" with very obvious disgust as this was a serious artwork shop. There were also numerous other shops with tacky glass souvenir items.
In the evening we had another delicious dinner at a restaurant on the bank of the grand canal followed by a nightcap at the rooftop lounge of our hotel. We didn't get back to our room until after midnight - very late for us.
Venice was founded as a trading city in AD 421 and has been a republic led by a "Doge" from the 8th century until the late 18th century. When I asked one of the guards about a painting, he emphasized that Venice was a republic and was not led by a king - he seemed quite proud of that. There were various governing bodies ranging from the 1500 citizens who would have weekly "town" meetings to the "Council of 10" that made major decisions. There was a judicial body that made decisions in secret about the fate of people accused, often anonymously, of various crimes. Venice was for centuries one of the richest and powerful countries, with a large navy.
The Doge's palace was his residence as well as all of the administrative, judicial offices and prison of the republic, originally built in the 800s but most of the structure is from the 1300s. There is a very large open courtyard with St. Mark's Basilica looming large in the back. St. Mark's was the doge's "chapel". In many ways, the Doge's palace is very similar to Versailles and other royal palaces, with many paintings by famous artists, completely covering the walls and ceilings with large amounts of gold gilding.
The palace has one of the largest collections of weaponry from the time of the Crusades and the Middle Ages, including armor, lances, swords and crossbows. Some of the swords are so large it is hard to imagine how someone could carry and fight with them.
Although not all that significant, one of the most famous parts of the palace was the "bridge of sighs" which connects the palace to the adjacent prison. This is where the prisoners would get their last view of the outside world before being locked up. We were able to walk through much of the prison with many unpleasant cells. You can see graffiti that the prisoners scratched into the soft stone. Some of the lower cells would flood at high tide, driving out the rats!
There is typically a very long line to get into St. Mark's Basilica, one to two hours, but one can buy in advance "skip the line" tickets.for a specific day and time. When we presented our ticket, we discovered that that I had purchased a ticket for the wrong date! After a short discussion with the ticket-collector, he made an executive decision and let us go around the turnstile - what a relief as we wouldn't have waited in line.
The basilica is huge but comparable to other cathedrals in Europe. One distinguishing feature is that the entire ceiling with all its religious artwork is composed of mosaics, millions of tiny tiles with gold and other colors. Due to its popularity, there is a single path through the basilica with a steady stream of visitors with not much time or space to contemplate the structure, not the most pleasant of experiences. I think it is overrated, especially as there are many other huge churches in Venice that are almost as impressive and more pleasant to visit.
Near the basilica exit, there is a long and steep stairway to the museum which was worth the 5 euro entrance fee. From there one can look out over the interior of the basilica and see the ceiling in much better detail. Inside are 4 large bronze horse statues which were stolen from Constantinople during the crusades - these were originally on the loggia overlooking the square but were brought inside to protect them and replicas placed on the loggia. One can go out onto the loggia for fantastic views of the whole square.
On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a shop for Murano glassworks and purchased a few items that we liked. When we were there, a young couple came in and asked if there was any glasswork of Micky Mouse - the proprietor said "no" with very obvious disgust as this was a serious artwork shop. There were also numerous other shops with tacky glass souvenir items.
In the evening we had another delicious dinner at a restaurant on the bank of the grand canal followed by a nightcap at the rooftop lounge of our hotel. We didn't get back to our room until after midnight - very late for us.
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| Family on vaporetto |
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| Former mansions on canal - only 1-2' above water |
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| Doge Palace courtyard with St. Mark's Basilica in background |
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| David by Rialto bridge |
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| Carmen, Scott and Jeanne on rooftop lounge |
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