From the Venetian Lagoon at the tip of the Adriatic Sea to the Gulf of Genoa on the northern part of the Mediterranean Sea in about 5 hours by train! Both cities with long and influential histories mostly related to seafaring!

Goodbye Venice with your busy canals!

Hello Genoa with your busy port!

We disembarked at the main train station and walked the 20 minutes to our hotels, along the sunny waterfront street, then into the narrow stone streets into the labyrinth of passages! After we got situated and settled a little bit we went out to explore the surroundings. The waterfront is easy to get to and has several piers we walked out on.

This replica ship built for a movie I think, is a prominent tourist attraction.

The biosphere is filled with tropical plants and birds.

Along the street opposite the waterfront are older buildings, this one richly decorated.

We found a little restaurant/bar behind this building where we stopped for drinks and the Cicchetti (finger food snacks) kept coming! We had plate after plate of various sandwiches and focaccia, the herb and olive oil bread that Genoa is known for, so much that we decided that would be our dinner!

Robert and I took advantage of the last few hours on our 48 hour Vaporetti ticket and took an early morning ferry on the Grand Canal, with NO TOURISTS! It was actually a commuter ferry that went from the train station directly to the Rialto bridge with no stops. It was partially filled with locals going to their jobs, probably in retail or food service. We joined them disembarking at the Rialto bridge and experienced it with the morning sun, and NO TOURISTS!We then hopped another -empty!- ferry and had our pick of seats!This ferry continued along the Grand Canal to St. Marks Square where we got a view of the Bridge of Sighs between the Doge’s Palace on the left and the Prison on the right.

If you look closely at the bridge in front you may see a bride being photographed with the Bridge of Sighs as the backdrop. We got off the ferry here and as we passed over the bridge the groom was having his turn modeling.

We walked into St. Marks Square, amongst the few early morning tourists.

Despite no tourists there were still no pigeons. I think the city has discouraged feeding of the pigeons to try and keep the square cleaner!

We stopped at one of the few open restaurants for coffee and a breakfast sandwich then caught another ferry back to the hotel just in time to partake of their breakfast! A day of rest, packing and naps culminated in Happy Hour on the 2nd floor terrace of the hotel, across the alley from Ed & Claire’s room.

We usually had a happy hour here before we would head out for dinner at a local restaurant.

Robert & I decided to share the fish of the day! It was delicious!

We all finished our dinner and went for a stroll to the closest gondola station and arranged for a ride. Our last night in Venice, we had to take a gondola ride!

Our Gondolier took us on slower, smaller canals through his neighborhood of Dorsodoura, where he took us past the local bar (where a friend gave him a beer!) and friends called out to him. He even pointed out his house and mentioned that his young daughters were out playing in the neighborhood!

We had a wonderful time in Venice. We tried to avoid the crowds, but sometimes that was impossible. The adventure continues!

Today we took advantage of the 2nd day of our 48 hour Vaporetti ticket and took the ferry to the small island known as Cimitero di San Michele, or Cemetery Island. It is one island of Venice that is definitely not crowded with tourists!

At the ferry dock the entrance gate invites you into the serene, quiet cemetery landscape.

Being an island most graves are above ground or in mausoleums around courtyards.

The cemetery is divided into various sections; Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and divisions such as Priests, or even Gondoliers!

The graves and crypts cover the whole island and large family crypts are intermingled amongst smaller graves, lending an air of equanimity in death. There are a few famous people buried here, artists, musicians, composers, authors, etc. We wandered around, listening to the birds chirping, admiring the sculptures and flowers, reading some quotes and dates on the headstones. Apparently the dead don’t get to rest here in eternity, the need for more space dictates that your remains can stay for only about 10 years, then they are removed to an ossuary so another can rest here! We decided our time of rest here was over so we caught the ferry back to the main island for lunch.

Looking back at Cimitero di San Michele, it looks like a private park enclosed by a decorative wall!

We decided to walk back to the hotel through a part of town we hadn’t explored. This area, the neighborhood of Cannaregio lies north of the Grand Canal and seems much more residential and less touristy, until we got closer to the train station!

Crossing one of the hundreds of bridges we got an iconic look at gondolas on a canal!

We decided to travel further afield today with a 48 hour pass to ride the Vaporetti throughout the Venetian islands. The water-bus, or ferry, system is extensive and is used by the locals and tourists alike. Our first trip was to the furthest tourist site, Burano, known as the Lace Island, a colorful fishermen’s village.

On the way to catch the vaporetto to Burano we had to walk through the train station and past this icon of train travel – The Orient Express! As close as we’ll get to it I think!

A half hour ferry and we disembarked at the colorful, peaceful village.

Even the lunch was colorful! Small snacks called Cicchetti accompanied by beer, wine or apertif are like the Spanish Tapas.

The many vibrant colors of the houses in Burano. Known for handmade lace manufacture the practice is dying out because of competition with less expensive machine manufactured lace.

On our walk around the small island we noticed the bell tower of one of the churches from different angles.

This view shows the tower has a significant lean compared to the first picture!

From Burano we caught the vaporetto to Murano, the Glass island. During Venice’s heyday as an economic superpower, glass manufacture was an important and well guarded craft. For safety reasons the glass factories were moved to the island to protect the wooden structures of Venice, and to more safely protect the innovation and unique manufacturing processes that made Venetian glass highly prized and valuable! The shopfronts are filled with beautiful unique art glass. Many of the shops prefer that you don’t take pictures of their wares.

I found these beautiful chandeliers hanging in a local church!

We ventured out amongst all the other tourists to visit THE main attractions of Venice, St. Mark’s Square with St. Marks Basilica and the Doge Palace. We had purchased ‘skip the line tickets’ online, but still had a line, albeit a shorter one than the ‘common’ tourists! The ticket to Basilica San Marco was for a quick walk through the main area, but it was crammed with fantastic artwork and especially intricate mosaics! Click here for all things Basilica San Marco, history and chronology especially!

The floor mosaics appear 3 dimensional!

The animal motifs caught my eye of course!

The mosaics covering the floors walls and ceilings show 8 centuries of development!

Robert and I continued on to visit the Doge’s Palace, Palazzo Ducale, the seat of government,  “La Serenissima”, of Venice during it’s dominance of the Mediterranean and especially the Adriatic from the 6th to the 16th centuries A.D. Over 1000 years! The Doge was the elected supreme authority of the Venice Republic, elected by the ruling families of the city-state, not the common people! While the Basilica is older and covered with mosaics, the Palace was built in 1340 (on the site of former palaces) and has a ‘Venetian Gothic’ style, more paintings and elaborate plasterwork. Not only was it the Doge’s residence, but it held the chambers for the various government entities that ruled the far flung empire. For all information, history, etc. about Palazzo Ducale, click here.

In the courtyard of the Palace is the ‘Giant’s Staircase’, guarded at the top by statues of Mars and Neptune, symbolizing Venice’s dominance on land and sea! This is where newly elected Doges were crowned and presented to the people of Venice.

Inside, the tour passes through room after elaborately painted room, the halls of government. Lots of paintings mixing religious and royal symbolism.

I was surprised to see astrological references too!

One room in particular held ‘The Council of Ten’, “set up after a conspiricy…to overthrow the institutions of the State. Initially meant as a provisional body to try those conspirators, the Council of Ten…ended up becoming permanent. Its authority covered all sectors of public life – from religious orthodoxy to foreign policy, from espionage to state security – and this range of powers gave rise to the legend of the Council as a ruthless, all-seeing tribunal at the service of the ruling oligarchy, a court whose sentences were handed down rapidly after hearings held in secret.” Lessons should be learned from this!!! After leaving the Judicial chambers the tour sends you down to the prison, through the ‘Bridge of Sighs’ where the convicted got their last look through the stone latticed window of the outside world. The dank, dark cells below saw many prisoners, political and economic, rightly or wrongly convicted, languish and die.

In one gallery is this picture, the last Doge.

“On May 12, 1797, with Napoleon’s troops lined up for an attack on the shores of the lagoon, the Great Council of Venice met for the last time and abdicated in favour of a revolutionary government controlled by the French military command. On May 15, 1797, the last doge Ludovico Manin left the Palazzo Ducale forever. That was how the thousand-year-old history of the Republic of Venice ended.”

Beware; We don’t have an army on our shores, but an army in our midst (including the Supreme Court) threatening to end our not even 250 year old American Republic!!