February can be considered a dreary month, in the depths
of winter for many, but for us we always have a lovely time, celebrating! This
year has been extra special as Jerry and I celebrated our Pearl Wedding Anniversary,
amazingly 30 years of marriage.
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| 14th February 1987 |
I was gifted with a beautiful string of golden antique
pearls from Jerry and a bouquet of flowers from our boys.
The trip was like a fairy-tale. In that the experience
was so diverse, such an interesting city and an enchanting way of life to
observe. Before you ask – Yep! One of my Ryanair jaunts and accommodation
through Booking.com. We went to La Villeggiatura a fabulous B&B in San Palo
region of Venice, just 5 mins walk from the Rialto Bridge with a personal service
– second to none and highly recommend.
- Giant barges as buses, bulk deliveries as everything lorries would deliver,
- Smaller motor boats as white van deliveries, taxis, police and ambulance vehicles
- then everywhere was gondoliers wholly for pleasure.
Without realising we had gone to Venice right in the
middle of carnival week, which took the whole holiday to an off-the-wall level
of ‘wackiness’. The carnival we watched was based in Piazza San Marco whilst infiltrating across the whole of Venice and associated islands. The masquerading
of people dressed in exquisite costume adorned with masks with the sole purpose
to parade and display like a peacock, was most entertaining. No money was
requested with the expectation to be stopped and photographed. Quite bizarre,
flamboyant and again ‘wacky’!
We spent our week wandering all areas of the city
enjoying the atmosphere as we were drenched in culture. Navigating through the
tiniest of streets, weaving through endless turns tripping over bridges to fall
into a square of locals busy in activity, inviting to rest for coffee and cake
or wine and munchies. One of the memorable afternoons was when we spent
significant time walking the Castello region visiting the Arsenal enjoying the
naval museum which sported some of the eldest shipping vehicles. We were completely
astonished by the sight of an ancient gondolier in gold used by the Pope of the
time, it really had the ‘Wow’ factor. After a long walk further into the
residential area of the region, finding our way back we stumbled into a square
adorned with a beautiful marble church, gondoliers floating past and café bar.
The locals were passing through as we sipped our wine on a bright afternoon
watching the world go by.
The most striking views of Venice we were able to capture
were from the top of the Campanile Bell Tower in Piazza San Marco at an
impressive 60 meters high, fortunately a lift to the top and avoided the ringing
of the bells, close enough to touch. The views were phenomenal looking across
an undulating skyline of roof tops, out to sea to islands with bright blue sky
and sea. Looking down upon the Doges Palace and Basilica di San Marco, the
utterly beautiful church beside the palace, with ornate paintings inside and
outside the building. It was quite a view to watch the carnival from such a
distance too.
Another day we guided through San Polo to Dorsoduro
region which is the more industrial side to Venice and where the big cruise
ships come in, looking across to Piazza San Marco. The route took us passed the Leonardo Da Vinci museum describing both works of art and experiments as
working and manual models, really interesting to peruse.
A day was spent wandering the islands via water bus. Everybody
told us a ‘must’ was to visit Murano particularly for the glass sculpturing. It
was no doubt an interesting experience, if nothing else for the sheer lack of
Health & Safety in the glass factories entertained us. As the work men
wandered around their work area with tremendously hot molten glass with no
protection and performed to the audience. We have purchased a couple
of authentic artisan glasses signed by the artist as our holiday gift and they
are beautifully decorated and easy to drink from. Once you have been in half a
dozen glassware shops the selection of Murano glass has been seen, then repeated
many more times in the 50 + shops to wander around. The next island was Burano
which celebrated lace. A much prettier island to saunter as all the little
houses are painted different colours so viewed in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
Our gondola ride was savoured on the last day. Having
walked many streets and bridges to see those sights from the water was really
interesting adventure. Our man shared some intriguing snippets of information
when he wasn’t singing to us, we were enthralled with the whole occasion.
Another trip was through the Jewish Ghetto area in Cannaregio
region. As we walked up to this area we knew we had entered a different
community as the buildings changed, a much stronger vibe of over-peopled. The
houses were noticeably smaller and taller, we saw eight stories high where as
in all other regions of Venice the buildings were no more than five stories
high, whilst also the language and signage was different, with monuments to the
war on display. An interesting comparison!
In summary our trip to Venice can be captured with the perception of;
the locals were friendly and
welcoming
the
wine was really good
the
fish was good and fresh with a great variety
the
pasta was good
the
pizza was fantastic the best we have ever had
the
cultural indulgence was never ending!
To end, a few Venice facts of interest,
- Venice comprises of 117 islands
- Venice is connected by 423 bridges
- In its prime Venice sported 11000 gondoliers, today there is a mere 411 working gondoliers and only one female who is licenced to drive a gondolier!
- Hope you have enjoyed our special celebrations along with us!
I have attached an additional video of all our Venice snippets if you would like a bit more of the Venetian experience, about 20 mins long.
