Venice Italy - The Grand Canal

 7 July 2024 - Venice Italy - The Grand Canal

We spent the last days in Venice cruising the Grand Canal and seeing a few more churches and museums. We also got first hand experience with the Carabinieri when Russ had his wallet stolen while we were purchasing vaporetto tickets. It could have been worse, at least he still had his passport. An afternoon spent canceling credit cards, arranging for replacements, and a few hours filing a report with the police, and we were back touring.

The Italian rail employees staged a one-day strike on the day we were leaving Venice for Milan.  Our travel agent was able to reschedule a departure a few hours later and we were able to get to Milan without much trouble.  It gave us a few more hours in Venice, which we enjoyed by sitting in St. Mark’s Square having a drink and crowd watching. Beats sitting in an overcrowded train station hoping you can get on the next train to Milan.  

I really loved Venice.  It was hard to get around because of all the bridges, but we figured out how to get to where we wanted. The whole city is over the top - beautiful buildings and churches and the canals with gondolas just makes it all spectacular. Now on to Milan!

We got a late start to our Grand Canal tour because of the stolen wallet.  But it might have been good in that we toured in the later afternoon and the light was amazing.

Lots of language challenges with the Carabinieri but we managed to get the right paperwork filled out.  Hopefully, our travel insurance will pay us back for the money we lost.  We’ll see.

We went back to see if we could tour the Greek Orthodox Church with the leaning tower.  I couldn’t get in, but Russ did a quick walk around.  It is right on a canal and has its own dock for people who attend by boat.

Even though Venice is hugely influenced by the Byzantine Empire, Greek Orthodox was not an allowed religion.  Finally, in the 1500s, permission was granted to build a church and bell tower.

The leaning tower.  Not that noticable here.

This building definitely was larger, but it looks like it was cut up when the canal was put in.  And a whole ‘nother house was built on top.

This is a palace with gold mosaics.  I don’t know how many of these palaces are still privately owned.  I think many have been given to the government for use as offices, conference centers, or museums.

Looks like a giant Hershey kiss, but it is an art exhibit in the private gardens of a corporation.  

Another view of our hotel.  Loved our stay here.

Another palace, this one was constructed in the 1400s.  It is now a museum.

The train station.  The vaporettos stop here as well as private charters.

The famous Rialto Bridge.  It has been rebuilt a number of times.  Only four bridges cross over the Grand Canal - this is the oldest.  When the first one was built in the 1100s, it cut off the big ships from using the Grand Canal as a shipping channel. They built their ports closer to the sea.  This opened the area, we now know as Venice, to be developed. Wealthy families started building palaces along the canal and the canal gradually became what we now see.  

A view of the Doge Palace.

St Mark’s Square and Basilica.  You can see St. Theodore atop the left column.

I don’t think Venetians oar a boat unless they are standing.  Not sure if this is a racing crew or a bunch of guys training to be gondoliers.

This guy isn’t particularly successful at fishing.  Of course, I don’t think anyone would fare very well eating fish they caught from the canal.

We had dinner in Lido, the last stop of the vaporatto before turning back towards the train station stop.  It was a beautiful evening and sunset.

On St. Mark’s Square, one of the wing buildings houses the Correr Museum. The building was constructed during the Napoleon era and was intended to be used for housing for Napoleon when he visited Venice.  It wasn’t finished until the 19th century when Venice was occupied by Austria and became the residence for those rulers and then the King of Italy.

Daedalus and Icarus, one of Canova’s earliest pieces. There was a lot of Canova sculptures in this museum.

Beautiful paintings and gilded wood coffers on a ceiling.

The collection in the museum comes from several wealthy Venetian families and had some eclectic items, like these Egyptian sarcophagii.

These are Canova’s stone carving tools.

The Royal apartments are very ornate.

Another room had a collection of lamps and signs.  This is a pharmacy sign from back in the 1700s.

Lighting for the gondola docs from back in the day (1700s).  This was huge, I think it was around 9 feet tall.

A view of Venice from one of the Royal Apartment rooms.

This church was built in the 1600s as a offering to be delivered from the deadly plague that had hit the city.

Another plague church.

It was a trek to get to the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, commonly known as the Frari, but so worthwhile.  The exterior wasn’t as grandiose as other churches in Venice, but the interior was magnificent.  It is one of the largest churches in Venice.  It took nearly 100 years to build and was finished in the mid 1400s.

Every chapel was beautiful. 

Titian’s Pesaro Madonna was restored in 2017. The colors are so vivid.

Tomb dedicated to Canova (a major Italian sculptor). Built by his students, it is based on a design Canova had developed for the tomb of Titian. It enshrines the heart of Canova and reflects the Freemason membership that Canova valued.

John the Baptist by Donatello.

Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin is above the main altar. It was one of the first pieces of Titian’s that was influenced by the styles of Raphael and Michelangelo and represented a big change from current Venetian artists.

The Choir of the monks is untouched from when it was first built.  Each of the 124 wooden stalls is inlaid with views of Venice.  Above you can see part of the organ.

The nave of the Basilica.

Titian’s The Descent of the Holy Ghost

The Basilica’s main altar.  The Baroque piece includes a 12th or 13th century Byzantine Madonna and Child.

On our way back to the Grand Canal from the Frari, we passed several shops selling/renting Venetian ball costumes.

Several shops were selling ornate masks.

Russ was contemplating buying one, but I convinced him we didn’t have any space in our luggage.

One more picture of Venice’s gondolas.

I cannot speak highly enough of the fruit I ate in Italy.  So fresh and ripe.  When you bite into a strawberry, it is red throughout (none of the SoCal white strawberries here) and so sweet.  The cantaloupe tasted like what I used to grow in my backyard.

Russ relaxing in St. Mark’s Square our last day in Venice.  Every day here was magnificent.