Contents
- Preface
- San Francisco
- Amsterdam
- Amsterdam, Helmond
- Amsterdam, Zandvoort, Haarlem
- Amsterdam, Bruges
- Bruges, Brussels, Cologne, Berlin
- Berlin
- Berlin, Potsdam
- Berlin, Wansee
- Berlin, Prague
- Prague
- Prague, Karlstejn, Vienna
- Vienna
- Vienna, Salzburg, Füssen
- Füssen, Neuschwanstein, Munich
- Munich, Innsbruck
- Innsbruck
- Innsbruck, Zürich, Lauterbrunnen
- Lauterbrunnen, Jungfraujoch
- Lauterbrunnen, Schilthorn
- Lauterbrunnen, Spiez, Zermatt
- Zermatt
- Zermatt, Martigny, Chamonix
- Chamonix, Mont Blanc
- Chamonix, Mont Blanc, Courmayeur, Aosta, Turin
- Barcelona
- Barcelona, Sitges
- Barcelona
- Milan, Venice
- Venice
- Venice
- Venice, Milan, Cinque Terre
- Cinque Terre, La Spezia
- Cinque Terre, Pisa, Lucca, Florence
- Florence
- Florence
- Florence, Siena
- Siena, San Gimignano, Rome
- Rome
- Rome
- Rome, Sorrento
- Sorrento, Vesuvius, Pompeii
- Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, Ravello
- Sorrento, Capri, Naples
- Naples, Bari
- Patras, Athens, Mykonos
- Mykonos
- Mykonos
- Mykonos, Paros, Santorini
- Santorini
- Santorini, Athens
- Athens
- Athens, Amsterdam, San Francisco
Prev :: Saturday, 1 October 2005 :: Next
30. Venice
Chilly and grey with drizzle this morning. I took another horribly overcrowded vaporetto back to Piazza San Marco. Here I took the lift to the top of the Campanile for a great view; there was a line but it moved fairly quickly. The square was still beautiful, but without the goosebumps the second time around. The number of pigeons (rats with wings) is insanely large, perhaps even greater than the number of tacky tourists (although the British accents I heard here seemed much more posh than in other places). I waited in the long line for the Basilica (be sure to look for the bag check around the corner before you get in line).
The longer I stayed in Venice, the more I simply walked rather than taking the overcrowded vaporettos. The main signed walking routes are crowded; it's nice when you get away from these, which you can do very quickly, but more often than not you end up at a dead end on a canal somewhere. It's quite a maze. I walked north across the Rialto Bridge and then west to the less crowded Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, with its impressive artwork. Behind this, I bought a ticket for a Vivaldi concert (Vivaldi is to Venice as Mozart is to Salzburg) the next night at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Next door some more panzerotti for lunch, but much less good than the one in Milan. So you have to be choosy.
I took a traghetto back across the canal. These are far better than the vaporettos — much less crowded. They are essentially a poor man's gondola, but instead of costing $100 (which I certainly wasn't going to pay, though to my surprise I was actually briefly tempted), they are €0,50. On the other hand, they only last for about two minutes, crossing directly across the canal. There are two gondoliers, in striped shirts and flat hats just as on the gondolas, but much less well paid I think (or possibly not — I think most gondolas are empty most of the time). After my trip, I learned there had been Venetian gondoliers on Lake Merritt in Oakland for a few years! I would have been happy to go for a ride there, but apparently their business wasn't doing too well, and they moved to Florida.
Back at Piazza San Marco, I visited the museum of the Palazzo Ducale, the impressive home of the rulers of the Venetian city-state during its heyday centuries ago. Lots of European history to learn here (we really don't get enough of it at school in the US); Venice had a remarkable naval empire at the height of its power around the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Further east, an interesting festival of modern artists from all over Europe takes place every two years including this one; I wanted to go inside the park but at 18:00 it was already closing, so I missed it. Best meal of Venice was at Avogaria to the west of the Grand Canal, with a friendly American waiting tables, though the atmosphere here was somewhat better than the food. Walking back past the Rialto bridge, I did stop for a Bellini, a drink which I had wanted to try at Florio, but here at least the prices were less absurd. Made of champagne and peach juice, the drink sounds much better in theory than it actually tastes.