Day 12: Venice!

The Palazzo Ducale and the Piazzetta with the Campanile in the background

Today was an absolutely perfect day to be in Venice. The morning weather was cloudy with light breeze blowin in from the Adriatic. For San Diegans, used to the gloom that dominates early mornings from May through June, this was nothing to be concerned about. In fact, this was welcomed as a way to keep the Venitian heat in check. For the Italian day trippers, however, this was a disaster that ended thier plans to head out to Venice and the Lido to soak up the sun. As a result, the crowds in Venice were not as soul-crushingly thick as they usually are.

We're still able to smile, despite the smell of the fish market.

We began our morning with a long vaporetto ride from the Lido all the way up the Grand Canal to the. Rialto bridge. Rialto is the Venitian contraction of Riva Alta, the high bank. This is where modern Venice was supposedly founded. This was one of the two centers of power in medieval Venice, the other being at Piazza San Marco. Rialto was the commercial center of Venice. We visited the still lively fruit and vegetable market (fantastic peaches) on our way to get a glimpse of the bounty of the Adriatic at the fish market. Although I was amazed at the variety of fish, octopodi, squid, shellfish, and other sea creatures available at this arcaded market, I just could not get over the overwhelming stench. It was enough to put me off of tuna for at least a year. I was thankful for our departure from Rialto and the hike back to San Marco.

He's making a horse!

After a brief stop at Piazza San Marco, we walked back behind the basilica to find what Thomas described as "the best gelato in Venice." The little gelato shop he took us to has not only the best homemade gelato in Venice, but the best gelato I have ever tasted. Most of us gave up any thoughts of having just one scoop upon seeing the tins of this amazingly rich bit of heaven in front of us. I had the hazelnut and the stracciatella (something like chocolate chip). Once we had something cold in Venice, it was time to deal in something hot, something so hot that it has mostly been moved to another island in the lagoon for fear of fire. I'm talking, of course, of the Venitian art of blowing glass. The Venitians are well known for the amazing colors of thier glass, created by by adding various metals to the glass as it was being formed in gigantic furnaces. They used metals acquired in all of their trading across their Mediterranean empire. Deep emerald green glass, for example, was created by adding copper acquired from the Egyptian port of Alexandria. My favorite part of visiting the glassworks is watching a master glassblower fashion a glass horse out of a blob of molten glass in a matter of minutes.

Rialto bridge, as seen from gondola-level

The rest of our day was devoted to exploring Venice on our own. Thomas gave each group a Venitan photo scavenger hunt list that he created. There were items on the list that were easy to acquire, like a photo of ten gondolas. There were the tougher items such as a member of your group with a black tongue, which meant that you ate a pasta dish with a sauce made of the black ink of a squid. Then there was the holy grail of the list, find Marco Polo's house (not as easy as it seems). The basic instruction that all of the small groups recieved from both Thomas and me was to simple get lost in Venice. Don't stick to the main tourist thoroughfares. Take the quieter backstreets to see where they take you. My little group, for example, found ourselves in the old Jewish Quarter of the city, Ghetto, where the city's Jewish population was locked behind big gates at night. On our way back to San Marco, we found Marco Polo's house, a rather plain looking building with a little plaque over the door that says, in the Venitan dialect, "the house of Marco Polo."

The best ride in Venice

Our final Venitian experience was a gondola ride through the smaller canals to the west of Piazza San Marco. I could definitely get used to this mode of transportation. It's much more relaxing than my daily mad dash down the I-15. All of the gondolas in Venice are still made by hand in the city. They have a slight curve built into them so that they will travel in a straight line when rowed by one gondolier. If you ever find yourself in Venice, this is one experience that you should build into your budget.

 

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