October 03, 2017:
This is the penultimate day of our 17 day-long trips. Tomorrow we take off and fly out to our homes.
We will go on a walking tour of Venice with our local guide. We will visit the San Marco's Square (Piazza San Marco). In addition to San Marco's square built-in 1557, there are 135 smaller squares. These are called Campos. It was later destroyed by the French but rebuilt later.
In this Piazza, you also find the beautiful Basilica as well as the stunning Palazzo Ducale. The Basilica built in 830 and is the official cathedral of Venice.
We had a reasonable breakfast in the basement breakfast room. It was pretty Ok as continental breakfast goes.
Our guide met us in front of the hotel, and we followed her on foot. Our first stop was San Marco's Plaza.
We reached San Marco's Plaza. The marvelous columns form the gateway to Venice. The San Marco's column with a winged lion (a symbol of Venice) on the top and the San Isidoro column (top not see here) with a marble statue of San Isidoro (Greek) standing with a spear looking down at crocodile/dragon came from Constantinople and erected in 1172. These are replicas, and the originals are in Doge's Palace. This plaza (Piazzetta San Marco) was where criminals were executed and believed to bring bad luck to if you were to walk between the columns.
We are right near the columns listening to our guide.
Our guide is taking us to see details of this famous square, the Piazza de San Marco.
View of Bridge of Sighs from Doge's Palace.
Death sentences to criminals were announced from between the two pink pillars shown here, in, Doge's time.
The two columns forming the gateway to Venice.
The (four ) Tetrarchs of Rome (~300AD), a group of 4 emperors of the Roman empire, two of them were principals and the other two subordinates.
The main entrance to the cathedral. What used to be a private chapel of the Doge became a cathedral in later years with its fabled golden mosaics and the golden altar.
Gold is not only used in the arches, but also in the interior of the Basilica. Alas! We missed going in due to a lack of time and the long queues. Had we gone in, we could have witnessed the golden splendor of the lit interior.
The above and below (2 images) are the images of the clock tower (Torre dell' Orologio) which lies at right angles to the Basilica and next to it. This clock can display the phases of the moon, the location of the planets and traces the zodiacal path of the Sun.
More here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark%27s_Clocktower
The three poles in the foreground are the ship's masts and used as flag poles presently.
The Campanile, St Mark's bell tower (2 images above) is one of the iconic symbols of Venice.
You either climb a hundred meters or pay eight Euros to go up using the elevator. View from the top offers the best view of Venice. We missed going up. Oh!, what a loss.
A high water level reached in 1966. The recent flooding in Venice was slightly (few centimeters) below this level.
Here is a shop selling Venetian cameos. For the first time, we saw the largest of these. Some of them were 'camoed' very intricately.
We had lunch at one of many restaurants you find near to the Pizza along the convoluted narrow streets, jammed with gift shops and eateries.
Be careful!, Read the menu and ask detailed questions, otherwise, you may see a bill you cannot believe.
The date on the above image is incorrect. It should be 3/10/2017
Our group in front of the Museum of Man and Mammals.
The next two images from Campo Santa Maria Formosa.
Walking near Palazzo Malpeiro.
Church of Santi Giovanni and Paolo with the equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Collon in the square. Well, It is said he paid for the statue himself.
He was a condottiere (mercenary) who later became captain-general of the Republic of Venice.
A gelateria near the statue in Campo Givanni e Paolo.
View of the Basilica the San Giovanni e Paolo. Twenty-five Doges are buried here and it has a vast collection of paintings. Paintings of many famous artists are found here.
Around 3 P.M., we were free to wander around. We went around purchasing a soccer sweatshirt for our son and look in a few more gift shops.
We walked some more time over the bridges taking in the passing crowd and the local scenery. We finally got into one of the ferries that came to the Piazza San Marco to take a look at the Doge's Palace.
Here are some pictures of our visit to Doge's Palace. Doge's Palace was a highly self-contained government building of those times. It even had the prisons inside.
The large painting on the wall is, Il Paradiso, by Jacopo Tintoretto. It appears that Tintoretto worked exclusively for the Doge. Doge's Palace has perhaps the largest collection of Tintoretto's masterpieces.
Il Paradiso is huge, stretches from wall-to-wall, and stunning.
Unfortunately, the lighting was poor. The Doge's Palace has paintings of Titian, Veronese and, others.
Il Paradiso is huge, stretches from wall-to-wall, and stunning.
Unfortunately, the lighting was poor. The Doge's Palace has paintings of Titian, Veronese and, others.
End of tour party
This is the last day in Venice, and we will be gathering one last time to have dinner together and thank our tour director.
From our hotel, Carnival Palace, we walked on Fondamenta de Cannaregio and crossed over the Ponte dei Tre Archi.
Our party was to meet at the restaurant Ai Tre Archi. It was not too far from the bridge.
Ai Tre Archi is billed as one of the top restaurants. We enjoyed excellent food and wine. There was even live music!
Here are some shots from the party. Our tour director's mother and sister (residents of Venice) joined us to make the gathering livelier.
The tour director's mother enters.
This is all that happened that day in October 2017.
This is the last installment of my blog. Before closing, I would like to thank you all for your patient reading.
Mahalo,
Jay and Michiko
12/17/2019
