2012/13 Europe Adventure: Venice, Italy

View from the Hotel Balcony

The breakfast balcony at the hotel with an odd art contribution of a red plastic penguin

Beautiful Glass Lamp on the balcony

Costume and painting of the hotel which is oddly set with a jungle around it and a beach.

A little rain doesn't change the incredible beauty of the city and out I headed after breakfast and some computer work. I took the vaporetto to the Island out past Murano that I've been told are worth seeing.

I ended up only walking around Burano, "an island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy; like Venice itself, it could more correctly be called an archipelago of four islands linked by bridges. It is situated near Torcello at the northern end of the Lagoon, and is known for its lacework and brightly coloured homes." The Island is also attached to the smaller island, Mazzorbo by a bridge. It also has some charming brightly colored painted houses and what amazed me most about that tiny Island was how many of the homes have huge gardens behind them. One has a fairly large vineyard next to it.

Ferry ride to Burano old ruins on two small Islands

Mozzorbo home with large vineyard next to it

Burano and the wonderful Brightly Painted homes

Torcello is suppose to be lovely to visit as well and I could see it from Burano but it was already late afternoon and there is only really one row of buildings and church left for tourists. "Torcello is a quiet and sparsely populated island at the northern end of the Venetian Lagoon. It is the oldest continuously populated region of Venice, and once held the largest population of the Republic of Venice." Apparently many of the buildings from centuries ago were dismantled and the materials used to build the main city of Venice that we enjoy now.

Me on a bridge in Burano

Little turtle shell kitty (see yellow circle for black dot of a head) who was stalking a group of pigeons that were
being fed by a couple near by. I watched him hysterical at his determined stance and the way he skulked through the
grass and then pounced. The pigeons as I'm sure you guess flew away from the feline menace in time.

Another sweet kitty I shared some of my sandwich with

Kitty in stalking mode

View to Torchello from Burano ferry stop

Gorgeous Buildings

The ferry #12 going back to St. Marks Square made a few other stops and one where you change ferries, Punta Sabbioni which from what I can can tell is attached to the main land with lots of cars and buses at the station.

So from there we got back to St. Marks Square in about 15 minutes going first to Lido for a quick drop-off and pick-up.

I then walked around the "The Venice Giardini is an area of parkland in the historic city of Venice which hosts the Venice Biennale Art Festival, a major part of the city's cultural biennale. The gardens were created by Napoleon Bonaparte who drained an area of marshland in order to create a public garden." Who knew Napoleon had such an important and beautiful impact on the city, I certainly didn't.

Punta Sabbioni Pier

Venice Giardini

There were two other churches on the Chorus pass list so I went in search of The Basilica di San Pietro di Castello, commonly called San Pietro di Castello, is a Roman Catholic minor basilica of the Patriarch of Venice located in the Castello sestiere of the Italian city of Venice. The present building dates from the 16th century, but a church has stood on the site since at least the 7th century. It was closed when I arrived but I realized when I got near it that I had visited the church back in September when I was last here. There is a "cloister - To the right of the church is the former Patriarchal Palace, with a large gateway leading to a lovely 16th Century cloister which was made into a barracks in 1807 and is now social housing and very romantically ramshackle."

St. Peter's Courtyard

From there it was over to the other side of the city to Santa Maria della Salute but it was closed already. It's not on the Chorus Pass list but I do love to visit it whenever I'm in the city. It's large and dark but so peaceful. And since the Republic of Venice has been known as "La Serenissima", from the title Serenissimo literally meaning 'the most/very serene'. And since the church is such an iconic image of the city it's all so fitting.

And not so peaceful is the rush hour on the vaporetto's which were packed and at one point a man in about his 60's who should have been more composed missed the boat and the boatman had closed the gate and the captain had pulled the boat away. Well apparently the man thought we should have turned back for him and started yelling at the boatman and called him a "stronzo" which I looked up on line and means "a turd." Well the captain pulled us pack to the pier and the two men got off the boat as we looked on and the man had actually walked as quickly as possible away but the captain started yelling at him but after a few moments all were back on board, except that obnoxious man who wisely disappeared away down and ally, and we were on our way. So funny, all I could think it was like watching two NYC cab drivers having a disagreement.

The final church on the list was Santa Maria del Rosario, (Gesuati.) "Monks from Sienna from the order of The Blessed Giovanni Colombino established themselves here in 1392. In 1423 they built an oratory and cloister dedicated to Saint Jerome. (They had previously occupied the nearby church of Sant’Agnese.) A proper church and monastery were built here by the Poor Gesuati order (as they now called themselves) from 1494, consecrated 1524 and dedicated to Our Lady of the Visitation. The order was suppressed in 1668 and in 1669 the Dominicans bought the place and got Giorgio Massari to build the present, much larger, church, beginning work in 1726, to the east of the site of the old church, and finishing in 1743. Massari also converted the old church (Santa Maria della Visitazione) to a library. The church became a parish church when the order was suppressed in 1815, to replace the suppressed churches of San Vio and San Gregorio. The monastery to the left of the church, which become a boys' home after suppression, is now the home of the Istituto Don Orione." You can't take pictures inside and there were people praying the rosary so it would have been inappropriate if I had anyway. When I got outside the group of LA hight school singers from last nights concert were outside chatting and looking very tired. I guess being young doesn't guarantee that they'd have more energy than me who must be the same age as their mom's. So I should feel so bad that after 6 or 7 hours of exploring a city I am totally pooped.

Venice Giardini

Hotel Danieli

A little more walking and stop at the Danieli Hotel which is right near St. Mark's Sqaure and is all about luxury. Mom and I had gone for tea on our first visit to Venice over 12 years ago. It's such a beautiful place and I really needed to use a clean bathroom and nothing can be better than a luxury hotel for a good bathroom.

Hotel Danieli Lobby

Hotel Danieli stained glass ceiling

Hotel Danieli Lobby

Hotel Danieli facade

After a quick snack before going back to my hotel on the Grand Canal to get my suitcase and bag and head off by vaporetto to Lido where I'll spend the last three nights in Venice. The Best Western Villa Mabapa is a quick and easy 10 minute walk from the ferry stop and Lido and it's right on the water so you can see St. Marks and the Islands of Venice across the water, so beautiful. I'm in a fabulous room which over looks a quiet garden, so perfect.