Holiday instalment #7 - Venice -city of glass and lace

More about the Venetian part of our holiday....

We started the day by going up to the top of the Bell Tower in St Marks Square ( know as Campanile di San Marco in Italitan).  You get an amazing view of Venice from up the top -

 After seeing this, we went into the Basilica di San Marco  ( St Mark's Basilica).  It is just beautiful inside.  We went upstairs and saw the Horses of St Mark.  The original horses made in around 1254 are housed in the Museum inside the Basilica and reproductions are outside

We had to come out of a side door from the church as by the time we had finished the water was starting to rise and flood the main entrance.  There were boardwalks over the water to get in and out.

Venice is made up of a few islands other then the main city area and two of the islands are quite famous.   Murano for it's beautiful glass and Burano for it's fabulous lace.  We took a tour of the two islands and a third called Torcello where there is a beautiful old church and was the first of the Venetian islands to be inhabited.

On Murano we watched a master glass blower at work.

I purchased a small elephant to add to my collection and got a lovely red glass bracelet.

Burano is famous for it's handmade lace and also for it's wonderfully colourful fisherman's houses.  We visited a Lace making shop and watch one of the elderly ladies hand stitching the lace.  One piece might take up to a month to do and might involve up to 7 ladies each doing a certain bit.... all the work was stunning but as you can imagine, quite expensive.  I picked up a couple of small round doilies, just to say I bought something.

The next day we left this wonderful city and caught the train to Rome....

This was us, waiting to catch the ferry to the station at 8.00am in the morning.  We enjoyed the train trip - talking to an interesting Australian couple who sat next to us from Florence onways... catching up with some Aucklanders we meet at the Bell Tower the day before and finding out that the All Blacks beat Australia in the rugby...

Arrived in Rome around 2.00... quite a different city with even more adventures.....
so till next time.... thanks for visiting

Holiday instalment #6 - Venice - city of water!!!!

Back again.....

after a nightmare bus trip from Paris to Milan and then 3 hours on a train.... we finally arrived in Venice to a slightly soggy city... it had been raining during the morning.... we arrived around 12.30ish in the afternoon.... As we knew our hotel was near St Marks Square we caught the water ferry to the St Marks stop..... and then lugged our rather large suitcases along and over a couple of bridges to get to the Square...... only to find it around 8 inches under water!!!!!!!!!  result of the high tide and the rain.... so a bit of an adventure was had trying to find our way through little back streets and alley's, over bridges and even at one part, Peter having to lift the cases over some water in the street.... but finally found the hotel..... about 50 paces from the Square.  We quickly checked in and then went back to see the square....

 An amazing sight, seeing all the tourist walking round with trousers rolled up, shoes in hand or like us walking thorough the water in our sandals.   Yet 2 - hours later - dry as a bone.... We decided to take a bit of a walk around.... well that turned out a bit of an adventure too..... we thought we knew where we were.... but alas that wasn't so.... we did get  a little lost... very quickly learnt to map out where we wanted to go and how to get there.... with all the tall buildings and narrow streets and little piazza's everywhere there are not real landmarks to get your bearings.... still did see lots of streets that didn't have ANY other tourists in.... and made it back to the Square in time to hear the quartets playing in the outdoor cafes.

Next day we walked over to see the Rialto Bridge, then back again to see the Bridge of Sighs ( a bit disappointing as there are restorations going on), visited a couple of little churches and just wandered round.

Yes that bell tower is on a lean.... it's not just my funny photographer...
(BTW note to Sally... I FOUND Bellini's....and now am addicted.  For those not in the know, Sally advised me that I should try a Peach Bellini when in Italy... a sort of cocktail of sparkling wine and peach puree... very addictive....)  Had one just about every lunch time and evening.

And of course we couldn't be in Venice and not have a Gondola ride.... Very expensive 80 euro for half and hour - but a must do..  we did one round the back canals rather than on the grand canal.  Got to see where the real people lived.

We were very lucky with the weather.  Despite the forecast for rain and thunder... it was a perfectly hot and sunny day.  In the evening it was still very warm so we went into the Square and listened to the music in the outdoor cafes and watch a gala presentation that was part of the Venice Film Festival... didn't see any stars though!!!

Thanks for stopping by.... more of Venice tomorrow.