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Wednesday 27 April 2011

Tour of Venice

Venice
~~~~~~
 After the plane comes the water taxi
For someone who does not "do" water i managed the 45 minute trip quite well, clinging to my seat - what an experience!
Luckily there were more pleasant things once we arrived.
~~~~~
We didn't take a gondola ride (they were too expensive at €80 for 40 minutes in my opinion) but lovely to see all the same, although in parts it was a little funny to see several gondolas all navigating the same path and trying to avoid collision!

Some very pretty less crowded places


The building below is the hospital, i bet there are not many places that can boast that their hospital is housed in such a beautiful building.  I wonder if they have a five hour waiting in A&E, lol

I was not prepared for how busy it would be, just to give you an idea, cruise ships drop off their passengers at St Marks Square, and some days we were told that three ships will drop off  and there could be around five thousand people in and around the square - mad!
We saw one cruise ship pass at St Marks Square, how strange does this look? it filled the view to the square, quite a sight, if you can click on the photo you will see all the people standing looking to the square....crazy!
The Rialto Bridge - see the crowds?

This was just one side, the other side was just as bad, all the time.
To tell the truth, i was a little disappointed with the Rialto Bridge, apart from the very large banner announcing the popes visit (surely they could have sited this somewhere else?)
See the boards to the rear of the shops on the photo below? they all have graffiti on. Now call me picky if you like, but this is the most famous bridge in Venice, and is in effect where it all started, the centre,  so you would think that there would be a little more pride at keeping it clean and tidy - Just my opinion.
You can see how busy the Grant Canal is, this is the best photo i could get of the bridge.

This is looking under the Rialto


I have another little gripe.
The Bridge of Sighs.  Everyone who visits Venice wants to see the Bridge of Sighs, this is what greets you

They have covered the sides of the Doge's Palace (on the left) and the prison (on the right)  with this horrendous cloud/sky boarding.  There is restoration work going on and i know that these building have to be maintained, but come on, surely the advertisers who are paying for the restoration could have come up with something better than this??  And who agreed to such an eyesore? Most disappointing.

See the small bridge in the middle of the photo, the one groaning under the weight of all those people? That is facing the Bridge of Sighs, when prisoners were lead across into the prison their families would stand on that bridge and be able to wave farewell to their loved ones.

OK, you are probably thinking by now that i didn't enjoy Venice, i did enjoy it and there were some lovely things to see.
St Marks Church being one of them



Some pretty views



And to end with the obligatory night photo, this was a bridge quite close to our hotel
I have put a couple of photos here and i will add more there over the next few days if anyone wants to take a look.

Normal service of stitchy updates will follow soon :-)

20 comments:

Ann at Beadlework. said...

I enjoyed a little trip round Venice, interesting to see how busy it was.

Chris said...

beautiful post! Thanks

Mouse said...

oooo it was nice to see Venice the good bits and the bad on the whistle stop tour ..lol wow was there some crowds :( don't do them very well .. I'd have been better on the water heheh... love mouse xxx

LiahonaGirl said...

More lovely Venice photos! I have been to Venice 5 times -- most recently last November. At least you got to see the Bridge of Sighs. One of my recent trips it was completely covered up (not just the Doge's palace). I've only done the gondola ride once -- agree that it's too expensive and very overrated.

I'm glad you had some blue sky, and hope that you enjoyed the unique city!

Katherine said...

Maggie - you really did mean it when you said you were taking advantage of the bank holiday and not staying for the Royal wedding, didn't you? I loved your picture of St. Marks and the one with the blue boats. I liked both so well that I can't decide which one I like best. All your pictures were amazing. But, I'm kinda glad that Venice isn't on my bucket list.

Lynn said...

Really lovely photos Maggie! I'm amazed at how many people there are. It would be difficult getting around wouldn't it?
Thanks for sharing these with us.

Crazee4books said...

Oh Maggie,

How beautiful your photos are!!
And what an amazing way (and place)
to spend your Easter long weekend.
I'm sooooo jealous ... but in a
nice way.

My favourite pictures: the very
first one of the building with the
turquoise shutters and the Italian
flag and also the night time shot.

It seems that the best pictures
and places were the less touristy
areas ~ off the beaten path and
away from the crowds and the
tourist frenzy.

In the first gondola picture the
brickwork on the building behind
the gondola is so cool. Love
that picture too.

How long was the flight to Venice?

I had to laugh when you mentioned
your unease with water. Great
place for a person with a water
phobia to visit ... Venice!

Update of SAL progress on my blog.
I didn't catch up to you but I did
finish my first house square and
make significant progress on a
second square.

So, will you be watching the
wedding on TV??

Cheers!

Brigitte said...

You must have had such a great time in Venice. Wonderful pictures, thanks for taking us for this walk through the city.

Nancy said...

Thank you for sharing your time in Venice! The pictures are gorgeous. I especially love the building in the first photo! The architecture there is wonderful.

Melanie said...

What great photos! Thanks so much for sharing them. Looks like an awesome trip. :)

Justflo said...

What lovely photos. Rather like the Good , the Bad and the Ugly. Glad you had a good time though.

Loraine said...

I am so jealous! Fabulous place to visit. I'm so sorry about the bridge of sighs. So disappointing!
Hope you foot is getting better. I'm really behind in blog reading, and I'm so sorry I never commented about it sooner. You really deserved a nice vacation after a few months of stress!
Hugs to you!

Siobhán said...

Beautiful photos! I don't think I'd enjoy the crowds quite so much, but wow--amazing sites, and your photos are amazing.

Julie said...

Thanks for taking me on yout trip to Venice Maggie, i've thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the wonderful places.

Carolien said...

Thanks for sharing, what an adventure! And I totally agree about those weird boards. Last year we were in Rome and they were renovating parts of the basilica of St. Peter. They put screens up which showed how the covered part would look like after the renovation. At least that made sense ...

Have a nice day!

Karan said...

Fabulous photos. DH has been to Venice a few times through work & enjoyed the few chances he got to do the touristy bit... though it was a bit less crowded the times he went. :0)

Marsha said...

I love your pictures. Very nice. Sounds like a good visit.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos, but I can't imagine being in those crowds ALL the time. Wow! That is A LOT of people.

Sweet Sue said...

Thx for sharing, every bit delightful, except for the crowds:)

MysteryKnitter said...

Thanks for sharing the pictures. That one bridge, must've been that Bridge of Sighs, between 2 blue walls...The space between the walls was very narrow, if you ask me.
The main thing is you enjoyed the trip. I can't wait what you stitch next.