Ahhh, Venice

The Venetian Republic was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades, as well as a very important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. We had a short list of places that we really wanted to visit and Venice was at the top. Ryan Airlines flies there from Belgium, which meant that we had no excuse not to go. I had been to Venice with my brother, when I had studied abroad, and loved it. My one regret had been that we did not take a gondola ride. I was determined not to make that mistake this time.


We divided up responsibilities well - D was in charge of flight and hotel accommodations and I was in charge of activities on the ground. We had, basically, a little over 24 hours in Venice and needed to make the most of it. Therefore, we splurged and got a hotel in the heart of town, walking distance to all the sites. I must say, it was a great hotel. The beauty of the surroundings, the uniqueness of the rooms (a very Byzantine flavor to all of it - the onion shaped doorways and windows), the intimate and quiet feel of it, all added up to a superlative experience. Good job D!


This picture is with D and Sergio Bolden. Sergio is an amazing mask maker in Venice that we discovered on Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge). The bridge is the most famous one in Venice and it has built in merchant shops on both sides of the bridge creating a street in the middle as well as walkways on either side. The picture (below) shows a bit of what it is like - the archways are the back sides of the shops, you can enter the galley way for the shops at the base of the bridge and the middle. There is a LOT of touristy-junky stuff, but there are gems as well, and Sergio is a gem. He is a mask-maker for Hollywood (made some for Eyes Wide Shut - as well as other and had signed photos of all kinds of celebs) as well as for the tourists like us. We were window shopping and I noticed that not only was his shop different, but he was making a mask with the door only open a bit. I was intrigued and D was willing, so we ventured in. It is a bit of a commitment going in since the shop is a little bit bigger than your average American bathroom and it is covered with masks, which means you HAVE to talk to people and we don't speak Italian.


Turns out that Sergio speaks English and asked us where we were from. Given that we still claim our birth states as "home," D said CA. Small world that it is, Sergio lives in California for some of the year and proceeded to whip out a map and ask D for directions and duration that it would take him to get to Las Vegas. We loved this and D did a pretty good job of answering. We found a great mask (priced comparably with the other masks we had seen but this one was SO much higher in quality) to purchase and felt really good about supporting Sergio. His website doesn't do justice to the masks (my favorite ones aren't on there) but it does show the style/technique he uses in making a mold for the mask, and then finishing it. Check it out, it is worth the 5 minutes: www.mascarer.com . He is a genuine artist and we were thrilled to get to get to know him a little. [D got his email and sent him a better map/directions when we got back. Still cracks me up - Californians really are everywhere.]


Last time I was in Venice, it was February and it poured rain 95% of the time. The 5% of sun was spectacular especially since it was Carnival and all of the costumes were out and they had this big ceremony in Piazza San Marco. The weather forecast promised to be equally wet. We knew that we would love it one way or the other, but prayed for sun none-the-less. God spoiled us and gave us cloud cover in the morning and beautiful, beautiful skies in the afternoon.


After a bit of time wandering on our own, we had a walking tour scheduled for 11:30am. We started out in Piazza San Marco (St. Mark) which is dominated by the Basilica San Marco (this gorgeous building) as well as the Ducale Palace and St. Mark's clock tower. The tour started by taking us inside the Basilica (cutting the 1-2 hour line, which was one of the major reasons we wanted to take it - worth it!) which was stunning. The walls and ceiling were covered in mostly gold mosaic dating back to the 11th century and the style has both Byzantine and Gothic influence. No pictures are allowed to be taken inside, but the Internet provided this one to demonstrate its loveliness. The crowds were moving in a perpetual snake, which helped keep us all from tripping since we were looking up the whole time. I don't think I have ever seen anything like it. Really stunning.


The layout of the building is in a Greek cross (all four arms are of equal length) and in addition to being a national treasure, it also contains sculpture and art that are priceless. The four Greek horses above the main entrance were my favorite. The Horses of Saint Mark were installed on the basilica in about 1254. They date to Classical Antiquity; by some accounts they once adorned the Arch of Trajan. The horses were long displayed at the Hippodrome of Constantinople, and in 1204 Doge Enrico Dandolo sent them back to Venice as part of the loot sacked from Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade. They were brought to Paris by Napoleon in 1797 but returned to Venice in 1815. After a long restoration, since the 1990s they have been kept in St Mark’s Museum (inside the basilica). The horses now on the facade of the cathedral are bronze replicas. As the guide said, they don't have cars to destroy buildings/sculpture but they do have pigeons.


St Mark's Bell tower is also remarkable. It was constructed as a display of Venice's wealth, and as an aid to sailors on the Grand Canal about to depart on a voyage.

The building was designed by Mauro Codussi and constructed between 1496 and 1499. It has five bays, of which the central bay is the widest. This bay incorporates a two-storey gateway, with the large clock face above, topped by a single storey tower with a depiction of a Lion of St Mark against the night sky, while two blackened bronze figures intended as giants but known as the "Moors" stand on top and ring a bell on the hour.

The clock mechanism, dating from 1499 and much restored since then, drives the main clock face, which consists of several concentric dials. The outermost displays the number 1 to 24 in Roman numerals, and a hand embellished with a depiction of the sun indicated the hour. The second dial depicts the twelve signs of the zodiac, picked out, like the inner dials, in gilt on an enamel blue background. The inner dials indicate the phases of the moon and sun.


Our guide was extremely knowledgeable about the city and it was nice not having to worry about getting lost (the streets and canals are really a maze and I have yet to fine a complete, all-inclusive map). She told us that since Venice was a merchant town, the buildings were designed to benefit this profession and life style. The first floor (that immediately on the water, on the canals) was generally used for cargo storage and/or boat and parts storage. Given the sinking nature of Venice, this is a good thing - nothing really there to destroy.


Another piece of information I found fascinating was the water wells. She pointed out these stone, waist-high covered wells in the campos (squares now, but originally they were grassy areas, which is what the word means in Italian, "field"). A real necessity for any civilization is the ready access to clean water. Venice is surrounded by water, but it is saline and therefore undrinkable. The wells were created to capture and store the rain water and provide year round water for the residents. Each campo has their own well, therefore their own supply. The local priest had the key to the well and allowed 6 liters of water a day per family (that was monitored and controlled by the local government). That is for everything. The daily practicality of this information is what I found so interesting. It makes me think about how much water I use. (That is probably a good thing.) Amazing what you can do with only a little bit when that is all you have.


The buildings of Venice are constructed on closely spaced wood piles, which were imported from the mainland. (Under water, in the absence of oxygen, wood does not decay. It is petrified as a result of the constant flow of mineral-rich water around and through it, so that it becomes a stone-like structure.) The piles penetrate a softer layer of sand and mud until they reach the much harder layer of compressed clay. Venice has been raised 3 times in its history, but still suffers from periodic major flooding and regular minor flooding called aqua alta. The residents generally know when this is going to be and have their boots ready and just carry on (more about that later).


The city stretches across 118 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. Given this information, it is not surprising that the city is completely devoid of cars - the primary methods of transportation are on foot, and by boat (There is a parking lot for busses on the edge of town, and people make sure to use them because a water taxi back over to the main land - if you miss the last bus - is wicked expensive). That leads us back to the gondola. We headed back to the hotel for a nap (6 hours of walking takes a toll) and to freshen up for our scheduled 7:30pm gondola ride. Next time, the gondola.