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Warning: this is a much longer post than usual!
Day 1: Had uneventful flights to JFK and then to Milan, where we had a few hours to kill before taking the train to Venice, so we walked around the neighborhood around the train station. This was mostly done to ward off sleepiness since neither of us slept much/at all on the flight. Took the train to Venice, on which I finally crashed and picked up a couple hours of sleep. Once we reached Venice, we took what is basically a water bus to a stop near our apartment, where the apartment owner met us and walked us to the apartment which is basic, but perfect for our needs.
I was hell bent on getting some provisions (food) to stock the kitchen before calling it a night, so we set out to find the closest grocery. I had my map and the address of the store. In any other city in the world, this would be enough. I have (I think) a decent sense of direction and a borderline obsession with maps. I can read a map. I can usually keep track of what direction (N, S, W, E) I'm going. All the travel blogs about Venice say that getting lost in inevitable and just roll with it and enjoy the wandering. I was sure I'd be fine. I was wrong. This city is laid out in a totally illogical manner.
First, there are no cars on the island, which is cool. There is one main canal, called the Grand Canal, this basically divides the island in half by making a sideways "s". The Grand Canal is wide and what you see on TV when Venice is show; it is probably about half a football field wide….more in some spots, less in others. This is where the richy-rich built their mansions back in the day. I anticipated the logistical challenges of Grand Canal since there are only four bridges that cross the canal in the entire city, and two of them are close together. What I didn't anticipate were how many little canals there would be throughout the city. They are everywhere, and they present the real logistical challenges. We leave the apartment, and I have a plan. We need to go a little south to cross the Grand Canal at the Rialto Bridge, then go east and a little south to find the market. No problem. FOOL! FOOL! FOOL! It took me about 45 seconds to realize the folly of my thinking. See, you can't just 'walk east' because inevitably you hit water and a dead end. You double back and try another route and keep doing that until you find one with a bridge that allows you to cross the water. And you do that over and over. But that is just the start. Because there are no cars, there are no roads in the sense we think of them. There are cobblestone 'roads' that can be any width, but most seem to be 4-8 feet with building on both sides… so pretty narrow. They all have a name. If as street is longer than about 50 feet, the name changes, and I think it is done just for s***s and giggles, because I don't see the logic in why the name should change. And absolutely nothing runs N/S or E/W; everything is very meandering. You meander until you hit water, cuss, turn around, and try again. I have a brand of maps that I buy for all my trips, domestic and international, and I think they are excellent. However, with Venice there are so many streets, the map is impossible to read, and I'm 99% sure not all the roads are even included.
Back to last night and trying to find the market. We're totally lost. It is dark, I'm exhausted and hungry (NEVER a good combination), and I can't follow the map. We were in public areas…lots of people and lots of shops, so it seemed like it should be easier. Finally, I have the idea to forget the street names and just use the churches as my guide…hopscotch from church to church (which are all on the map) to get to the neighborhood where the grocery is. Look up, follow the steeples. We find a church and are talking as we try to find the name of it when two American women overhear us. They offer to take us to the store, which was on the way for where they and their husbands were going for dinner. Turns out, we weren't too far away from it, but I don't know that we could have found it without them. Returning to the apartment was a little easier, but still plenty of confusion and missteps.
Day 2: The Rialto Market is THE outdoor produce market in Venice, (probably 15 different vendors) and our apartment is about 30 yards from it. As a bonus, on select days there is also a fish market (5-7 different vendors) and today was a fish market day. We hustle down to the market about 8:30, later than we expected to get started, and about 10% of the vendors were set up. Turns out, Venice doesn't get rolling real early. We explored out neighborhood for about an hour, saw the produce being unloaded at the docks, then headed back to the market, which was fully up and running, but not real crowded. Susan freaked when she found something called lychee fruit; I'd never heard of them. I haven't tried them yet, but she said they were great. We bought some clementines (I think they were from Sicily) that are great. The oranges are definitely from Sicily and looked great, but I haven't bought any of them yet. They sell the oranges with a couple leaves still attached, and it makes them look so much prettier. American grocers are missing the boat with that one, but I'm guessing they couldn't preserve the leaves in a way that would make them look appealing by the time they hit the stores. I have some pictures from the market, but I'll try to get some closeups on some of the more unusual produce. (That produce report was for my mom.) As beautiful as the produce was, the fish markets were even more impressive. They fish was so fresh is barely smelled "fishy". It made a beautiful display. I have some picture of it.
After the market we toured San Marco (St. Mark) Bascilica, the main church in town. The outside is stunning; maybe the most impressive I've ever seen. The interior was OK; an old Byzentine style. It wasn't anywhere near at awe-inspiring as the exterior. Interior pictures were not allowed, so no photos to share. After that, we had tickets for a tour of the Doge's palace, which was basically part prison-part White House-part Supreme Court back in the day. The tour was 90% about the prison, which was interesting. The building has no AC or heat, and it was freaking cold. (Temps today were in the 30s-low 40s). That was followed by a lunch of excellent seafood risotto. We tried to do a tour of the main opera house in Venice after lunch, but it was being used for a dress rehearsal of the evening's performance. We then headed to another bascilica, Santa Maria della Salute (St. Mary of Health). The church was build in the 1600's after the Black Death plague hit the city. The inside was unusual; it is an octagonal church built in the round. We went so I could hear vespers, but they had been cancelled. After that we headed 'home' for a break, which was followed by another trip to the grocery and some take out Italian.
We did a boatload of walking today, and I have several pictures of my favorite theme when in Europe: unique window displays. There's a special treat for all you Trump voters! Tentative plan for tomorrow: we're going to go our separate ways until 3:00. I'm going to hit more churches throughout the city and maybe try again to tour the opera house. At 3 we're meeting up to do a boat ride down the entire length of the Grand Canal then hopefully hit vespers at a church with great views of Venice. Ciao!
- comments
Diane Sounds like Venice's "roads" are similar to Pittsburgh's!! And our roads change names without warning too....makes no sense! Sounds like you had quite an adventure. :) Love reading your blogs!
mom Sounds like you are on the move. Can't wait to see your pictures. How is Susan holding up? I would go crazy with all the dead ends and street changes. Enjoy !
Abby Russi Goodness! I'd be in so much trouble with the directions! It took me an embarrassingly long time to learn Chicago - and it's laid out on a grid with the perfect east landmark! Your clever "follow the churches" wouldn't have even helped me since I had the John Hancock and Sears tower mixed up for the first few months I lived here!! Keep sharing!! I'm hoping to catch up on the rest of your posts.
Abby Russi Goodness! I'd be in so much trouble with the directions! It took me an embarrassingly long time to learn Chicago - and it's laid out on a grid with the perfect east landmark! Your clever "follow the churches" wouldn't have even helped me since I had the John Hancock and Sears tower mixed up for the first few months I lived here!! Keep sharing!! I'm hoping to catch up on the rest of your posts.