Tuesday, February 19, 2019

A Final and Interesting Day in Venezia


Monday, 18 February, 2019

I thought that we should start this post with a bit about the history of Venice.

After all, this wondrous city on a lagoon has . . .

. . . a lot more going for it than just romantic
gondola rides in the early morning mist

A total of approximately 59,000 hardy souls call Venezia their home.

Despite the constant threat of the city flooding due to their famous acqua alta (high tides) or perhaps because of them, Venetian refugees took to these islands when 5th-century barbarians started to overwhelm the more traditional villages located on the Veneto's Adriatic coast. These asylum seekers first settled on Venetian the island of Torcello.

By 726 A.D., they had elected their first Doge, a combination of mayor and overlord.

Venice was one of the most rich and powerful of the city-states during the Middle Ages due to its strategic location on the Adriatic Sea and its strong seafaring based business interests.

Then the Black Plague decimated the city in 1575, claiming about one-third of the Venetian population.

At about that same time Genoa to the west took over much of the naval trade that had made Venice powerful for hundreds of years, so a change in strategy was needed in a hurry.

The decision was to charm Europe through incredibly daring Venetian art. Venetian artists used sensuous colors and sly social commentary even with religious subjects in their paintings.

By the end of the 16th-century, Venezia was known across Europe for its colorful painting, snappy music and 12,000 registered prostitutes.

Napoleon conquered Venice in 1797 and, of course, his soldiers looted its art.

Maybe the prostitutes too.

By 1817, about 25% of Venice's population lived in poverty. 

Up next was an Austrian occupation of Venice in 1848-49, during which a cholera epidemic and massive food shortages hit the city.

These were not fun times for Venice.

Finally, in 1866, Venice joined the independent kingdom of Italy and things have generally looked up ever since.

A huge exception to that was the WWII years of 1942-44, when Mussolini's Fascist regime ordered the mass deportation of Venice's large Jewish population to the Nazi controlled death camps.

After WWII, Venice's population began to dwindle as Venetians left to find work in Milan and other industrial centers.

For almost 1,300 years, Venice has survived wars, pestilence, starvation and invasions but now faces its greatest danger, this time from Mother Nature.

Despite President Trump's inane ramblings, the biggest threat to Venice today is the rising sea levels due to global warming, there, I said it!

The acqua alta is becoming a more common occurrence yearly as sea levels slowly continue to rise.

All of this is what makes Venice such a unique, historic and incomparable city.

In the morning I was up early as I knew my journey home the Varese would take about five hours if I made good train-metro-train-bus connections along my route back to the safety of the Villa Skorpion II.

The Hotel Flora provided me with a good, complimentary breakfast so I was out the door at 7:00 a.m. with camera in hand wanting to take more pictures in the early morning sunlight.

Unfortunately, not many Venetians were on the streets at this, for them apparently, ungodly hour. I did like the light fog that hung over the lagoon giving the city a good photographic look.

Let's take a look at what I saw . . .

A tribute to Venice's seafaring history

Which way to go?

The Gondoliers Union says that
it was too early to start work just yet

Laurie and I took a gondola ride the first time that we came to Venice about 13 years ago, it is a once in a lifetime experience.

Just once and definitely not alone.

Strong Union those gondoliers have
as the gondolas are all still asleep

I wonder if he was the ones throwing
all of the confetti that is on the streets
this morning from Sunday's revelry?

Fat baby stare down

Piazza San Marco's Campanile

The Basilica di San Marco . . .

. . . has lots of . . .

. . . colorful mosaics

The iconic winged lion that
is the symbol of the city of Venice

The Doge's Palace

The position and power of the Doge rose greatly since that first election back in 726 A.D.!

The fog rolling in at the edge of
Piazza San Marco

The Astronomical Clock overlooking
Piazza San Marco

Some of the Basilica di San Marco's
colorful columns

A well read winged lion on the façade
of the Basilica di San Marco

More sleeping gondolas

This metal piece is called the
Ferro di Prua

Its purpose is to offer some protection to the gondola's bow during a collision and to balance the weight of the gondolier positioned at the stern.

The six prongs under the main blade represent the six districts into which Venice is divided.

The domed space between the main blade and the first prong represents The Rialto Bridge, easily Venice's most beautiful bridge on the Grand Canal. 

Looking across from Piazza San Marco
to the island of Giudecca as the Sun rises

Lots of mooring piles in Venice

Some more colorful than others

Santa Maria della Salute

It did not open for another 30 minutes and I had plenty of other things to see.

The ornate Flag of Venezia

Venetians are known for their
artistic flair

Wait, that baby's cheeks!
It's Richard Nixon, right?

I like old street address signs

 If you decide to seal any of your
documents in wax, this is the place
to buy the needed stamp and wax

You can also find fine powder to fulfill
any and all of your own artistic needs

How come we don't see random
wall decorations like these in Camarillo?

As my morning trek took me to L'Accademia Bridge I spied . . .

. . . a photo op

No, not the view of the Grand Canal
from the L'Accadamia Bridge . . .

. . . THIS one of this lovely lady celebrating
Carnevale to the fullest on this chilly,
foggy Monday morning

Spectacular!

Don't you just hate it when your eyes
are closed when you're sculpted?

I think that this is old

Too early and too cold
for gelato

Did I really just write that?

An umbrella toting dragon?

A little food, a little wine . . .

I love these . . .

. . . old signs that direct you around Venice

Did that dragon just eat St. George's arm?

BLASPHEMY!

The Grand Canal is just now starting
to come alive

Potable water abounds

Possible University of Washington
Huskies Carnevale mask for Laurie

In The Rialto district, a butcher
that specializes in horse meat

I know that it is somewhat un-American to say this, but from our time living in Catania, Sicily in 2008 and 2009, I am a big fan of sweet, grilled equine flesh.

At a vegetable market near the
Rialto Bridge

I was not really sure what this was.

An old face at the Fish Market

OH, MY!

I was strong.

It looks to be about 9:30 a.m.

"No Mafia,
Venice is Sacred"

You see these green lamps along
the Grand Canal

Regal, colorful homes and businesses
 along the Grand Canal

A Gondolier getting ready
to start his work day

But first all gondoliers need
some time to chit-chat

Small, colorful mementos
of Carnevale

I was now in the middle of the San Polo district which has two sites of great interest that I wanted to see today and they were conveniently right next to each other.

The first was the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari commonly referred to as simply the I Frari.Here one can find the works of three great Renaissance masters: Donatello, Giovanni Bellini and Titian.

I Frari's beautiful choir stalls

Are you looking at me?

The Doge Giovanni Pesaro Monument


I found it a bit strange but powerful.

The I Frari is quite the church 

 Madonna with Child and Saints
by Giovanni Bellini, 1487


St. Mark and the Saints
by Bartolomeo Vivarini, 1503

The I Frari is a must see when you are in Venice the next time.

Next up was another great museum of art, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. This museum is also known as Tintoretto's Sistine Chapel.

Adoration of the Baby Jesus

I liked the look on the bearded man's face and the way his cape was drawn back by his aides.

OH MY GOODNESS!
The Old Testament comes to life

Tintoretto's vision and work were amazing!

There were lots of interesting
carvings like this one in the
Sala Grande Superiore


Seeing these two great art treasures in the San Polo district that are located just a few meters apart is a Venetian must see!

Waking back to the Venice's
Santa Lucia train station, I found signs of
everyday life in a tourist oriented city

Beautiful boats straight out of a
James Bond "007" high-speed lagoon
chase scene

I bid a fond farewell to this amazing city


It does say NO FOTOS but, after all, you are in a public place.

Note that the high-speed Frecciarosso
train is moving along quickly at
296 kilometers/hour


That's roughly 185 miles/hour, and that's FAST!

Now that was one GREAT day
of exercise in an amazing city!

The 29 floors can be attributed to climbing up almost every one of of Venice's 400+ bridges today!

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