Venice, on the 3rd Day (morning)

On our second day in Venice, last October, we leisurely walked around the city (see my post of January 26, 2013 here.)  For the third day we decided to see some of the famous sights.  We walked to the canal in front of Piazzale Roma, near the main train station, to board a "vaporetto" - the vaporetto is a water bus.  Several line of vaporetti travel on the canals and to nearby islands.  Each ticket costs 6 euros 50 ($8.70,) which is not cheap but cheaper than riding in a gondola or water taxi.  Tickets have to be bought and stamped before boarding.  It is more economical to buy a 12 hour card with unlimited trips for 18 euros ($24) or a 24, a 36 or a 72 hour card or even a 7 day card.

At the Paris airport before we boarded our flight for Venice I had bought a little Venice guide book which had the vaporetto map.  We took line #1, that goes up and down the Grand Canal, to travel toward San Marco Square.  We boarded our vaporetto at Piazzale Roma, the stop before "Ferrovia" at 10 o'clock on the map below and were to get off at the San Zaccaria stop, in the center of the map.  (Click on picture to enlarge.)

There are some open-air seats in the front area of the vaporetto - they are the best to get good views for picture taking.  It was a thrill really to look right and left and go by all the beautiful old buildings.  The Grand Canal goes through Venice in a S shape from the area where we boarded the water bus all the way to the Saint Mark Basin, or about 2.36 miles (3.8 kms.)  The width goes from 100 to 300 feet (30 to 90 meters) and a depth of 16 feet (5 meters.)  Most of the buildings are from the 13th to the 18th centuries. (Click on the collage twice to enlarge pictures.)

It was like an overload of sight and sound - should I snap a building on the right, or the left, down or up?  So many choices.  Can I get a picture of the Rialto Bridge and avoid the head of another passenger in front of me?  What about a gondola on the side, or the one passing us as we go under the bridge?

The vaporetto stopped along the way to let passengers off and on.  It had to maneuver among all the boats and gondolas on the canal to stop on the right or left bank - I was sure sometimes that we were going to hit another boat.  There are only four bridges that cross the canal but a ride across can be taken for 0.50 euro on a "traghetto" or gondola like rowboat.  Venetians stand on the side of the Grand Canal at certain points to wait for a crossing and then stay upright in the traghetto boat as you can see on the two bottom pictures below.  I think I would have fallen into the canal...

Our little vaporetto kept going - stopped at Ca' Rezzonico then passed under the Del Accademia Bridge.  I wished I knew more about all these gorgeous historic buildings.  This canal is an ancient waterway.  Merchants started building houses along it in the 10th century.  By the 12th and 13th centuries the houses became elaborate and often in a Byzantine style.  The 15th century saw more of the Venetian-Gothic style with brighter colors and pointed arches.  By the 16th and 17 centuries the style of the buildings was more Baroque.  Nowadays the largest ones have become museums or purchased by foundations that can afford their upkeep.

Our stop, San Zaccaria, was approaching and most of the passengers were walking toward the vaporetto exit.  We had enjoyed our slow cruise down the canal and hated to leave - so we agreed to miss our stop and we stayed on.  Next was the "Arsenale" stop but we would stay until the end of the line, at the Lido.

I remembered reading about the Arsenale.  This is where the warships were built and gave Venice his power and wealth.  It started in 1104 and by 1400 it employed 3000 specialized employees.  It is said that it was "one of the earliest large-scale industrial enterprise in history." Below are some Library of Congress photomechanical prints from the 1890-1900s; the Venice Arsenale is the bottom photo on the right hand side.

Then our almost empty vaporetto went on the open water of the lagoon toward the terminal at the Lido.  We went by the 17th century Punto della Dogana (Tip of the Customs House,) reopened to the public in 2009 by the Foundation Francois Pinault (owner of Gucci) as a Center for Contemporary Art.  I took a close-up of the top of the Tower of Fortune crowned with "Fortuna," a winged sphinx statue standing on a sphere - the Earth.  The Venice Lagoon is an enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea with thousands of boats of all kinds such as vaporetti, motor boats, hydrofoils, ferries, cruise ships, sail boats, etc.  We even passed close to a Police boat.

 We arrived at the Lido island - a sandbar 6.83 miles long (11 kms) with hotels, summer villas and beaches where tourists gather in September for the Venice Film Festival.  We did not stay long as we exited our vaporetto and walked a few yards to the departure dock of the next vaporetto.  I only had time to take a picture of hundreds of bicycles.  (Map courtesy Wikimedia Commons.)

Back in another vaporetto going to Piazza San Marco we crossed the lagoon again and could see a large amount of trees ahead along the bank.  When the vaporetto stopped at the "Giardini" (gardens) stop, we decided to get off and take a look.

Later I read that these gardens were created when Napoleon Bonaparte, after he conquered Venice in 1797, had an area of marshland drained.  He then directed Eugene de Beauharnais to design a public garden.  In the 1890s several exhibition buildings were erected in these gardens to show international art.  Belgium was the first country to erect a pavilion in 1907.  There are 30 permanent pavilions where various nations display art or architecture during the "Venice Biennale."

 A Gondola at the Jardins Francais, Venice, by Felix Ziem, French 1821-1911

The gardens are also famous for the number of wild cats roaming the area.  As we disembarked the vaporetto, we saw more trees than we had seen in several days.  We walked around and I took the picture of a pretty black cat.  He was standing in front of an old Victorian building where plants were for sale.  Next to it was a small cafe.  We sat outside and ordered some little sandwiches for lunch.

 We ended our meal with a perfect cup of expresso coffee.

It was time to return to the vaporetto and finally go to the Piazza San Marco.  We passed the Arsenale stop again and approached our final stop.

Many gondolas were on the bank near our vaporetto stop.  Ahead we could see the Doge's Palace.

We were on the "Riva degli Schiavoni" near the Doge's Palace.  I had seen many famous paintings of this historic area.  Would it still look the same as in the paintings and old photographs? It was barely 1:00 pm so we had plenty of time to explore further.  More to come in the next post...