25th June Venice
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2000
1
60
81
Trip End
Aug 09, 2000
Venice,
Italy
Thursday, June 26, 2003
I left Ches sound asleep at 5.45 am, and headed for St Marks square to photograph it minus the normal thousands of tourists. There was one other tourist and two carabinieri. Photographed to my hearts content, and around on the waterfront, where many of the gondola, and the vaporeto pontoons are moored, I had a great view across the mouth of the Grand Canal, and out to Guidecca and San Giorgio Maggiore. The sun was rising at my back, and throwing a golden light onto the marble of the churches of Salute and San Giorgio Maggiore, and the rigging of a square rigger moored off Salute. Behind all these landmarks, the sky was black. I don't mean "blackish" clowds, I realy mean BLACK. It was so striking, I took a number of photographs (which on developing, I am realy happy with). I bought fresh bread on the way back to the apartment. Bread barely stays fresh for a full day in Italy. Some breads such as focaccia, is dry and tough within hours. We try to buy as we go, which isn't easy since most shops have sold out of bread by lunchtime.
We had forgotten to bring our "Walking Tours of Venice" book. Fortunatly, someone had left a copy at the apartment. Thank god, because, this prooved to be the best guidebook we have ever used. It is sensational. The various districts of Venice are covered in comfortable day or part day walks. The maps lead you through the maze of "streets", with all the main sights numbered, and then the descriptions for each number are quite detailed. It includes recomendations for restaurants, cafes and gelateria along the way. In fact, it anticipates that if you start the walk at a particular tme of day, then you will be ready for morning tea, or lunch or a gelato, when you reach a particluar part of the walk. We made additions and alterations to the text as we went around, so that those who follow, will save time in locating supermarketos, alementaris, fruit and veg, bread and most importantly fresh seafood. Our greatest contribution is to deflate the reputation of a number of very ordinary geletaria that had been recomended, and replace them with some realy good and interesting alternatives. The greatest thing about the guide is that the descriptions are not only historically detailed, but there are dozens of great anecdotes and bits and pieces of interesting cultural information. We did find however, that we also needed a more detailed map to use with the guide, and the Eyewitness Guide to Italy maps were better than any provided by the tourist offices. Even it has the odd mistake (which we now know to accept)
On this our first full day, we walked the Acadamia Bridge to St Marks district. As was the case on most days, we planned on walking the morning, return to our apartment for lunch and a rest, and then resume the walk later in the afternoon. I will have to fill in all the details when I return home, of the sights we saw, when I have my own copy of the walking guide.
We sat by St Marks again till 8.00, then returned home to a Farrow salad, combining it with the leftover pasta sauce and some shredded omelet.
