26th June 2000 Venice: Rialto Dorsaduro
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2000
1
61
81
Trip End
Aug 09, 2000
Venice,
Italy
Thursday, June 26, 2003
Ches didn't sleep well and I awoke with a sore throat so we decided on an easy day. Again a 6.30 am start for me. Well, what time would you expect to have to go to the fresh fish markets across the Rialto to Campo dei Pescheria in San Polo. Strange, almost resentful looks from the locals as I made my way toward the Rialto Bridge. They were disembarking from vaporeto on their way to work, and probably resentful that they were having to go to work at this ungodly hour after a weekend, but I didn't need to be up this early. They were correct. I didn't need to be up this early. The Fubbriche Nouvo, and Erboria were busy with stalls being set up and fruit and vegetables being unpacked, but there was no sign of any fish. The Pescheria appears to be undergoing restoration, but there wasn't any sign that fish are still sold there. No tell tale smell. I returned home empty handed, and still early enough to ring work for an update of computer and GST preparations.
We set out for the Dorsoduro. This is the area on the other side of the Acadamia bridge. When we crossed the bridge, we noticed there were no queues outside the Acadamia, so we revised our plans, and went straight in. We moved through the Byzantine and Gothic section reasonably quickly. Each room provides laminated cards, with descriptions, however, I find that I spend most of the time reading the cards, and making slow progress. By this stage of our trip, and having spent hours in museums and cathedrals looking at the artworks, we have now decided to browse through rooms, and only stop to read the relevant literature when we see something particularly aresting. highlights were the Giorgione landscape, The Tempest, the huge Veronese paintings such as Feast in the House of Levi, and Tintoretto's The Miracle of St mark Freeing a Slave, and finally, the Carpaccio, Healing of the Madman, and the other Venetian landscapes (street/canalescapes). Several hours later, we returned home for lunch and a nap. That's a first.
Ches spoke with a young chap manning our piazzas', "rest stop". These are seating areas covered with canvas, and portable toilets, set out around Vennice just for this tourist season. He advised on where we could find a supermarketo, which was along the Zattere Ponte Lungo, right up near the Docks. It was across the Acadmia bridge, then a half kilometre walk along the waterfron, looking out on Guidecca Island. Very pleasant walk, made all the better with a Gelato from Gelateria Nico on the waterfront. The supermarket was large and moderately priced (which means "cheap" for Venice). We loaded up, and set off on an alternate walk home through the Dorsodoro district. Didn't have our Eyewitness maps, and the map we did have petered out around where we were walking. Basically, we were lost and just wandering with the basic idea that if we kept going, we would run into the Grand Canal at some point.
This wasn't a bad idea actually. We got to see large areas of residential Venice, and when we realised we were way west of the Acadamia Bridge, we located Campo Santa Margherita to get our bearings. This has become my favourite piazza in Venice. It has a smallish supermarketo that is a little pricier than the "Billa" supermarketo near Zattere, it has early morning fruit, vegetable and fresh fish markets set up under canvas in the middle of the piazza, a great Gelateria (Il Doge), and lots of bars and cafes. Better still, the local community socialise in this piazza. They gather in the bars and cafes, they exercise their dogs and sit in groups chatting as the children play in the late afternoon. When the European Cup soccer semi-final against Holland was played, later in the week, cafes set up TV's in ther doorways, and crowds gathered to have a drink and watch.
We managed to take in many of the "sights" identified in the Walking Guide, as we made our way back to the Acadamia bridge, although I never got to se the fireboats. Later in the week, we did manage to find the Gondola building and repair yard. We did see the Bridge of Fists, alongside which a large boat is now moored, laden with fruit and vegetables as a floating shop. The bridge was named for the massive fist fights that used to be waged by two communities. We later saw paintings from the 15th century depicting these fights (in the Museo Correr). It also leads to the piazza and church where Katherine Hepburn fell in the canal while filming (as part of the movie), but suffered from eye infections for decades later. It is also the church in Raiders of the Lost Arc, where Harrison Ford crawls through the cellar filled with snakes. There is also the chain of mask factories where the Cruises (Tom and Niclole) selected their masks for E.W.S., and where we later returned to buy one for Alison.
We were pretty footsore, not to mention having arms 6cm longer from lugging the shopping. It had been particularly good for walking in an area where there are lots of "fondamenta" (streets running beside a canal). Rather than many areas, where the streets are "calle's" (running between rows of houses), and only getting a glimse of the canal as you pass over it via a bridge, the fondamenta are great for taking in the canal, and the local traffic using it. No gondolas in these districts, just working and pleasure boats. Builders boats, fitted with "skips" and loaded with building materials, including cement mixers etc. Boats for transporting goods to the retail shops. Early morning was the best time to see these boats working the canals near the shops, and the "drivers", unloading and trollying the goods through the laneways to deliver.
For dinner I cooked a prima of pasta with a sauce of anchovies, tomatoes, sausage and parsley, and a secondi of sliced pork, pan fried with steamed green beans and pan fried almonds.
