Venice
Trip Start
Nov 16, 1995
1
9
10
Trip End
Nov 25, 1995
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Venice,
Veneto,
Italy
Friday, November 24, 1995
The breakfast buffet is excellent, the best yet. Pity we are only going to enjoy one breakfast here, even though we are spending two nights. The room is right beside the canal, and we see canal boats passing, first the garbage boat (which stinks), then the laundry boat full of dirty towels and sheets, a Coca Cola boat and even a brown UPS boat. It brings home the fact that there is indeed, no wheeled transport in Venice .
This morning we have been offered a water taxi ride to the island of Murano . Obviously we are to visit a glass factory, and will be subjected to the skills of salesmanship to prevent us leaving empty handed. We consider the risks and decide it is worth it. When we worked in Rio de Janeiro , the jewelers would send flashy cars to pick up tourists, in the hopes of selling humongous amounts of jewelry. They would have to write US off as a loss!
A water taxi finally appears to whisk us to our destination. These are quite luxurious vehicles, with plush seating and polished woodwork, an enclosed warm cabin, and very fast. Remember the cost of a water taxi from the airport?
We travel along narrow, winding canals and under tiny bridges until we finally come to open water. It's very cold and windy, and the water is choppy, but we stay outside on deck as there is so much to see. Soon we are passing the cemetery, which is also an island. It is amazing to think that even the dear departed are still so close. Obviously they are not buried or they would drown, but rather stacked up in niches so they don't get too damp.
We soon arrive at the Island of Murano . Almost everyone on this island is connected in some way with the glass industry, and there are many small factories. The elegantly dressed representative from our sponsor "Bisanzio Veteria Murano" meets us at dockside and escorts us to the glass blowing room. He explains in detail how the glass is worked, including the famous "blowing", where an adept apprentice blows the hot glass like a balloon for the maestro to make a cup or goblet. Of course, it looks awfully easy, but obviously it takes great skill to hand make each piece. Our guide informs us that they are completing an order of several hundred goblets for a Japanese buyer. The master glass maker seems very young, but he produces a goblet every three or four minutes, and each one looks perfect. This very fact distinguishes a hand made object for a factory made product. The nicest thing about the whole experience is that IT IS WARM in the glass furnace. I haven't felt this warm since leaving Miami .
More people arrive, each escorted by guides. Eventually we are taken to the showrooms. Here's where the serious work begins. We are to be sold Murano glass. If we don't buy something, we will be tossed into the cold, smelly canal, never to be seen or heard of again! The first showroom consists of museum pieces and one of a kind artworks. We admire the beautiful designs and colours, but are a bit afraid to ask the price. Our host hovers beside us waiting for the fateful question. We notice a wealthy looking Japanese gentlemen negotiating a price for a huge set of ultramarine Murano glassware. We are dealing is thousands here. We finally ask the price of a lovely creation of two lovers with smoky rose colours fired into the glass. "US$ 2,500.00" was the suave reply. This is about US$ 2,450.00 more than we are willing to pay, so after respectfully ohhing and ahhing at the masterpieces, we thank our host and look for the exit. But it ain't that easy! The way out leads to ANOTHER showroom, this time with objects more in line with our modest income. Here we are assailed by a powerhouse of a salesman who is determined that no one shall leave his factory without buying enough at least to pay for the water taxi. He's a true salesman, pleasant, amusing, knowledgeable, and extremely skillful in making his prospective clients trust and love him. He probably beats his wife at home! When Miryam worked as a tour guide in Rio de Janeiro , she escorted tourists to the famous Rio jewelers, who did exactly what this chap is doing to us, convincing us that we just CAN'T go home empty handed. With all Miryam's savvy, and my natural aversion to sales people, we actually end up buying a glass model of "La Pinta" inside a bottle for the princely sum of US$ 45.00. And there it stands today on our bookcase as a monument to that adept sales person. Interestingly enough, the
young cashier and bottle wrapper, was from Colombia , and we had a very enlightening few minutes of conversation with her. She had lived in Venice almost five years, and hated it. It was cold and damp in winter, and hot and humid in the summer. Everything closed down at 9.00 pm (we had experienced that, remember?) and in summer, there were more tourists than residents, and the canals really stank!
With purchase in hand, we were finally allowed to leave, and were shown the vaporetto stop where we could return to Venice (as we were not big buyers, we had to finance our own way back). We saw our little Pinta in the small shops beside the vaporetto stop, but were too timid to look at the price. On the other hand, it had been an interesting morning, so it was money well spent.
Our vaporetto arrived and we boarded for Piazza San Marco. We crossed over the bay again to the main island, and passed right through the old naval dockyards, now in ruins. There is a lot of potential here for a maritime museum, and when I win the lottery, I wouldn't mind putting a few million into developing this area.
We pop out of the canal into the bay again, and there ahead is the campanili di San Marco. We alight at the Piazza. We need some hot chocolate or coffee, as we are frozen. We enter the Hotel dei Piazza which has a sidewalk cafe protected by plastic sheeting. It's almost as warm as the glass factory inside, and though the coffee and hot chocolate are exorbitantly expensive, it's worth it for the life-giving warmth it returns to our bodies. We walk towards the square along the wide harbour-front promenade, passing the famous Danieli Hotel and Bridge of Sighs . To the left is the lagoon, with San Giorgio and La Guidecca islands, both sporting lovely churches. The promenade is lined with black gondolas, now tucked away beneath blue tarpaulins for the winter.
To the right is the Ducal Palace , and the St. Mark's Square. Only a small sliver of this great open public space comes to the lagoon, most is set back from the gracious bell tower facing the lovely Basilica of Saint Mark.
We first visit the Basilica, which is quite different from anything we have seen up to now. Influenced by Byzantium styles brought by the Venetian traders from Constantinople , it is covered with lavish mosaics. The Basilica is crammed with artworks, and is one of the few places we have seen which is also crammed with tourists. We take a rain check on visiting the various exhibits (all at a fee), including the famous original bronze horses made in the times of Alexander the Great.
Next we visit the Ducal Palace , which has so many paintings on walls and ceilings, it seems almost like wallpaper. This palace was built to impress visitors to Venice , and 1,000 years later, it still impresses. The council chamber is huge, with a capacity of 2,000, and contains the largest canvas in the world, Tintorreto's Paradise . We actually get to cross the Bridge of Sighs , waving at the tourists gawking from the promenade. This little bridge leads to the prisons on the other side of the canal. No lavish decoration here, just iron bars and dank cells full of ancient graffiti.
Nature calls, and we must attend our bodily functions, hunger that is. We find a cozy snack bar and relish the superb sandwiches. There is always such a tremendous variety and the price is excellent at these snack bars throughout Italy . It's a shame you have to eat on the hoof, none having much in the way of seating.
After lunch, we continue our walk towards the Rialto . This is the commercial part of Venice , and shops line the narrow streets just like every other Italian town we have visited, except these streets are merely alleys, with no traffic at all. We cross the Rialto Bridge , one of only three traversing the Grand Canal , to the city market. Though much of the market is now dedicated to tourist knick knacks, there is still plenty of local colour.
We decide to continue on the "left bank" of the Grand Canal , which is less touristy. We pass by churches, shops, snack bars and canals draped with washing lines, eventually arriving at the Accademia Bridge and recrossing the Grand Canal to reach St. Mark's Square once more. We are now ready with bread for the pigeons. As soon as Bryan tosses some crumbs, he disappears in a cloud of grey feathers. I've seen hungry pigeons before, but these are like vultures. We have to fight them off Bryan to save him from suffocation! Those who remember Hitchcock's film "The Birds" may have some idea of our fears. As soon as the bread is finished, Bryan reappears, none the worse for the wear. He gives a few remaining crumbs to a little girl, who immediately disappears also, much to the consternation of her parents, who think she's been kidnapped!
We take a brief respite at our hotel, resting our weary feet. In spite of the fact that we have almost worn our shoes out, we decide on one last expedition. This time we are off in an easterly direction toward the railway station, to return by vaporetto for dinner at a fast food cafeteria we had noticed by the Rialto earlier.
Why go to the railway station, you may ask? Well, just to see the place where so many of our tourists arrive in Venice , and see what they go through to get to their hotels. The walk is very interesting, as we pass from the world of the moneyed tourist, to the econo-tourist. Most hotels around the station and multi-story car park are more economical establishments, and one can see that the commerce there is more like that of a working class neighbourhood. We arrive at the station, and find it strange to see this great building with trains labeled to Rome , Munich , Milan and Trieste , and just outside, gondolas and vaporettos. Opposite is the third and last bridge over the Grand Canal .
We return to Rialto by vaporetto, alighting right in front of the cafeteria we had espied earlier. The food was good and inexpensive, if not inspiring. We totter back to our hotel, which we have become very good at finding now, and fall into our beds. Tomorrow we have to be up by 4:00 am
