A City to Love
Trip Start
Apr 19, 2003
1
4
7
Trip End
May 02, 2003
Venice, Veneto, Italy
Thursday, April 24, 2003
It was such a wonderful place. As we headed through the empty streets and alleys, we were greeted with warm Ciao's and Buon Giorno's. We finally settled on a quaint little hotel called Hotel Spagna, just a few steps from the train station. We settled in our room, showered, and got done just in time for the hotel breakfast.
After breakfast, we headed to the waterbus station and got an all-day pass, anticipating getting on and off places, getting lost or getting tired of walking. After all, it's true what they say, the best way to see Venice if you don't have time is to ride through the Canal. We got on Bus 1, the slow boat with the most stops. All Byzantine-gothic architecture of the palazzos and hotels that lined the canal makes this place a real photographer's paradise. Between my digital camera and SLR, I couldn't keep up with taking photos. Then we got off at Piazza San Marco. The Doges palace, the basilica, the campanille and the piazza itself were awesome. We all chorused with wow's and oohs as we gazed at the San Marco Basilica, with it's domes shaped like giant kisses chocolates and gold mosaic surface decorations. As we went inside the Basilica, it was even more. With the enormous paintings on the wall and more gold mosaic artworks from floor to ceiling, it's hard to concentrate on praying. Next to the basilica is a campanile which we didn't bother climbing up, considering our desperate need for a foot spa. We walked through the narrow alleys filled with souvenir shops and all sorts of boutiques. We treaded through the thick mass of tourists and found our way to the Rialto Bridge, one of the 3 bridges (and the most famous one) that spans the Grand Canal. The view f! rom the Rialto is so beautiful, overlooking all the restaurants, hotels alongside, and several gondole slowy making their way through the canal. Tired once again, we retreated into one of the cafeterias alongside the canal, and took our latte-and-panini break.
It was then getting late in the afternoon so we all decided to go back to our hotel, dropped off our souvenir bags, did our own things for an hour and met in the hotel afterwards. Almost done with souvenir shopping, we then took the waterbus again, this time heading towards the opposite direction so to complete our own canal "cruise". As we sit in front of the boat and admire the Venetian view, the warm sun coupled with cool winds reminded us of how exhausted we had been.
After passing by all the stops in the canal, we got off at Santa Maria dela Salute but the church had already closed for the day. So we took the next boat and stopped at San Marco. With the late afternoon sun, the magic of Venice settled in. The scenery is just perfect, and with less tourists in the piazza, it was so surreal. I've always thought loving Venice is such a cliché, now I know why.
Once again we walked through the alleys and picked a less crowded small restaurant for dinner. We had pizza and pasta, the spaghetti vongolhe was so good one plateful wasn't enough. People came and left and we were still there, chatting, eating more, and having our after-dinner lattes. Then our waiter, a young Sicilian kid, gave us free glasses of Liquore al Limone, which we were told is a very typical Sicilian drink - we were getting better at understanding Italian by context. It was getting late so we decided to leave. On our way back to the boat station, we passed by Piazza San Marco once again. With the piazza and the basilica dimly lit! , with very few people and 3 sets of string quartets playing music on 3 corners of the piazza, we could've stayed there all night. But our exhaustion was slowly sweeping through us so we knew it was time to go back to our hotel.
Another day was over, another city to remember, and we all went to bed for our much needed sleep
