#3072 The Trip: Venice

ussie on the Rialto Bridge

This day was our only full day in Venice, and it was epic. We had three things planned, and they were all back-to-back-to-back, so we were out the door early for our first stop,  an on-our-own tour of the Palazzo Ducale, aka the Doge's Palace. The palace is right next to St. Mark's Cathedral, and in fact, the church used to be part of the palace. We purchased the audio guide which we could listen to from our phones, and it was excellent. I really liked that we got to go through the place at our own pace and take our time to really look at the things most interesting to us. The palace is enormous. We did not see the living quarters; our ticket was just for the public rooms, but there was a lot of those. Every inch of wall and ceiling is covered in art depicting the greatness of Venice during the time of the Doges. Venice was a mighty Republic back in the day with a strong navy and a lot of power through the Adriatic and Baltic Seas, even down to the Ionian Sea in Greece. I am just going to show you six photos I took of the palace, even though I have a ton more. If I showed them all, we'd be here for a long time.

partial exterior of Palazzo Ducale on the left; MT on the right

interior courtyard of the Palace; St. Mark's Basilica is at the back

clock with astrological signs in the Senate Room

Chamber of the Great Council

I have to take a second to talk about the Chamber of the Great Council. It is a tremendously large space, about 175 feet long and about 80 feet wide. It could hold around 2,000 Venetian noblemen who came for political meetings and elections. There isn't any empty space on the walls or ceilings. Every bit of it is covered by intricate, detailed paintings done by the Venetian masters, including Tintoretto. This is one of the biggest rooms in Europe. It is astounding.

Lion of St. Mark, Carpaccio (1516)

I mentioned in a previous post that the winged lion is the symbol of Venice, as it is the symbol of St. Mark, the patron saint of the city. This very famous painting is hanging in The Chamber of the Laws. There are a few paintings of the lion in the palace, but I think this is the most famous because of the imagery of the city and the symbolism of the lion having two feet on the land and two feet in the sea, since Venice was a power on both land and sea. 

the portico of the palace

We spent about three hours in the palace which did include going through the prison and across the Bridge of Sighs, but I'm going to save talking about that bridge until later.

Our next stop was the Basilica of St. Mark, in which we had a timed entry at 1:00. With a bit of time to spare between the palace and the church, we decided to have a snack and something to drink in St. Mark's Square. We sat at an outdoor table under a shade tarp thing and promptly had sticker shock at the prices. 16 euros for a Coke! I thought my husband was going to have a heart attack, and I fully expected him to demand that we go somewhere else. We talked about how we were paying for the view of the Cathedral and the people-watching in the square. We talked about how the three of us being in Venice together was maybe a once-in-a-lifetime experience and that someday we would talk about drinking these expensive sodas and sharing a grilled cheese sandwich with a smile, so we stayed and savored the experience.

St. Mark's Basilica is unlike most of the Catholic cathedrals I have been in because the architecture is Byzantine rather than Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque or Romanesque. St. Mark's has five domes, and the inside is full of gold mosaics on the walls, and marble mosaics on the floor. While we were there, some work was being done, so it was a bit distracting and hard to hear the audio guide in some parts. The place is incredible, and I'm so glad we got to see it! I took many photos in the Cathedral, but I'm just going to post two of them here.

inside St. Mark's Basilica

one of the beautiful mosaics on the floor

After an hour or so in the church, we set out to find the location for our gondola ride. Following the directions we were provided took us all the way out to Pizzale Roma, the bus station, which is on the banks of the Grand Canal. Yeah, that wasn't the right spot. The meeting place was actually right by St. Mark's Square where we had just been. It was like getting lost in Granada all over again. So, yeah, we missed our gondola tour, but I guess the good news is that we did ride in a gondola. One ferried us across the canal at one point for like three euros each. I'm sure it would have been nicer to go on a ride on the smaller canals, but we didn't. Oh well. Something for next time, I guess. We ended up having pizza and beer in a quiet piazza, and that was a pretty great trade-off.

On our way back, we decided to check out the Rialto Bridge which was only about a 10 minute walk from the apartment. 

the Rialto Bridge

The bridge is similar to Ponte Vecchio in Florence in that there are shops across the top of the bridge. Although it looks shiny and new, it was originally built during the Renaissance, in the 1500s. Actually, in the 1300s it was built of wood, but that didn't work out, so it was rebuilt with stone in the late 1500s. It has been cleaned and maintained over the centuries. 

shops on the Rialto Bridge

view of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge

After this stop, we went to the apartment to rest after a long day of walking through Venice. So. Many. Steps. I think I had over 18K steps that day! We weren't done, though! In the evening, we went back out because we wanted to see The Bridge of Sighs at dusk.

Ponte dei Sospiri

The Bridge of Sighs. Doesn't it sound romantic? Well, the history is a bit dark. In this photo, the building on the left is the Doge's Palace. That was the seat of government, including the courthouse. The building on the right is the prison. The bridge connects the courthouse and the prison. The legend is that the prisoners would sigh as the crossed the bridge, seeing Venice for perhaps the last time through the small windows of the bridge.

looking through the window on the Bridge of Sighs

I'll just take a second to tell you that the prison was ginormous and horrible. I'm quite sure we went through every floor of it even though we didn't really want to. It just worked out that way. 

As the evening went on, we started seeing lightning and hearing thunder, so we made our way back to the apartment after we stopped for some crappy cicchetti. Also, I saw a rat that night which shouldn't surprise me because there's all that water and people with food walking around, but ew. 

We are nearing the end of The Trip. I think I'll have two or three more posts about it. Next time, I will tell you about going to the islands of Murano and Burano.  Thanks for sticking with me!

#3071 The Trip: Venice food tour and our first look at Piazza San Marco

3 stops into our bacari tour

In the last post, I told you about visiting the small town of Comacchio, and now I will tell you about our first day in Venice. Salvatore, our driver, gave us a lot of tips and pointers about Venice, most of which we promptly forgot the minute we left his car. He dropped us off at Piazzale Roma, the central train station, and walked us to the nearest canal boat stop. From there you can either walk into the old town, take a water bus, a water taxi, or a gondola.

the first thing I saw in Venice!

 Even though our apartment was a 15 minute walk from the station, it was hot like a sauna in Venice, so we opted for a private water taxi that was arranged for us by our apartment host. What I learned is that private water taxis are expensive; our ride was 80 euros for about a pretty short ride, probably 10 minutes or less. The water taxis are nice boats, though, and seeing the buildings from the boat is cool.

leaving Piazzale Roma in the water taxi

comfy!

Venice view from the water taxi

The apartment we stayed in was steps away from a canal and had a dock. Our host met us there and took us into the apartment which was fantastic - the best of all the places we stayed, in my opinion. (Note to self: maybe write a post about the places we stayed when I'm done writing about the trip?) Once we had the keys and had reviewed the rules with our host, we unpacked a bit and prepared to meet our guide for the bacari tour. 

In Venice, it is customary to have an aperitivo before dinner, like other places in Italy. However, in Venice, aperitivi are taken at a bacaro, which is usually a very small place that just serves drinks and cicchetti, which are small bites similar to tapas in Spain. (Bacari is the plural of bacaro; cicchetti is the plural of cicchetto which is pronounced chee-ket-o.)

Our guide for the bacari tour was a tiny young woman called Levy. There were probably a dozen people in our group. We visited four bacari and a gelato place. There was seating at two of the bacari, the rest of the time, we were standing around in the street or in the piazza, which is common. Along with the cicchetti, we had a beverage at each place. Let's see if I can remember what I had. I didn't take photos because it's hard to hold your drink and your snack and take a pic.

• Salami and cheese on a crostini and a Select spritz (Select is like Aperol, but Venetian. Slightly more bitter than Aperol.)
• Baccala mantecato, creamy, whipped cod and olive oil, on a crostini and a glass of prosecco. It doesn't sound all the great, but it is really freaking tasty.
• Crostini with ham and crispy onion and an ombra of white wine. An ombra is a small amount of cheap wine served in a small glass. I can attest that even cheap wine in Italy is good.
• Mozzarella in carozza with a Bellini. The cicchetto is like a deep fried cheese sandwich with a scone instead of regular bread. Ours had ham in it, too, and it was incredible! If you don't know, a Bellini is a drink made with prosecco and peach puree. 
• I had pistacchio (pistachio in English, of course) gelato. It might be one of my favorite gelato flavors. I almost always chose it, or coffee flavor. 

folks standing around having gelato in Venice

Our tour ended at the gelato place which was right next to this candy store. We were talking to Levy and I looked down to see this young seagull who apparently wanted some candy. He was very patient about it.

seagull looking in the candy store

The three of us decided that since we were out, we needed to see Piazza San Marco. It is grand.

my first view of Piazza San Marco

Basilica di San Marco

Palazzo Ducale, the Doge's Palace

view into Piazza San Marco from by the Grand Canal just after sunset

What an incredible day this was. We woke up on a cruise ship and went to bed in a delightful apartment in Venice. I truly feel so fortunate to have these experiences! #livingthedream

In my next post, I will write about spending the day in Venice, touring the Doge's Palace, the Cathedral of St. Mark, and missing out on a gondola ride. 

xo

.

#3070 The Trip: Comacchio, Italy

 

canal reflection in Comacchio

We reached the port in Ravenna, Italy, the last stop on our cruise. We arrived early and got a nice view of the beach. 

beach in Ravenna

We were able to take our own luggage off the ship, which is unusual in my experience, and we liked that option a lot. Our driver was scheduled to pick us up at 10 AM, so we had to wait for a little while off the ship, but we found a bit of shade and chatted with some nice people from Louisiana until our driver arrived. Oh my goodness! I wish I had taken his photo! His name was Salvatore and he was a dapper gentleman. He was so friendly and kind. If I had a dollar for every time he exclaimed "Mamma mia!" or "Alora," on the two and a half hour drive, I could have afforded drinks at St. Mark's Square - that's a story for another day. 

We had opted for a stop in the town of Comacchio to break up the drive a little. Comacchio is a town on the Po River Delta, well known for eels and flamingos at the lake. I didn't see either of those creatures, but we didn't go to the lake. We just walked around the town. It was a quiet Sunday morning, and it would be a nice respite before the bustle of Venice. Here are some photos of Comacchio:

quiet street

clock tower

another quiet street

Cathedral of San Cassiano

Ponte dei Trepponti

bell tower of the Cathedral

We bought some souvenirs, and I found a little cafe where I could have a caffe and a cornetto, which I have to admit was my favorite part of this stop. There were also some pretty doors in the town:

We were in the town for about an hour. It was a good stop. I don't know if I'd necessarily go back to Comacchio, but I was glad to see it.

Next stop: The Queen of the Adriatic, Venice! 

xo

#3069 The Trip: Zadar, Croatia

 

ussie by the Adriatic Sea in Zadar, Croatia

Zadar was not on the original itinerary. Our last port of call was supposed to be in Slovenia, but a few weeks before the cruise, I received an email from Norwegian Cruise Lines letting me know that we would be stopping in Zadar instead. We hadn't planned an excursion for the stop in Slovenia, so we were ambivalent about the change except that we would have had another country on our list. The upside is that we were the only ship in port (!) in Zadar, so it was pretty wonderful. 

As was the case with most ports on this cruise, we decided to just go out and wander around. It was another scorching hot day, and the port was about a half hour walk to the old town, so we decided to take a taxi. Our driver told us the old town was small so we would have no problem seeing everything we wanted in a short amount of time. I'd looked up a few things for us to see, and we were able to see most of them. Here are some photos:

the Land Gate

I just want to point out the winged lion above the arch of the gate. The winged lion is the symbol Venice. The Venetians ruled Zadar for various stretches of time, the longest being from the 1400s to the 1700s. Zadar is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Croatia and in Europe with its origins traced back to the 9th century BC.

clock tower in the People's Square

bell tower of St. Anastasia Cathedral

Notice how few people there are! There is actually empty space on the sidewalk!

St. Donatus Church, the Roman Forum, and the bell tower

Yes, of course the Romans were here, too. They were here in Zadar from approximately 59 BC to 476 AD. St. Donatus Church is from medieval times, completed in the 9th century. 

Cathedral of  St. Anastasia 

MT and T decided to climb the bell tower for the views. Since I was melting, I found a shaded seat at a cafe and had a Coke while they climbed. There was a mass going on in the Cathedral, and when it let out, the bells started ringing and it lasted a long time. MT and T got out of the tower just before the bells rang! They enjoyed a cold beverage in the shade, then we decided to walk by the sea. There is a beautiful walking path along the sea. I don't know why I didn't take more photos, but here is one that MT took of me:

I'm in Zadar, Croatia!

One of the coolest things in Zadar is the sea organ. There are pipes built in to the walkway by the sea and when water flows into the pipes, it makes musical sounds. It's kind of eerie-sounding, but also calming. If I could figure out how to share my video, I would so you could hear it, but I don't know how to do that. I could have sat there for a long time listening to those sounds, but there was no shade by the sea organ, and it was hot! We started walking back toward the ship.

We passed by this Soviet-era apartment building:

that is not beautiful architecture

We spent some time looking at stuff in this open-air market:

souvenirs!

We walked back to the sea and found a cool statue:

statue of Spiro Brusina

Spiro Brusina was a naturalist and noted malacologist, which is a person who studies mollusks. He is apparently quite famous in Zadar. What an awesome spot for a statue of a man who studied sea creatures.

As we got back into the town, there were a couple more things on my list. The first was Five Wells Square.

5 Wells Square

These wells used to be part of the cistern built by the Venetians to supply Zadar with water with help from the aqueduct the Romans built previously. The square is large and easily accessible. There are many cafes around the perimeter. Behind the square, where the trees are, is the other place I wanted to see, Queen Jelena Madijevka Park. It was so lovely, and like most green spaces, there weren't a lot of people there. It is quite big; we only saw a bit of it, and it was so pretty. Look at this view!

Queen Jelena Madijevka Park

I wish we would have walked on the city walls, which this park is part of, but we were hot, tired, and hungry, so we found a taxi to take us back to the ship. 

Zadar has some really nice beaches, and many of our fellow passengers took a beach day here. I think that would have been nice as long as there was a cafe or somewhere I could have sat in the shade. I don't much like getting in the sea because I can't swim and I'm afraid of sea creatures. Plus, I think my sun-worshipping days are behind me because skin cancer is no fun. I enjoyed walking around Zadar, but it was really f**ing hot!

Here's a view of the city from the ship:

view of Zadar, Croatia from cruise ship

That ends of the cruise portion of The Trip. Our final port was Ravenna, Italy where we disembarked and started the last leg of the vacation in Venice with a stop in Comacchio.  I'll be writing about Comacchio and our first night in Venice in the next post. 

xo

#3068 The Trip: Split, Croatia

 

ussie in Split

For our stop in Split, we decided to buy a Game of Thrones (GoT) themed tour from the ship. The menfolk have watched the series a couple of times through, and I've caught glimpses of it while they watched, just enough to recognize and name some characters like Daenerys, Jon Snow, and Cersei. I also know Peter Dinklage is in it, but I didn't know his character's name. I also know there are dragons in the show. 

When we got out to the busses, there was a guy in a shirt that said "I drink and I know things" and I was thinking, "Okay, sir." Turns out that guy was our guide and that shirt is a GoT shirt with a saying from one of the characters, Tyrion Lannister. I would come to find out that Tyrion is Peter Dinklage's character. Needless to say, our guide, Ivica (Johnny in English), was a GoT dude who was really into it! For the most part, I had no idea what or who he was talking about for several hours, but I had a ton of fun on the tour. Now I am watching GoT and I get what the fuss is about. It's an epic story!

Anyway, here are some GoT related pics. I won't go into details because I don't remember and I don't think the seven of you who read this are really into GoT anyway, so it doesn't matter LOL

We left the city and drove up to the mountains to the town of Klis where this fortress as featured in seasons 4 -6. It was desperately hot, but the views were amazing!

the fortress is up on the hill above the town

had to walk up a large hill to get to the fortress itself

there were gobs of people

the view of Split and the surrounding islands was great

We rode back to the city and went into Diocletian's Palace. It's a pretty big draw in Split, but for our purposes on the GoT tour, we were interested in only a few spaces in the palace, and the main draw was the dragon's dungeon. Apparently, this is where the dragons had to go when they were naughty.

I managed a photo without any people!

From there, we went out of the dungeon to an area that was so incredibly packed with people that I can't even tell you where I was. Ivica did stop to tell us about this sphinx. It is Egyptian from the 15th century BC and was brought to Split by Emperor Diocletian around 297 AD. It's been there for 2000 years! That's just mind-boggling to me. It got cracked in an earthquake, I think he said.

Split's sphinx

there were gobs of people

When the tour was over, we left the palace and walked around the rest of the old town where we saw some incredible Venetian architecture, a giant statue that looked like a wizard but is actually a statue of Gregory of Nin, a Game of Thrones store which actually has an Iron Throne in it, and a Game of Thrones museum. We did not wait in the line for the photo opportunity, but we did go in the store. 

Game of Thrones Museum (we didn't go in)

Venetian architecture in a plaza

more Venetian architecture

Palace gate

statue of Gregory of Nin

We wandered around buying souvenirs, eating gelato, and sweating. (It was really hot!) On our way back to the ship, we walked along the pretty promenade that has palm trees, cafes, and local artisans selling their wares. At the end of that street, we came upon an open air market with lots of shade, so we had to go over there to look around.

flower stalls at the local market

We were quite tired and quite hot, so we headed back to the ship for a late lunch and drinks on the pool deck. 

view of Split from the ship

Overall, I'd say that I like Split, and I would like to go back when there are not four or more cruise ships in port. I would be glad to see more of Diocletian's Palace someday. The Game of Thrones tour was fun! Ivica, the guide, was funny and knowledgeable about the show. He had a few insider stories because his neighbor was an extra, or so he says. It may or may not be true, but it made it more fun. He also had still photos of GoT that he held up in exactly the spots the scenes were filmed. I thought that bit was really cool.

We're coming up on our final port of call, Zadar, Croatia. See you soon!

xo