You Can't Get Lost in Venice

Riding the Vaporetto under the Rialto Bridge

After all, you are on an island! When we last visited in 2007, we took this advice from our guidebook to heart. We wandered up down each narrow twisty lane we came too, backtracking when we hit a canal, and looking for landmarks on our totally inadequate map.

Today, all of that has changed. This is what is looks like when you decide to walk to St. Mark's square from our hotel, the Pesaro Palace. When you click Start, there's never a misstep. There are still thousands of tourists in Venice, all walking around with their eyes downcast, glued to Google Maps, like zombies seeking their next meal. 

Not getting lost certainly saves time; it's just not quite as romantic.

Leaving Austria

I took Friday evening off from my job serving tables and went out to dinner with Kathy, Ken and Ellie James, and Linda Rourke. We went to a nice place on the lake where I had schnitzel (still written as wiener schnitzel on the English menus, but now almost universally pork instead of veal).

My last meal in Austria

Since this was my last meal, I also felt that I needed some dessert. I have a bigger picture, but only a limited space in the blog.

A little dessert

For some reason, I had a little trouble sleeping. Probably just excited about heading to Venice in the morning. Our bus left at 8:00 am so we had to get to breakfast by 7:00.

The Calvary Chapel 2018 Austria team (Steve & Kathy in back)

We took a team picture, then boarded the bus and headed out for Italy. It was a nice 5 hour trip with one break. On the trip to Austria, it rained heavily; returning to Italy, we got sun. 

In Venice

We got there at 12:30 pm, a little earlier than expected and were met by the tour company representative, who loaded us all into water taxis for the trip to our hotel.

Brett and Andrea up front with the water-taxi driver

Our hotel, the Pesaro Palace, is right on the Grand Canal, next to the C'a Oro Vaporetto stop. Because of all our luggage, though, our water taxis took us right to the hotel's front dock!

Driving up to our hotel

Almost everyone was able to get to their room and head out sight-seeing, but we had to wait for about a half hour for our room to be cleaned. We spent the time exploring the hotel.

Our room in the Pesaro Palace hotel

Because it was hot and humid, I wanted to avoid the crowds. So, instead of going to St. Marks, with everyone else, we headed to Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, the church of the Franciscan Friars in Venice to see classic works of art en situ. Since we hadn't eaten lunch we popped into a bàcari or cichhetti bar we found along the way, and ordered an assortment of small bites.

Cicchetti in Venice

The one on the right is a deep-fried zucchini flower. It was very tasty. When we reached the church, one of first things I looked for was Donatello's statue of John the Baptist.

Donatello's John the Baptist

I could see how it was similar to the Donatellos that we had seen in Florence, notably, the Pentitent Magdalene, but in Florence we could get much closer.

Paolo Veneziano - Madonna and Child with Doge Dandolo (1339)

Paolo the Venetian was the first "name" artist of Venice and was one of the founders of the Venetian style. This altarpiece is painted in the Byzantine style but unlike the stiff icons of Constantinople, Veneziano's subjects are in motion. That's St. Francis in the background, introducing the Doge's wife to Mary. (After all, this is a Franciscan church.)

Bellini's Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels (1488)

One hundred and fifty years later, Giovanni Bellini, the father of the Venetian Renaissance, produced his own altarpiece, turning away from the stylized Byzantine icons, and producing a realistically human Madonna along with the saints: Nicholas, Peter, Mark and Benedict. (Hey, I expected Francis!)

For you art lovers, Bellini pioneered the use of oil paints. Before this, pigments were dissolved in tempera or egg-yolk. That's one reason that the Renaissance paintings seem to have so much more vibrancy than earlier medieval paintings. 

Titian's Assumption of Mary (1518)

Thirty years later, Bellini's pupil Titian was the most famous painter of his day, perhaps even more famous than Michelangelo at the time, creating a bold, new style. Originally, the Franciscans were hesitant about paying for the completed painting, because Mary didn't look "holy" enough. In the end, when the Pope offered to take it off of Titian's hands, they completed the deal.

Titian's tomb

Titian became wealthy, and traveled throughout Europe, painting for the aristocracy. In the end, though, instead of heading to Rome, he always came back to Venice. Notice the relief of the Assumption of Mary carved over his head on his tomb.

Titian's Madonna of Ca' Pesaro (1526)

This was the painting that I really liked. And I'm sure the Franciscans did as well, since St. Francis, and not St. Benedict is introducing the Doge Pesaro to the baby Jesus. St. Peter, in the center, is looking over at a soldier with a Turkish captive. Everywhere you look, there is something to see.

Steve and Kathy sitting on the canal steps in front of the Frari Church

When we left the church, we spent a half hour sitting on the steps of the canal in front, watching the people and gondolas. By now, both of us were pretty hungry, so we turned on Google Maps and zoned in on the cafe we identified by poring over posts on the Rick Steves Travel Forum.

Austrian immigrants who make the gondolas

The restaurant we wanted was just across from what seemed to be an old alpine village transplanted into the center of Venice. This is the squero di San Trovaso, a small gondola boatyard that first opened in the 17th century. You can't take a tour of this working boat yard, but you can watch from across the canal.  Unfortunately, despite Google assuring us the restaurant was open, it was, in fact, closed.

We decided to head back to our hotel and just pick up dinner on the way. As we passed a bakery, Kathy suggested we go in and have a coffee first.  We went in, and noticed that they had tramezzino, which are sort of like a "wrap" but using soft bread instead of a tortilla. My department chair, Gabriela Ernsberger, who is from Rome, highly recommended them. Each of us had one along with some soda. (Sorry, no picture. By the time I remembered, they were consumed.)

Dinner in Venice

While we were in the bakery, another couple, from Redlands, saw me looking for a place for some Pizza, and they recommended the restaurant where they had eaten lunch. We looked it up on Google Maps, but when we got there, they told us "reservations only." Across the street, though, we saw and were welcomed into the air-conditioned Ristorante Al Vaporetto and had a great and inexpensive meal of pasta with pesto and pizza. (Unfortunately, another missed picture!)

Gondola Traffic Jam

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel. Many people were taking gondola rides; some of the smaller canals looked a little like the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland. 

Disney store in Venice

And, surprise, right around the corner, here's what we found.

Steve with the Lion King

In fact, this trend has become so pervasive, that it seems like the entire city is filled with Lion King statues.

A Serene Sunday

We got back to our hotel by 9:00  pm and I immediately went to sleep. We got up the next morning at 6:00 am so we could be at St. Marks square by 7:00. When we came down to the lobby, we found our friend Linda along with two other girls from our group who all had the same idea. (In fact, when we got to St. Marks, we found four other ladies from the group, who were wrapping up their visit.)

Riding the Vaparetto to St. Marks

After walking all over the island the previous day, we purchased two 20E tourist day passes for the Vaparretto and got on for the 20-minute ride to St. Marks. 

Sleeping Gondolas on the Grand Canal

The light was beautiful in the early morning. Each hotel had a raft of gondolas parked in front of it. I had heard that the city limited the number of gondolas to 350, but it sure seemed like there were more.

Docks and mooring piles on the Grand Canal

Many, but not all of the buildings, had their own docks and different colored mooring piles in front.

Vaporetto in the morning

The vaporetto are the "trams" of Venice. There is a fixed route and dedicated docks with the vaporetto map looks a lot like London's "tube" map. There is only a five to ten minute wait between rides. At 7 am they are uncrowded, but by 9 am they are packed.

Kathy, Linda, and friends walking into St. Marks Square

St. Marks square is the most crowded of all the sights in Venice, but at 7 am on a Sunday morning, it was deserted.

St. Marks Cathedral on Sunday morning

I decided to go to the first service at St. Marks Cathedral, and Kathy went in with me. Since it was in Italian, I didn't understand much of it (although I could make out a few words). Instead of a separate worship portion, the priest led the worship songs throughout the service. Many of the thirty or so worshipers knew the words, but many were tourists like Kathy and I.

The Venice Clock Tower

Afterwards, we followed Rick Steve's walking tour of St. Marks' square. We saw the famous Caffe Florian frequented by Casanova, Lord Byron, and Charles Dickens, and its competitor, across the plaza, Caffe Quadri, where Richard Wagner brightened the room. We also saw the clock tower from 1496 topped by two bell-ringing giants.

Venice from the top of the Campanile or Bell Tower

 At 8:30 am the lift to the top of the Campanile opened and we were the third couple in line. This was the original Venice light house, guarding the Grand Canal. It was built in the 10th century and fell over into the plaza in 1902. Ten years later, its replacement was built and is still standing.

Kathy looking out at the Italian Lido Island

You don't have to climb; the lift takes you to the top in a few seconds. Once you're there, you get a 360 degree view of Venice. However in the morning, that means the sun is just over the horizon, so you are looking directly into the sun when you look east.

At the top of the Campanille

We took a few selfies, and then headed back down for the vaporetto and breakfast.

Kathy and the Rialto Bridge

On the way back, I took this perfect picture of Kathy underneath the Rialto bridge. After breakfast (which we didn't finish until after 10) we moved rooms (ants and a defective air conditioning system). In our new room they gave us a fan, along with the air, it's really comfortable.

Heading to the Ospedale vaporetto stop

In the heat of the afternoon, we stayed in our room, me writing on my blog and Kathy reading and working on social media. Around 5:00 pm we went out again, and took the vaporetto around the island to the Ospedale stop where we stayed in 2007.

Steve at the Arsenale

From there we cut across the Castello district to the Arsenale where I got another picture with a lion. Near there, I asked TripAdvisor for the most highly rated restaurant in the area. Two minutes away we found the Al Vecio Portal, rated #192 of the 1,332 restaurants in Venice.

Eggplant ravioli and spaghetti with meat sauce

We had two courses, starting with pasta. For the second, Kathy had a salad, while I had pork Milan (aka, schnitzel again). The food was fine, but we sat outdoors, (in the shade), but it was still hot and humid.

Pork Milan and a mixed salad

For dessert we had some limone gelato and walked the two blocks to the vaporetto stop. For reasons unknown to us, at every stop, more passengers go on than got off. At the St. Marks stop a pickpocket unzipped the bag of a passenger standing right in front of us. Kathy tried to tell the victim what just happened, but he didn't really understand. The pickpocket gave her a dirty look as he got off.

By the time we came to our stop, the entire vaporetto was completely packed. Kathy rushed upstairs to take a shower, and I walked around the corner to pick up two large bottles of cold, sparkling water. We finished and posted the blog, did a little more packing, and headed for bed.

Tomorrow at 6:45 am, we leave Venice and head for L.A. and home. Hallelujah!