We love getting comments on our postings, especially when our friends provide such good advice! Sandra's advice to take the train to Venice was certainly right on the money. We almost got it right, although instead of taking the train we rented a car. This turned out to be a mistake. It seemed to make sense at the time, since the price of the rental car plus gas was roughly the same price as two train tickets, and having the car would give us the ability to come and go on our own schedule. But we'd grossly under-estimated the toll charges (65 euros!) and parking fees (54 euros!), nor had we expected to encounter bumper-to-bumper traffic outside Ancona that has us moving at a crawl for over 45 minutes. We were fortunate that our rental car had a good air conditioner, because when we stopped for coffee midway through the journey the heat was so intense that it was almost frightening. With all the traffic, the drive took us nearly six hours, including a slight detour caused by a navigational mistake on our way in to Venice. (I guess it is time to update the "charts" in our old TomTom GPS.) By the time we arrived in the parking lot at the Piazza le Roma, we were both feeling pretty shell-shocked.

But our energy levels came surging back minutes after we stepped onto the ferry that would take us to St. Mark's Square. A ride down the Grand Canal has to be one of the best travel experiences possible! It was a jaw-dropping, "pinch me, am I really here?" sort of experience that made me feel like a five year old seeing the castle at Disney World's Magic Kingdom for the first time. And we can now say unequivocally that the job of gondolier probably requires more skill and sheer guts than that of any other taxi driver!



Arriving at St. Mark's Square was pretty unforgettable too. There it all was...just like in the pictures. The massive glittering basilica with those incredible horses above the entrance, the imposing Doges' palace, the twin pillars with the Lion of St. Mark and St. Theodore (Venice's displaced patron saint) with his crocodile , the towering campanile, the Orological Tower, the stately government offices lining the square, the pigeons -and of course, the throngs of tourists, although in truth perhaps not as many as we had expected to see. On the other hand, it is a VERY big square.



Finding our hotel (Hotel San Zulian) would be the next challenge, but we'd been forewarned and had come prepared with detailed directions and a map. In no time at all, we were checked in and relaxing in air conditioned comfort. After a brief rest and long luxurious showers, we headed out to find the Osteria Antico Giardinetto, where we had made dinner reservations for 8 p.m. We had a lovely walk through the streets of the San Marco district and over the Rialto bridge, and found the restaurant quite easily, all things considered. As for dinner, Rick rated the restaurant a 9/10 on ambience and a 4/10 on food quality, but we had a wonderful evening. (My meal was actually quite good, but I agree with Rick about the high marks for ambience.) The walk back was absolutely magical- Rick managed to capture a bit of the magic in this photo taken from the Rialto bridge.



We paused for a while in St. Mark's Square to listen to the mini orchestras playing outside the various cafés, including the most famous of Venice's cafés, Florian's, where, should you wish to settle down and have a few glasses of prosecco, you may have to mortage your house when your vacation is over. All in all, a delightful night!

At 9 o'clock the next morning, I rushed Rick away from breakfast and into the line-up in front of the Basilica di San Marco. Even at that early hour, the line-up stretched back at least 100 meters, but after a few minutes it suddenly dawned on me that we weren't moving at all. I checked the sign. Oops, the basilica doesn't open until 0945! But at least it gave us some time to properly examine the exterior, with its glittering mosaics and its glorious bronze horses on the façade.



Rick wandered off to explore the square and take a few photos while I held our place in line, then we traded roles. Happily, the basilica actually opened a bit earlier than the posted time- Mass must have ended early!

Do you know the story of St. Mark's basicila? Here is an abbreviated version of an interesting tale. In the 9th century AD, some enterprising and presumably strong-stomached Venetian merchants "removed" the body of St. Mark the evangelist from its former resting place in Alexandria. Looting treasures from other countries has been quite common over the centuries (where do you think much of the stuff in the British Museum came from?) but the Italians seemed to have a peculiar penchant for making away with the bodies of saints. Remember how fishermen from Bari took the relics of St. Nicholas from Myra? Actually, the Venetians claim to have some of his bones too! But let's get back to St. Mark. The theft of St. Mark's body was easily justified because he had, after all, had a vision telling him that Venice (which didn't actually exist at the time) would be his final resting place. Aaanyway, sometime later, the body of St.Mark was lost. Apparently someone had hidden it somewhere for safekeeping and couldn't remember where (just like what happens with your wallet sometimes). But lo and behold, when the new basilica was consecrated in the 11th century, the body of St. Mark came crashing out of a pillar. I can just imagine the bishop saying "Eureka! That's where we put him!" Obviously, no one there had ever read any Ian Rankin mysteries, so they didn't question whether this body might belong to someone other than St. Mark, and the relics were placed in the superb setting that you see in the photo below. (Note: photos are actually not permitted inside the basilica but, always a bit of a rebel, Rick could not resist sneaking a few.)



Like most of the crowd, we paid our 2 euros to see the Pala d'Oro, a magnificent ruby and emerald ecrusted alterpiece that for some strange reason is positioned facing the back of the church. I think they do turn it around from time to time.



Then we paid another 5 euro fee and made the steep climb up a set of narrow stone steps to the Basilica's museum, where the piece de resistance is the original set of bronze horses. (The ones now on the front of the Basilica are replicas.) These horses date back to the classical period of Greek antiquity, and were brought to Venice when the Venetians sacked Constantinople during the 13th century. Then they were looted again-by Napoleon, who took them to Paris for a while (see what I mean?) but they were returned to Venice in 1815. Did anyone suggest that they be returned to Istanbul, I wonder? Personally I am very happy that they have remained in Venice, because seeing them was one of the highlights of our trip. They must have been crafted by an incredibly talented artist with a great love of horses. To give you an idea of scale, these are larger-than-life statues made of bronze and copper, with such expressive facial features and details that you would almost swear they had been from actual horse molds. Definitely no photos permitted of the originals, I'm sorry to say, but here is a close up of the replicas.



Since the museum is high up in the gallery of the basilica, we also had an opportunity to take some photos of the square below us.



The basilica was so beautiful that I just had to look inside one more time before we left. It was definitely one of the most magnificent buildings I have ever been in, but I think it could be better appreciated by attending a service.

After a short break for cappuccino in the little café across from our hotel, we made our way to the Accademia bridge. You can see the domes of the church of Sante Maria Salute in the background of the first photo below:





Our friend and remote cruise advisor, Jean Francois Bourely, tells us 1/3 of all the masterpieces in the world are in Italy. Based on our time in Venice, we have reason to think that he is correct! Our next destination was the Gallerie dell Accademia, an art gallery where the sheet number of masterpieces is positively overwhelming. The most unforgettable paintings were by Tintoretto, Titian, Bellini and Carpaccio (yes, the very same person the raw beef dish is named after).

The vast majority of the paintings have a religious them: the Annunciation, the Ascension, Madonna and Child, St. George and the dragon. Many incorporate scenes from Venice into the religious depictions. The Pietas are poignant and the large canvasses depicting the martyrdom of saints seem to be particularly disturbing when rendered with such mastery. Poor old Saint Peter being crucified upside down, a handsome Saint Sebastian riddled with arrows, St. Mark being dragged through a square in an Islamic setting (although surely the Prophet Mohammed was born long after the evangelist's death?) Giorgione's "The Tempest" moves away from the religious theme, and it alone could warrant hours of study. Disappointingly, Veronese's controversial "Christ in the House of Levi" is under restoration, so we only got to see a small corner. But we did get a glimpse of a restoration of Titan's "Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple" that was in progress in another room, which is perhaps one of the most interesting things we saw!



After two hours, as wonderful as the art was, we were unable to absorb any more. This gallery could only be fully appreciated through numerous return visits, but we left with a much better ability to recognize the unique style of the Venetian artists. By this point we were footsore and ready for a break, so we retreated to a small osteria near the gallery (Osteria Vecio Forner) where we had a yummy platter of Venetian-style tapas known as "cichetti" and "birra grande".

Even though we were in Venice for less than 48 hours, there is clearly too much to cover in one posting. I need a break, and I'm sure you do too! We'll cover the remainder of our visit in our next posting.