part 10
Venice, Italy
Wow What a Day!
The Ruzzini Palace & the Doge's Palace, Grand Canal Restaurant
St. Mark's Basilica & a Gondola Ride
St. Mark's Basilica & a Gondola Ride
The morning we disembarked from the cruise ,we piled our considerable mound of luggage (there were six of us after all!) into a van which drove us to the grand canal to catch our water taxi to the hotel.
When you pick your hotel, give a little thought to where it’s located particularly if you want any peace and quiet. We chose to stay in the Ruzzini Palace Hotel, a renovated palazzo that had been the home to one of the most important families in Venetian history, the Ruzzini family. They moved to the palazzo in 1586. While the hotel has all the modern luxurious amenities, the hotel is a mix of contemporary and classic Venetian design and retains its original frescoes by the school of Tiepolo.
Our rooms looked out onto the peaceful campo Santa Maria Formosa and the beautiful Church that gives its name to the square. Our friends’ room had a small Juliet balcony that looked out over a quiet canal whose waters lapped at the ancient foundations of the hotel.
This canal is also where our water taxi stopped to let us enter the hotel from the canal-side entrance which was a sculptural gem bedecked with classical friezes over Venetian arches, a graceful balcony overhang above. The small docking area was decorated with orange and white striped poles and stone steps led right out of the water. What a romantic way to arrive at a hotel!
As amazing as the hotel was, the location was just a great. The campo Santa Maria Formosa is off the beaten path in a non-touristy part of Venice, but within a few minutes’ walk to all the major tourist locations such as Saint Mark’s square and the Rialto.
After dropping our luggage, we headed out into Venice. If you are there in the summer, this is where reality hits you in the face, because upon leaving the calm of the our campo, we joined the swarms of tourists streaming through the tiny narrow lanes. The busy current of people almost pushed us along as we made our way to the Rialto bridge where our stomachs told us the pizza and vino were a priority! The travel gods must have been looking out for us because we snagged a table at the edge of the canal where we watched the fast water taxis maneuver around the languid black gondolas which were gliding along with barely a ripple.
Without any real plan for the afternoon we ducked in and out of shops and just soaked up the chaos that is Venice in the summer.
When you pick your hotel, give a little thought to where it’s located particularly if you want any peace and quiet. We chose to stay in the Ruzzini Palace Hotel, a renovated palazzo that had been the home to one of the most important families in Venetian history, the Ruzzini family. They moved to the palazzo in 1586. While the hotel has all the modern luxurious amenities, the hotel is a mix of contemporary and classic Venetian design and retains its original frescoes by the school of Tiepolo.
Our rooms looked out onto the peaceful campo Santa Maria Formosa and the beautiful Church that gives its name to the square. Our friends’ room had a small Juliet balcony that looked out over a quiet canal whose waters lapped at the ancient foundations of the hotel.
This canal is also where our water taxi stopped to let us enter the hotel from the canal-side entrance which was a sculptural gem bedecked with classical friezes over Venetian arches, a graceful balcony overhang above. The small docking area was decorated with orange and white striped poles and stone steps led right out of the water. What a romantic way to arrive at a hotel!
As amazing as the hotel was, the location was just a great. The campo Santa Maria Formosa is off the beaten path in a non-touristy part of Venice, but within a few minutes’ walk to all the major tourist locations such as Saint Mark’s square and the Rialto.
After dropping our luggage, we headed out into Venice. If you are there in the summer, this is where reality hits you in the face, because upon leaving the calm of the our campo, we joined the swarms of tourists streaming through the tiny narrow lanes. The busy current of people almost pushed us along as we made our way to the Rialto bridge where our stomachs told us the pizza and vino were a priority! The travel gods must have been looking out for us because we snagged a table at the edge of the canal where we watched the fast water taxis maneuver around the languid black gondolas which were gliding along with barely a ripple.
Without any real plan for the afternoon we ducked in and out of shops and just soaked up the chaos that is Venice in the summer.
That night, dinner was at the Grand Canal restaurant at the Hotel Monaco. This restaurant has an outside seating area that looks out over the Grand Canal and as we sat through prosecco and elegant appetizers, and then an excellently prepared dinner, we watched the day fade into evening. The sky deepened into a dark royal blue and the canal became black and glistened with reflected lamp-light. Since the hotel is near the main gondola stations, as we ate and the evening grew late , one by one, the gondoliers steered their gondola in to its position next to one of the striped poles and tied up for the night, abandoning the slim shadowy vessels to rock gently in the canal.
Just a note…. I had the most amazing tender Veal Escalopes in Gorgonzola Sauce that night. I think that was the best veal I have ever eaten! And the Gorgonzola sauce was fabulous!
After dinner, we walked back to Saint Marks square where we sat at a tiny table drinking more prosecco and listened to the bands as they serenaded those of us who sat taking in the golden light from the domes of St. Mark’s Cathedral as they glowed in the dark night. The next morning we headed out first thing to visit the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica. In Venice, if you want to avoid the crowds, be sure to show up at opening or just before the last entry time. Almost any other time both sites will be crowded and the wait in line can be about an hour.
The next morning, we were almost the first visitors to the Doge’s Palace, so we had the palace to ourselves. The exterior is delicate Byzantine-Venetian Gothic built in the 12th century with glistening white Istrian stone and the interior courtyard is framed by classical Renaissance logia arches and sculptures of important Venetians added in during the 15th century.
The sumptuous rooms of the palace were empty, so we had unobstructed views of the vast elegant Senate and Council Chambers. We took in the huge paintings and frescoes of mythical subjects representing the founding of Venice and portrayals of the history of the republic. These works of art are by masters such as Tinoretto, Tiepolo, Titian, Veronese and Bellini and it’s amazing to see so many famous artists represented in one palace. Portraits of Venetian Doge’s and the aristocrats who were part of the council completely covered the walls from floor to ceiling.
Finally we crossed through the corridor called the Bridge of Sighs that connected the courtrooms to the prison. The corridor gets its name from the supposed sighs that were issued from prisoners as they passed over the corridor bridge and took their last look at freedom as they viewed the lagoon through the tall windows. We were able to soak up the morose atmosphere of the dungeons as we wandered through the cells all alone, imagining the prisoners who had been locked up for years before they were most likely executed.
After we exited to our own freedom into the square, we joined what had now, an hour and a half later, become a line that stretched all the way across the square from St. Mark’s Basilica to the canal, but some things are just worth waiting for! St. Mark’s is one of them. This Byzantine Gothic basilica, built in the 11th century in the Greek cross design, is decorated with bronze and golden domed mosaic ceilings and houses important Venetian sacred relics in a tiny room off the nave. St. Mark’s relics were said to have been found inside the pillar of the right transept in 1094. Be sure to wear or bring clothing to cover your arms. There are strict guards at the doors to the basilica where they evaluate what you are wearing and force you to rent a shawl to cover any body parts they consider inappropriately on display!
We couldn’t leave Venice without performing the tourist ritual of taking a gondola ride. I know this sounds cheesy, but it really is a beautiful way to see the canals. The trick is to NOT go to the main gondola piers. Walk back into the tiny lanes and over the small bridges that connect them. You will be able to find gondoliers waiting at tiny docks and they are usually cheaper and the whole engagement feels much more personal.
With any luck, you will have a wonderful time drifting by historic palazzo doors whose steps lead into the canal and glide under low arched bridges and up serene back canals where the gondoliers call out to approaching gondolas at blind corners in their musical voices and you might have to help push off from the side of a palazzo when the wake pushes you up against the ancient stucco and brick. Of course almost every gondola ride takes you into the grand canal to view the grand palaces where the Doge’s and their families lived centuries ago. It is all very magical, don’t miss it!
And finally, a beautiful ending to a fabulous Mediterranean voyage!