Historic Venice

Venice is a legendary city that was established in 811AD and consists of 117 islands, 150 canals and 400 bridges.   Venice grew into a maritime republic that controlled the eastern Mediterranean for almost a thousand years.  In 1797, Napoleon  entered Venice and ended the longest running independent republic in history.  

Most of the buildings that exist today were built between the 12th and 18th Centuries. However, the foundations holding up these buildings are much older.  To be able to build this magnificent city, the architects had to use thousands upon thousands of larch and oak trees to make wooden pilings that were manually driven down through the mud to be able to support the structures that would be built above them.  Lack of oxygen in the clay saved the wood from decomposition, turning the pilings into petrified wood and hard as rock.  Today, the biggest enemy of Venice is the rising level of sea water that removes the silt layer one millimeter per year.  This silt layer is all that protects the tops of the wooden pilings from oxygen which creates wood rot.  At which point, those wooden pilings would need to be replaced, an extremely difficult and expensive procedure as you can well imagine.

As it was raining for most of the day, we toured the interior of the Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace) and went to the top of the Campanile.

The Doge's Palace was the symbol of Venetian power and glory.  Not only the residence of the Doge (Prince) but also the seat of government, law courts and a prison.  The Palace was built in the 12th century but was transformed into what we see today between the 13th and 16th centuries. The rooms of the Doges residence have no furniture as each Doge was elected by The Great Council for life and had to bring his own furniture with him.  His family removed the furniture after his death.  Over the centuries, the average age of the Doge when elected was 72 years.  The was tour was facinating and well worth the time.

The Campanile stands 99 m (325ft) and is a reconstruction of the original 15th century bell tower which collapsed in 1902. It's the tallest building in Venice and offers wonderful views of the city, grand canal and lagoon.

 Tomorrow promises to be sunny again and we will do a lot more exploring.

Built of pink and white marble, the impressive Palazzo Ducale in the Piazza San Marco

           The inner courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale

 The Golden Staircase that takes you to the Doges residence

 View of San Giorgio Maggiore island, corner of Doges Palace and gondolas from top of Campanile

Venice - All's Well That Ends Well

 The Campanile, in the Piazza San Marco, is the tallest building in Venice

 The Ponte di Rialto (Bridge), built in 1591, crosses the Grand Canal

 View from the Rialto Bridge of the Grand Canal

View of our heavy beamed but spacious attic apartment living room

Had a bit of a rough night as the windows to our apartment are directly above a major walkway and the sound travels up to our bedroom.  The voices stayed late and started early.  The good news is that we woke to sunshine and beautiful blue skies.  After a shower Rita checked her emails and happily found that Lufthansa lost and found had her e-book.  Yeah!!!  Our luck is starting to turn around.  Headed out for breakfast and a long day of walking the streets of Venice.  After checking out St. Marks Square and the Rialto Bridge that crosses the Grand Canal we realized that the iconic sites will be jammed with thousands of cruise ship tourists that waddle ever so slowly behind tour guides.  We decided to head off the beaten track and explore some of the other wonderful Venice sites until the Cruise ship crush had moved on.  Had a very nice lunch in one of the many large Compo's (squares) before heading back to the now less crowded main sites.  We had to be back at our apartment at 16:00 to meet our representative so she can take us to our booked apartment.  She was on time and had good news.  Our apartment was ready and we would be refunded the cost of our first night accommodation.  The original apartment we booked was a 5 minute walk tucked away at the end of a very narrow alleyway.  We carried our luggage up 4 flights of stairs to our wonderfully spacious attic apartment.  It is as good as the images on its website and we can now finally unpack and settle into our Venice holiday.  After a shower we headed off to buy some groceries and find a place for dinner.  Supermarkets are rare in Venice as rent is very expensive and the location has to be next to a canal allowing for barges to deliver the goods and fresh produce required to keep the store shelves stocked.  Our apartment representative also gave us several recommendations of places where locals eat.  Unfortunately, non of them are around where we live, in the heart of the tourist area.  We did find one close to the supermarket and got there at 19:10, ten minutes after it opened,  We were the first customers but in less than 20 minutes the place was full and people were waiting outside for a table.  The food was local and delicious.  It included our first Octopus Salad since we visited Portovenere in 2007.  After dinner we headed back to our apartment, loaded down with our groceries.  The evening was warm but the scenery looks very different in the dark and you very quickly get disorientated.  But we did find our way back and settled in for our first restful sleep in days.       

London to Venice

 Waiting at the Venice Airport Water Taxi Station before heading into town

 Venice from the Water Bus

Gondolas opposite San Giorgio Maggiore at sunset

We have had better travel days.  After several nights of heavy partying that culminated in the wedding of my niece, Rita and I got up at 08:00 for an 08:30 departure to London Heathrow and our flight to Venice via Munich.  My lovely cousin, Lis made the effort to get up with us and drive us to the airport.  We had wanted to give ourselves lot's of time in case the Monday morning traffic was heavy.  The traffic was not the problem as Lis missed the exit, which added another 30 minutes to our trip.  We still got to the airport in lot's of time but our flight to Munich did not.  It was an hour late which meant we had less than 20 minutes to make our connection onto Venice.  Thankfully, we made the plane along with our luggage.  Unfortunately, Rita had left her e-reader on the London to Munich plane.  After arriving at the Venice Airport, we had two choices to get to our apartment, a 15 minute, 100 Euro water taxi ride or a 70 minute, 15 Euro water bus ride.  Geoff chose the water bus.  Rita sent a text message to our contact to let them we had departed from the airport, they responded by telling us to get off at the station before San Marco.  This was strange as our original instructions was to get off at the San Marco station.  70 minutes later we met our contact who welcomed us to Venice and explained that our apartment was not available due to a water problem and they would have to put us up in another apartment for the night. We were quite disappointed and upset as this was the 4th move in 4 days for us and we were looking forward to settling down in one spot for a few days.  After getting the keys to our one-night apartment, we went out for a bit of a walk and found a street-side cafe for dinner and a welcomed bottle of wine.  Tomorrow is supposed to be warm and sunny and so we will explore a lot more of the outdoor scenery of Venice before hopefully moving to our permanent residence.   

Holly and Rob's Beautiful Wedding

On Wednesday, Sept. 12 arrived in London and was picked up by my Aunt and her good friend Sheila from Heathrow and taken to stay with my cousin Lis as we will be attending her daughter Holly's wedding this coming Saturday.  Rita arrived on Thursday from visiting her parents in Germany and we were swept up in the frenzy of getting ready for Holly's upcoming wedding.

September 15th arrived in fine style as it was sunny and warm from the start.  The wedding was held in a 15th century hunting lodge built for the use of Henry VIII.  It is now a hotle called Great Fosters and it proved to be a lovely venue for the wedding and reception. 

Sunday, Sept. 16th and most of us are feeling the effects from the wonderful evening we experienced last night. Packed up and headed back to my cousin Lis's house for an afternoon reception and present opening by the Bride and Groom. Repacked for our flight tomorrow that will take us to Venice for four days before heading over to Croatia.

The pre-wedding reception at my cousin's house in Beaconsfield

The magnificant grounds and 15th century original building of Great Fosters

Holly and Rob signing the Registry after just proclaiming their "I Do"s". They make a lovely couple  

Why Croatia?

Standing of a bluff overlooking the North Sea in Denmark

Sometimes it's the simplest things.  Rita and I spent last Christmas with her parents in a lovely cabin situated on a bluff that overlooks the North Sea in Denmark.  It was a neutral location to ensure all of us would be able to experience a relaxing vacation together.  One of the evenings Rita and her parents were watching a German TV program while I was lying on the couch listening to music on my headphones and reading.  I got up to make some tea and noticed the TV program was showing an amazing coastal city.  As I kept watching  it started to show some spectacular natural waterfalls and forests.  I asked Rita where this was and she said Croatia.  Right there and then it was decided we had to go and explore this historic and beautiful country.  The timing was perfect as we were going to London in mid September to participate in my Cousin's daughters wedding and could extend our stay to include a visit to Croatia.  Also, Rita and I had been to Venice during the early years of our courtship when we were both based in Europe.  It was such a wonderful experience that we had promised ourselves to return one day.  So we will fly from London to Venice for a four day stopover before taking the Ferry across the Adriatic Sea to Rovinj in northern Croatia.