VENICE
As you approach the city over the bridge from the Italian mainland, you
leave behind terra firma and, with it, earthbound notions of how to see and
experience a city. Venice is not solely the spill of churches and palazzi on
either side of the Grand Canal, but rather a city of islands, 118 in all,
some of which are little more than the weedy, humps you see in the Lagoon of
Venice. And yet these mud flats provided haven for the people who fled here
(without benefit of a bridge) from Huns, Visigoths, and other marauders in
the fifth century. And those refugees gave birth to a culture that ripened
into a
thousand years of greatness.
The Grand Canal
As you near the end of the bridge, you see at first only the
back side of the city itself. But in the time it takes to walk through the
train station, you begin to hear sounds peculiarly Venetian--the low rumble
of boat motors, a humid incubation of voices, water lapping insistently
against wood and stone.
And then Venice confers her greatest gift: No matter how
many times you've been here, it always seems, in that first glimpse, like the
first time.
The Palace of Venice
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Good advice is to immediately start a tour
down the Grand Canal by hopping on a vaporetto (water bus) or gondola or
water taxi.
If you are lucky, it will be during those few hours before sunset when
the light shines most kindly on the venerable facades that line this liquid
boulevard. If you are particularly observant, you might even notice that
neither the light nor the colors are quite Italian, not like the tawny earth
tones of Florence or Rome.
 The canal is a murkey green, the palazzi a mix of faded, grimy
sherbets--watermarked mint and sun-blanched apricot and deep overripe peach.
Sunlight shatters into spangles on the water, gondolas knife bach and forth,
the Rialto Bridge looms overhead, and then, beyond one final curve, the
Palladian church of Santa Maria della Salute and the Campanile (bell tower)
of San Marco come into view.
Piazza san Marco is Venice's grand salon; expensive, familiar,
picturesque. It is anchored at its eastern extreme by the Basilica di San
Marco, which is not only the spiritual seat of Venice's patron saint but
also one of the most glittering monuments of Christianity.
2004 |
Day to explore the canals of
Venice. We provide the tickets to travel by busboat. Highlights of your walking tour are St. Mark’s
Square, the Clock Tower, the Byzantine Basilica (San Marco) with its
1,000-year-old gem-studded gold altar piece, lavish Doges’ Palace, and the
Bridge of Sighs. Also watch skilled GLASS BLOWERS fashion their delicate
objects on the island Burano and Murano is famous for Venchan Lace.
St Marco Church |
Hotel Boscolo
Meg Consiglio
second night
Besides the usual amenities such as air conditioning, a
minibar and courtesy kit, your tastefully decorated room also has satellite
and pay tv and internet access to entertain you.
The Hotel is renowned for its special atmosphere, which combines the modern
and the antique with expert, sophisticated elegance.
Rooms have air conditioning, minibar, direct dial telephone and modem jack
for Internet link-up, SAT and interactive pay-TV. |
