Up and Down the Grand Canal
Morning and the day starts with the smell of fresh baking comes in through the windows. There are few smells that are better than fresh bread. Europeans know about good baking. This early in the morning the streets are quiet.
The Venice rush hour is a hectic affair of men with carts. Deliveries are made to the cafés, restaurants, shops and museums. Hand carts deliver and hand carts remove the rubbish. Everything is transported through the narrow streets of Venice and loaded or unloaded on the boats in the canal network. The stalls begin to open up and the Rialto Bridge is quiet.
Buying bus tickets for the day provides an interesting problem. There’s a strike about to start and all the buses and taxis are out of commission for three hours. Everyone is walking the Grand Canal is almost empty. A rare sight for Venice. What was going to be a bus ride from Rialto to Academia become a walk.
Academia is the art gallery in Venice. One of the “must see” items on the agenda. There are a number of art galleries around Venice but Academia houses some of the finer works owned by the Venetians. Giant art works take up whole walls and the religious iconography is everywhere.
Although it isn’t hard to get lost in Venice finding certain streets or churches proves a problem. The maps and streets don’t really seem to match. Maybe I was having a dumb moment but I couldn’t find one area I was looking for. A brief walk around proves fruitless.
Lunch becomes a three hour affair. Glorious crepes in St Stephen’s Square with a smattering of the friends who are in Venice for the weekend. Beer and coffee flow in equal measures as the afternoon winds along. It’s hot and humid today so spending the day in the shade of a café is far more enjoyable than walking the streets and avoiding all the extra walkers who can’t use public transport.
Late afternoon and the boats are running again. The fun of a double bus ride takes us from Academia all the way along the Grand Canal to the railway station and then back again to St Mark’s Square. Everything is seen from both directions and finding the house destroyed in the Bond movie Casino Royale become easy.
James Bond's Destruction in Venice compared with reality (image from Casino Royale)
New buildings and bridges are expanding and replacing parts of Venice. The railway station has a wonderful edifice. The new bridge close to the station looks out of place with the ancient that surrounds it but reminds that there is a world outside this island swamp.
More coffee in a restaurant near St Mark’s Square and then a gentle walk past the Doge’s Palace and Bridge of Sighs. Thousands more tourists taking the same walk. When a cruise liner blocks the view out of St Mark’s Square everyone stops to watch. Given the varying depths of water around Venice and it’s islands the idea of such a large vessel cruising past is a sight and a half.
Dinner in a lovely restaurant. This is the purpose of the visit, celebrating my parent’s 40th wedding anniversary. 19 of us eat, drink and talk the night away in a mixture of wine, fish and pasta. A glorious occasion having taken over the majority of the restaurant. We had the place to ourselves by the end. Good food, good wine and good company.
