September 2016: The Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Piazza
Our scheduled events for Thursday, 22 September 2016 started with talks in the morning, so I slept later...8:00 a.m. is not my definition of sleeping late...and had a leisurely breakfast before joining the group.
Judy and I were scheduled to meet up with our guide for a tour of parts of the Doge's Palace at 12:35 p.m. We could have boarded a chartered boat for the trip, but Judy and I decided to walk. I was eager to see St. Mark's Piazza for the first time.
Our first view of St. Mark's Square looking toward the campanile (bell tower) of St. Mark's Basilica and the Basilica.
After sitting and people-watching for a bit, we walked across the Square to the Vaporetto stop where we were to meet our guide at 1:30.
The Doge's Palace.
It is quite beautiful...almost delicate. If you look closely, the upper part is patterned in squares of pink and cream.
Here is a better picture, taken from that canal, of the whole area:
We had our choice of three different tours of the Doge's Palace: the Secret Itinerary tour, the Hidden Treasures tour, or a self-guided tour. We had chosen the Secret Itinerary tour which would take us through the areas of the Palace only open to the highest decision-making officials of the Republic. There they met to make deals and met out 'justice.'
Frankly, I think we made a mistake: either of the other tours would have been preferable. Our guide said that the Venetians referred to the rooms we saw as the attics, and they had all the charm and adornment of a typical attic: wooden floors, utilitarian paneling on the walls, low ceilings.
The attics were barely furnished: just a few odd pieces here and there.In their heyday, of course, I'm sure there would have been more in the way of furniture, and what was there would have been quite interesting, but of course, we wouldn't have been allowed to view them.
I also took a picture of the campanile from the third floor window...
...to prove, if nothing else, that I had made my way up four floors of dark, narrow, corkscrew steps.
We left the Doge's Palace by the Bridge of Sighs. It was called the Bridge of Sighs because it was the last opportunity for the condemned to look at their Venice before being executed on the Piazza next to the Palace, right about here:
I thought the Bridge of Sighs would be more impressive: open to the sky and with a heart-breaking view of the city. Instead it was a hallway with a hump and a heavily-fortified window:
No one was escaping via the Bridge of Sighs.
After our tour, Judy and I walked back to the Don Orione, stopping on the way to buy a sheet of hand-made paper for my artsy-crafty sister, Debbie. I had a difficult time making a choice among the many beautiful sheets! Afterwards, I was sorry I hadn't bought more than one. At E5.5, I could afford more than one, nor would packing two sheets have over-loaded my suitcase. Oh, well.
That evening we were booked for a tour of St. Mark's Bacilica. That will be another picture-loaded post so it gets its own write-up.
Note: Please do not share any of these pictures without checking with me first. Only about half of them are mine; the rest were taken by other Dunnetteers and shared via Flickr. Thanks muchly, FanSee
Judy and I were scheduled to meet up with our guide for a tour of parts of the Doge's Palace at 12:35 p.m. We could have boarded a chartered boat for the trip, but Judy and I decided to walk. I was eager to see St. Mark's Piazza for the first time.
Our first view of St. Mark's Square looking toward the campanile (bell tower) of St. Mark's Basilica and the Basilica.
After sitting and people-watching for a bit, we walked across the Square to the Vaporetto stop where we were to meet our guide at 1:30.
The Doge's Palace.
It is quite beautiful...almost delicate. If you look closely, the upper part is patterned in squares of pink and cream.
Here is a better picture, taken from that canal, of the whole area:
We had our choice of three different tours of the Doge's Palace: the Secret Itinerary tour, the Hidden Treasures tour, or a self-guided tour. We had chosen the Secret Itinerary tour which would take us through the areas of the Palace only open to the highest decision-making officials of the Republic. There they met to make deals and met out 'justice.'
Frankly, I think we made a mistake: either of the other tours would have been preferable. Our guide said that the Venetians referred to the rooms we saw as the attics, and they had all the charm and adornment of a typical attic: wooden floors, utilitarian paneling on the walls, low ceilings.
The attics were barely furnished: just a few odd pieces here and there.In their heyday, of course, I'm sure there would have been more in the way of furniture, and what was there would have been quite interesting, but of course, we wouldn't have been allowed to view them.
I also took a picture of the campanile from the third floor window...
...to prove, if nothing else, that I had made my way up four floors of dark, narrow, corkscrew steps.
We left the Doge's Palace by the Bridge of Sighs. It was called the Bridge of Sighs because it was the last opportunity for the condemned to look at their Venice before being executed on the Piazza next to the Palace, right about here:
I thought the Bridge of Sighs would be more impressive: open to the sky and with a heart-breaking view of the city. Instead it was a hallway with a hump and a heavily-fortified window:
No one was escaping via the Bridge of Sighs.
After our tour, Judy and I walked back to the Don Orione, stopping on the way to buy a sheet of hand-made paper for my artsy-crafty sister, Debbie. I had a difficult time making a choice among the many beautiful sheets! Afterwards, I was sorry I hadn't bought more than one. At E5.5, I could afford more than one, nor would packing two sheets have over-loaded my suitcase. Oh, well.
That evening we were booked for a tour of St. Mark's Bacilica. That will be another picture-loaded post so it gets its own write-up.
Note: Please do not share any of these pictures without checking with me first. Only about half of them are mine; the rest were taken by other Dunnetteers and shared via Flickr. Thanks muchly, FanSee