I think I was expecting good things of Venice – I mean, you hear how it’s the city of romance – a beautiful, gorgeous city that everyone wants to see, and that you need to take out a mortgage if you want to buy a coffee in St Mark’s Square.
Cruise ships are no longer permitted to sail alongside the city, so our actual port was Marghera. From there we were taken on a shuttle boat (provided by Saga) across the bay to the island.
Not the prettiest of routes, but interesting, as we passed a variety of industrial zones.
I hadn’t done any research, so I had no idea of what we’d see, apart from the stuff I might have seen on the tv. I knew about the square, the canals and the gondolas. But that was about it.
The shuttle boat travelled down Giudecca Canal, a wide tranche of water that was previously used by cruise ships. Boats of all descriptions, but mainly ferries, obviously use this as the main motorway in and out of the city. It separates the main island of Venice from Guidecca. This was my first view of the city. In a way, it reminded me of Amsterdam, with all the buildings right up to the water’s edge.
Our shuttle pulled up to one of the many piers along the canal, and as we got off, we were told, “Four bridges to the left and you get to St Marks Square”, so that’s where we headed first.
The first thing we did when we got there was to queue to visit the Basilica. I was thinking it would be on par with some of the fantastic houses of worship we’d visited in the past – The Blue Mosque, the Hagir Sofia, St Pauls in London, St Peter’s in Rome, The Church of the Spilt Blood in St Petersburg. But I was left feeling a little disappointed. The Basilica is an absolutely stunning building, and I am sure that in its new pristine form, it would have definitely given those other edifices a run for their money. But as we entered, it seemed dark and uncared for. The beautiful designs on the ceiling were dulled with soot. Carvings and colours dulled by thick dust. I can imagine that it would be difficult to clean such a massive and ornate building, and obviously it has to be carried out in such a way as not to damage anything, but surely the huge number of paying visitors would help raise money to do that?
The price on the door was also a little bit of a con too. €3. But it wasn’t until we were inside did we realise that ticket only allowed you to visit the main church floor, everywhere else is additional, and we were stopped by signs asking for another €7 to go on. I wanted to go upstairs to the balcony that runs around the top of the Basilica, and to see the Marble horses, but we were feeling a little cheated at the time, so left it for our next visit. I’ve since looked online to try and work out what parts of the building are worth visiting and how much that would cost. So far it’s not very clear.
St Mark’s Square next, which, in my head, would be a big open space filled with covered café tables where people were waited on by staff from up market Italian restaurants. There might be a little classical music oozing out from restaurant speakers or maybe a violinist somewhere and the square would echo the sound as well as the chatter.
In reality, there was one restaurant towards the side of the square that kept up with the imagined scene. It even provided a small classical orchestra, but the rest of the square was empty apart from tourists, a stand selling hats and a couple of packed up sets of furniture that made me think of scaffolding. There was no romance or beauty about it. The Basilica at the end of the square is quite stunning but even that was surrounded by netted fencing which just spoiled it. Despite the grandeur of the square buildings, I was left feeling a little depressed. Was this it?
We now left to look at the other must see sights of Venice, Accademia Bridge and Realto Bridge. As we made our way through the narrow streets and walk ways, my heart lifted. The streets, squares and narrow walkways of Venice in themselves are pleasant enough, but all those canals! And all those little bridges!
I loved the canals, and the manic manoeuvring of the gondolas, water taxis, ferries and cargo boats. I loved all the little bridges, and the views from the bigger bridges, and I loved the contrasting shade and sparkle of the canals themselves. I took so many photos.
We had to be back for our shuttle boat back to the ship at 5. As usual we were early, and sat in the sun at the edge of the Giudecca Canal watching the world go by. We are coming back to Venice in October and I am now looking forward to seeing more of it.
Tomorrow we are back in Croatia, to a town called Zadir. We have absolutely no idea what it’s gonna be like.
Edit: Our October cruise was cancelled. I don't know when we'll be able to visit Venice again now.
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