The attraction for a trip to Italy was the Dolomite Mountains. It is famous for many multi-day hikes in the hut-to-hut variety that I enjoy. We would just being doing day hikes this time, but I might come back in the future as the views were incredible.
I normally start out these international posts with a history on the country, but I will mix it up a bit here as most people are familiar with some of the highlights of Italian history, especially involving the Romans. Instead, I would like to focus on Venice, our first stop on the journey.
Venice is a city built on petrified wood logs in the middle of a lagoon. It gained prominence as the gateway to the East. Marco Polo and others used the Silk Road to bring spices back, and distribute them to Europe. To solidify their position as a major player, Venice decided it needed a more famous patron saint, so they went out and stole the remains of St Mark from Egypt and marketed him to visitors. A major event in the history of Venice was their involvement in the 4th Crusade. The Doge (leader) built the ships and provided the provisions for what originally was going to be an attack on the Holy Land, but when the knights numbers came up short and couldn’t pay the bill, the crusaders became Soldiers of Fortune. They attacked Venetian enemies in modern day Croatia and then went on to sack Constantinople. The fact that Constantinople was also Christian became irrelevant. In the 15th Century a water route was established to the spice islands around Africa and India. This began the end of Venetian dominance.
Our trip itself would begin in Venice and we would work our way West across the north of Spain, hitting Cortina, Verona, Lake Como and ultimately flying back home from Milan.
Our flight was delayed for 30 minutes due to what the pilot said was a “Passport Issue.” There were a number of border control guards at the gate when we boarded, so we assumed this was just the new norm under our authoritarian regime. It turned out that the couple sitting behind us had lost their passports, somehow in between the gate and the plane. Eventually someone found them on the jetway after our plane had closed it’s doors and pushed away. I am not sure how this was possible or how they were not found immediately by one of the other passengers waiting to board. Regardless, their passports had to be delivered on the next plane. They were upset because they had a connection and would obviously miss it waiting in Paris for their passports. Hard to argue when your dumb enough to leave your passports on the jetway.
We arrived exhausted in Venice in the early afternoon. We checked into our B&B and took a 4 hour nap before getting up to briefly explore the city before dinner.
We stopped at a café right next to our place for drinks. I ordered the Aperol Spritz. I figured it was mandatory to drink this in Italy at least once, and that exactly how many times I ordered it for the entire trip. It is amazing how popular this drink has become. Every bar promotes the hell out of it and Aperol bottles litter all the display windows.
We stopped for dinner at La Lanterna where we had mussels in a tomatoe/white wine sauce. Probably the best meal of the trip
After dinner we walked the canals.
It was an early night since we were still fatigued from the long day of travel. Who am I kidding, at this age they are all early nights.
We got up early and just followed the crowds through the alleys and over the bridges towards what we assumed would be St Mark’s Square. Most people we talked to before this trip had negative reactions towards our visit to Venice. "The crowds are unbearable" they all said. In anticipation, we prebooked our tickets to the Basilica and Doge Palace. It was drizzling in the morning, and as result of this, and the late summer timing we really did not see much crowds at all.
It took us about 20 minutes to wind our way through the canals, stopping for coffee and pastries.
Each turn I recollected scenes from an Indiana Jones movies. I thought these little tea rooms were cool
When we arrived at St Marks, we waited to meet our tour group.
We opted out of a guided tour and chose just the audio option with “skip the line” tickets. We probably did not even need that as there were no lines. In the picture below, The front of St Mark’s Cathedral, you will notice 4 horses in the upper left quadrant. These are replicas, with the real ones located inside the museum. They were stolen during the 4th Crusade from Constantinople. They were then stolen from Venice by Napoleon and placed upon the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, only to be taken back to Venice following the Napoleonic wars.
Inside the Basilica we listened to the audio guide as it describes the Byzantine and Gothic style. Covered in gold mosaics, it reminded me of the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul.
Outside, we saw two pillars standing before all who arrive into Venice by water. One was the winged lion, a symbol of St Mark, and the other being a St Theodore (patron saint before Mark) standing over a crocodile.
The Doge Palace was next. Basically the Doge was a type of elected mayor who held the position for life.
From here we decided to walk to the Rialto bridge. Famous for design and longevity, it appears in paintings from various Renaissance painters.
We continued our stroll.
We picked up a water taxi and were able to loop the entire city for a few Euro. Much more affordable than a Gondola ride.
We stopped off for dinner along the way. We accidentally got on a taxi going the wrong way and had to get off at next stop and reverse course. Nothing to do with the 1/2 liter of wine I consumed during dinner.
A bit comical during dinner. They brought us olive oil, balsamic vinegar and bread. They also brought out Parmesan cheese. We sprinkled the cheese on our plate of olive oil and dipped our bread. We then realized the cheese was just brought in preparation for our pasta dishes and they were probably laughing at us. I wondered what else they could have brought with oil and bread to see if we would integrate it. How far could they go? If they brought prosciutto, would I have lapped up the oil with it? What about tomatoes or even red wine?
Some shots of how the other half lives and the “help” toiling away.
A perfect dose of Venice. We were leaving tomorrow morning with nothing but positive thoughts and would do our best to change the representation of the floating city.
Until Tomorrow,
Darren
