After arriving again by bus at Piazzale Roma we boarded the number Duo Vaporetto which took us along the Grand Canal to the Rialto.
Naturally there were obligatory photos taken from and on the Ponti de Rialto, photos which showed the Grand Canal as a working system - barges, gondolas, vaporetto, water taxis all shuffling for their space on the canal.
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| Grand Canal |
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| Ponti di Rialto |
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| Count the number of Gondolas |
A saunter through the Rialto markets allowed us to stock up on some fruit for later in the day before a well earned cup of espresso in a sidewalk cafe.
Well earned indeed, more like a mortgage instalment as this shopkeeper certainly saw us coming - 8 euro for 2 cups of coffee (that is $16 in kiwi language) when the most we have paid has been around 4 euro!
Lighter in the pocket but refreshed we then made our way through the narrow streets to Piazza San Marco.
It is said that you can't get lost in Venice but we certainly tried to give a lie to that as we weaved our way rather circuitously to the piazza.
On the way we happened upon an art exhibition in the Ukrainian Pavilion entitled Post-vs-Proto-Renaissance which was only part of a monumental work (92mx134m) composed of 3,640,000 wooden eggs covered in traditional Ukrainian decorations - the part on display was Christ's head and it was stunning to look at as it gave the impression of a digital file of egg-pixels.
Having finally reached the piazza we sat in the 32 degree heat and had lunch before queuing to enter the famous Basilica di San Marco another stunning example of a religious building.
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| One of the frescos on the outside of the Basilica |
This area is quite something and attracts big crowds - some 14 million visitors come to Venice each year but no one told us that 12 million of them were due in town today!
Flagging slightly after being on the island for 7 and a half hours, all bar 30 minutes of which we had been on the move, we made our way back along one of the main thoroughfares, not without some navigational mishaps, to Piazzale Roma for a hot and sweaty bus trip home.
We leave Venice behind tomorrow as we start to cross back to the western seaboard of the country.
For one who is not a romantic I confess there is something special even enchanting about this city.
Bella Venezia, caio!
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