Upcoming Visit to Venice

Venice, Again!

A View of Venice

Have you had the privilege of visiting Venice before? There is no shortage of amazing places in Italy to visit, of course! But if I had to pick one of my favorite cities, Venice would appear high on my list (maybe even the highest!). This trip will include my third and fourth visits to Venice (since we’ll spend a couple of days before and after our upcoming cruise). Even so, it’s hard to believe I’ll be back in Venice soon!

Another View of a Venetian Canal

Note: With one exception, all the pictures in today’s blog are from my first trip to Venice. I have some from the second one – but where they have disappeared to, that is the question! The only picture that’s not from that trip is the public domain picture of the equestrian monument. My photos of the monument are among the missing photographs!

View of the Grand Canal

Like so many other places in the world, there is really too much to see and do, even with several days available at a time. So once again, we will follow my uncle’s advice and “Leave something for the next time.” I’m pretty sure if I visited Venice as many times as I’ve visited Washington, D.C., I would still not be lacking for things to do in either place!

The Grand Canal

My favorite part of the city has to be the water everywhere – small canals that seem to appear at every turn – and, of course, the Grand Canal. And like so many of the other cities I’ve visited, Venice makes it easy and relatively inexpensive to buy a one or two day pass for the public transportation (in this case, the water buses), so I like to make traveling along the Grand Canal a LARGE part of my visits there!

Traffic on the Grand Canal

A Palace along the Grand Canal

The first time I visited Venice I found a small book, Grand Canal: A History of Venice in one of the local bookstores. I had fun learning the history of the many, many palaces that line the Grand Canal, both before and after seeing them.

And then it was fun to incorporate some of their stories into my third da Vinci novel, Leonardo: To Mantua and Beyond – when Leonardo visits Venice to give the Venetians advice in his role as a military advisor.

Venice Must Sees

St Mark’s Basilica

Doge’s Palace

Of course, every tourist in Venice has to see St. Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace. I did the tour of the palace the first time I was there and saw the inside of the church the second time.  While the first timers with me this time around see those I may cruise up and down the Grand Canal a few times!

Equestrian Monuments

Equestrian Monument of Bartolomeo Colleoni

As a huge da Vinci fan I was surprised that it took me until my second trip to Venice to go see the statue that his mentor, Andrea del Verrocchio, had designed – the equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni. It’s kind of in an out of the way place in the city, and our tour guide had never heard of it before I asked him about it, but for me, at least, it was worth the detour. Verrocchio had started working on the designs for the monument while he and Leonardo were both in Florence. Watching (and possibly helping, before Verrocchio moved his work to Venice) undoubtedly influenced Leonardo’s later work on his own equestrian statue in Milan (for the Duke’s father, Francesco Sforza).

Wandering through Venice

The Rialto Bridge at Night

Street Sign in Venice for St. Mark’s Basilica

Even having visited Venice twice already, I still like to continue my research of what we want to see and do while we’re there. I found several blogs (here’s a great source of information) about visiting the city, with lots of good suggestions. I think my favorite suggestion was to just wander around and “get lost.” It’s tough to get truly lost, because on the corners of many, many buildings you will find signs pointing in the direction of St. Mark’s and/or the Rialto Bridge (the other “must see” for any Venetian tourist). So you can always find your way to one or both of those. And since the city itself is strictly off-limits to cars, wandering through the streets and alleys can be lots of fun!

Flexible Plans

Another View of Venice

We’re still compiling our list for priorities for this trip, and even when it’s finished, we’ll be sure to be flexible. I’m a firm believer in having “flexible plans” when I travel. I find it generally keeps the stress way down!

If we can work it in, I would love to go to where they make Murano glass, and to go to the Jewish ghetto (which sadly has the distinction of being the first Jewish ghetto in Europe). But if we don’t make it to either or both of those, I’ll have something to aim for on the NEXT trip to Venice!

Happy traveling!

Cathy

I had to share just a few more of my favorite Venice pictures: