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341 |
342 | 343 | 344 |
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345 |
346 |
347 |
348 |
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349 |
350 |
351 |
352 |
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353 |
354 |
355 |
356 |
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We began our last full day in Venice at St. Mark's Basilica (341-357). This is the third church to stand on this site and the current structure dates from the 11th century. Beautiful mosaics are throughout (342, 344, 346). Although believed lost in a fire in 976 AD, the remains of St. Mark are said to have reappeared when the present church was consecrated. His grave is shown in # 348. #347 shows the Pala d'Oro, a beautiful 10th century altarpiece composed of 250 panels like # 349, each adorned with enamels and precious stones. Later, we visited the church museum from where we could look down into the basilica (350) and, from the exterior loggia, experience a commanding view of the Piazza San Marco (351-354). The famous gilded bronze horses of St. Mark's (353) are actually replicas with the originals protected inside in the museum (355). These horses were stolen from the Hippodrome in Istanbul in 1204 AD. A bust of Pope John XXIII is shown in # 356. Venice flooding has become more frequent in recent times with the Piazza San Marco flooding several times a year at high tide. Elevated walkways like those shown in #357 have become a permanent feature. While in Venice, we noted certain restaurants next to canals had waiters who wore high rubber boots to protect themselves against the high water. We saw on a couple of occasions that several tables in these outdoor restaurants were unusable when this phenomenon occurred. |
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357 |
358 |
359 |
360 |
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| 361 | 362 | 363 | 364 |
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For lunch on this final day, we took the Hotel
Cipriani's private launch over to their site across the water from St.
Mark's (358-360). There on the Giudecca island sits one of the world's
great hotels. We sat outside and had lunch while enjoying the view
across the water. Vicky, fast becoming an expert on Bellinis, tried
out the Hotel Cipriani's version. It was considerably different and
she asked the difference between theirs and Harry's Bar. The waiter
proceeded to give a long explanation of the difference and why the Hotel
Cipriani's was better. Vicky agreed. After lunch we toured the
beautiful hotel and grounds (361-364).
On the following day, it was necessary to be at the Venice airport for a flight just after 7 AM. Because of additional security measures, we had to get there early so we arranged for a water taxi to pick us up at the hotel at 5 AM. Water taxis in Venice are very luxurious and very expensive but they are the only practical means to get to the airport. After we loaded the luggage into the taxi, we went down the Grand Canal very slowly due to the strict speed limits. At that time of the morning, there was very little traffic. Then we turned down a very narrow water alleyway and suddenly we were out in the Venetian Lagoon. Once there, the taxi made its way into a one-way lane with telephone-type poles separating it from a lane going in the other direction. Then the taxi pilot took the boat to maximum speed down the lane for the thirty minute ride. Let's just say you haven't lived until you have experienced a ride like that in the dark at 5 AM. |
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