Venice. You take a piece of heart from many an unsuspecting traveller's chests and then drop it into the lagoon as an offering. Just like the Dodges of Venice's past used to drop a wedding ring into the lagoon to show Venice's devotion to the Sea. I too will forever return to you now, "La Serenissima" to recover that piece of my heart that lies at the bottom of your lagoon.
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| Quiet Venice Mornings All To Yourself! |
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| Santa Maria Della Salute |
If you want to know the real Venice stay overnight in a residential neighbourhood away from the main tourist attractions. Get up early and explore hidden alleys or stay up late to see midnight in Venice all beautifully lit up without all the tourists! Venice at night is like looking at your lover by candlelight, she seems softer. More mysterious. More romantic that you can ever imagine!
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| Gondolas In The Mist |
It was the day we must leave Venice and return to our farmstead in Canada. I don't know what was harder; saying goodbye to my Italian dance sister Giulia who had been travelling with us or leaving Venice. Luckily I had a few hours in between the two events to compose myself!
It was one of those foggy winter mornings in Venice where the mist was so thick you couldn't see beyond the next bridge. We said goodbye to our dear friend and watched her disappear into the fog the, sound of her roller bag echoing against the stone buildings. The fog was so inviting we decided that we should also venture out and explore this dream-like state of Venice since we didn't have to check out of our Airbnb flat until 1pm.
Heading to Piazza San Marco was like walking through an eerie Victorian horror novel, dark and narrow alleys with mysterious figures moving towards you. All of our usual landmarks looked so different in the cloudy grey mist, so we were once again struggling to not get lost.
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| Famous Bronze Horses Of St. Marks |
The plan was to explore St. Marks Basilica, but today was the last day of the Christmas celebration season in Italy; The Epiphany. This was when the Three Kings arrived in Bethlehem, and Jesus was baptized. So the Basilica was actually closed to tourists for a celebration mass until 2pm. Oh, such poor timing on our part! Plan B was to climb the bell tower in front of St. Marks to get a stunning view of all of Venice... but it was too foggy to see anything so we figured we would save our €8 to climb to the top.
We really didn't have a Plan C, since we only had a few hours before we needed to go to the airport. We DID have our Vaporetto boat passes in our pocket from yesterday. TIP: Vaporetto passes are good for 24 hours from the time they were purchased. So we decided to hop the next boat and cross the Grand Canal to explore a bit of the Dorsoduro neighbourhood. Just as we crossed the Grand Canal, the sun began to come out over Venice and burn through the fog of the lagoon. The view of the Doge's Palace and Piazza San Marco from across the canal was outstanding from the viewpoint at La Salute church, where the Vaporetto lets you off. "Santa Maria Della Salute" or Our Lady of Health is a large white domed church that was built in gratitude to the Virgin Mary by Venetians after the 1630 plague swept through the lagoon. The plague devastated Venice, killing one out of 4 Venetians There are some beautiful Titian and Tintoretto paintings inside, but this church too was closed to tourists for religious services during Epiphany. Check out the view:
There was just so many places to see in Venice that we never had a chance to explore, such as the Academia Museum, the Correr Museum and the Frari Church that has some in-situ masterpieces by Titian. There are also the many small Islands in the lagoon that beckon to be explored. Venice, in my opinion, is like Rome, Paris or London where one week would be perfect to cover the essential sights without being in a rush.
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| View Of The Doges Palace From La Salute |
Luckily the Alilaguana boat to the airport was right outside our apartment. I say luckily because we didn't have to carry our bottle laden suitcases through Venice, and more importantly because I didn't have time to cook up an escape plan. Do you ever get those impulsive thoughts? Ones that tell you to QUIT your job, NOT get on your plane home and stay in Venice. I rarely feel sad when a journey ends and am content to go home and see my family and friends and settle back into Canadian life on a farm. I CRIED as the boat pushed off Fondemente Nova. Tears streamed down my face as we zipped across the waters and the sun sank into the Venetian lagoon.
Thinking back on our first European Christmas, I felt so lucky. Spending our holidays celebrating Italian Christmas traditions with old friends and learning Venetian culture from new ones. From the capital of Rome to the snow-topped rustic mountain villages of Umbria to the unforgettable floating city of Venice. Along the way, we travelled the ancient Roman Road called the Via Flaminia soaking in food, wine, history and culture like sponges. We wandered underground through ancient Christian catacombs far beneath Rome and climbed up to the top of Mount Titano the highest point in the country of San Marino. We visited incredible places of culture in the museums in Rome and palaces in Venice and became a temporary local in the New Year street party of Riccione. We discovered a new Umbrian legend, found a hidden treasure in Marchè's Urbino and fulfilled a bucket list item taking a gondola tour in Venice.
From the airport boat, I watched a lone gondolier glide gracefully across the calm lagoon like a water strider. My sadness disappeared, and knowledge that I will return to this beautiful part of Italy washed over me. After all, I must come back to visit that piece of my heart that is at the bottom of the Venetian Lagoon with all the other hopeless romantics.
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| The Venice Lagoon At Sunset |
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