May 25, 2018

    We awoke in Venice, Italy this morning. The day was sunny and forecast to stay that way for the whole day.  The temperature was 20°C.The city is known as the “Queen of the Adriatic”.  Venice is really a collection of small islands quite close to one another. The city borders the Venetian Lagoon and is separated from the Adriatic Sea by the island of Lido, which we will pass as our cruise ship exits Venice through the narrow dredged channel, Porto di Lido,to the open water in a few days. Over the centuries the islands have been reclaimed from the Venetian Lagoon to form the canals and some rivers that are joined by many bridges of different designs. The 420 year old Rialto Bridge is the most famous, it is partly covered and has about a six meter wide central pathway lined with shops and on the side of the shops there is a four meter pathway and all three paths are crowded during the day. People stop and take pictures of the gondolas or the canal as they cross. There are over 40 steps to climb to the crest of the Rialto Bridge. The Grand Canal is the widest and busiest canal snaking between two clusters of islands that make up most of the city of Venice.  The islands further in the lagoon are connected by ferries, water busses and water taxis. The many tiny neighbourhoods of Venice have their own squares or campos where there is often a well or water fountain which for centuries was the water source for citizens. The small fountains tickle water for anyone to use, especially tourists filling their water bottles.
   After breakfast, we walked 35 minutes to Saint Mark’s Square which was teeming with people at 10 a.m. We took photos of the famous Saint Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace then looked for walking tours. There were no umbrellas or signs for walking tours like there was in the Grand Market in Brussels. Two free walking tours had openings if you booked on line.  We bought €20 tickets for a 4.5 hour Alilaguna boat tour to three islands - Murano, Burano and Torcello.
    The Alilaguna sightseeing boat docked having come from the train station.  There were over 90 people waiting for the tour at the Saint Mark’s Giardnetti pier on the Canal di S. Marco. The guide on board, Grazilla, gave commentary in Italian, Spanish and English. The tour started by going through the Venetian Lagoon to the island of Lido. We passed the island where the psychiatric hospital is located.  The channels for large ships are regularly dredged since the water is not very deep. The channels are well marked for all boats and ships.  The outlying islands are like villages with stores and services for their populations. Some of the islands grow the vegetables for Venice, including artichoke which is very popular. We passed the ship building yards and the island that is the Venice cemetery before arriving at Murano island.
   Murano island has a population of about 4,000.  The glass blowing factories were moved there in the 1200s, due to concerns of explosions. Today there are 20 glass blowing factories on Murano.  Its glass products are world famous.  The ships passengers arrived at the Vetreria Ducale factory pier to witness glass blowing by a master craftsman, Alessandro Barbaro, who was starting to create a horse. Next, we were guided into the showrooms. The blown glass is beautiful with products as small as beads to creations of glass plates and sculptures like horses. 
We took an interest in the dozens of wine bottle stopper designs and found two that we liked.  We had more time, the stop was for 45 minutes, to walk a little into the village before stopping for a large speck ham and mozzarella wrap (€4.50)to share on the boat with our water. The Italian breads and buns are delicious.
    On the way to Burano island we were told that it was once a fishing village and the houses were painted the same colour as the fishing boats so that the returning fishermen could see their homes as they approached the village.  We passed an island where there was a monastery in 1220 where the Italian saint Francis of Assissi went to pray.
   It was a short walk into the town of Burano, where we walked to the far end of the main street to see its church, that was not open. On the way back, we stopped to buy a no-iron tablecloth with 6 napkins at a little shop and asked directions to the best gelati store for gelati.  It was sunny and about 26°C. A quick check of the pedometer and we had walked 8,793 steps or 6.54 km.  Larry took a photo of the tour boat that waited 50 minutes for the passengers to visit Burano. 
    The final island to visit, just a five minute boat ride away, was Torcello.  It was the island first settled and  the official port of the lagoon until 1200 when people left it due to malaria and founded Venice.  The oldest church in Italy still stands and can be visited for a small fee. It was built in the 7thcentury.  Passengers had 55 minutes to see the island and have some refreshments or visit the archeological site.
    We could see the planes landing and taking off from the Marco Polo airport as the boat  returned to St. Mark’s Square. The boat also passed the old naval yards within Venice. Grazilla mentioned that the causeway connecting Venice to the mainland was built in the 19thcentury by an Austrian. As we approached the Saint Mark’s pier, we had a good picture of the Doge’s Palace and the Bridge of Sighs (Prisoners Bridge) from the water.Once off the boat, we decided to walk to the gardens further along the St. Mark’s canal in the sunshine with a nice breeze blowing.  Distance walked was walked 12,784 steps or 9.81 km as we came off the boat.    
    The gardens can be accessed by waterbus by alighting at Giardini pier, but we like to walk.  There is a city wide art exhibit going on in Venice and the garden is hosting a major part of the pieces there were lots of people taking in the event.
    We tried to take a less sunny route back to the hotel.  We passed many campos, churches, narrow streets and bridges and of course stopped for two scoops each of gelati at the price of €2.80 each.  The gelati is so good on a hot day.  We got a bit of sunburn even though we wore hats and I wore long sleeves.  When we arrived at the hotel it was eight hours since we had left.
    After freshening up we walked 63 steps down the hall to the front door, then 30 steps to the next restaurant, Trattoria Pizzeria Antico Gafaro for dinner with Prosecco.
    We returned to the hotel and found just one TV channel CNN to catch up on the news.
    
Final steps for the day 23,579 or 17.54 km













































































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