Venice

Early in the morning, our tour director took us by water taxi to the island of Murano, which is renowned for its long tradition of glass-making.  We visited a well-known glass factory where we watched an artisan create a piece of Murano glass, a real work of art.

 
After we returned to Venice, we prepared to take a highlight of any trip to Venice, a ride on a gondola.  Venice has 435 bridges that connect its 121 islands, and thus is known as the "City of Bridges."  Among the most famous are the Rialto Bridge, Accademia Bridge, Scalzi Bridge, Calatrava Bridge (the Constitution Bridge), and the Bridge of Sighs, which brought back a memory from the 1970s – a beautiful song by the Rock artist Robin Trower by the same name.  Our travelers split up in groups of three or four and we all clambered into gondolas; I’m afraid I did not make the most graceful of entrances to the tiny watercraft and its (I thought) irascible gondolier.  This photo was not very good, but it is difficult to take a selfie when you are grasping the side of a gondola and it is rocking from side to side in an alarming way.

Gondoliers are entertaining to watch and all know each other.  On a walking tour that we took with a local specialist after our gondola ride, I watched some from above as they deftly maneuvered the narrow canals, ducking just in time for the low bridge, gracefully stepping to shore.  When they approached a blind corner, they would sing out loudly to their fellow gondoliers that we were coming.

Our walking tour began at St. Marks square, and we crossed several bridges.  It was a tranquil city, with gondolas and other boats poling gracefully down the canals.  The streets were not very crowded and they were beginning to decorate for Christmas in the busy street outside our hotel.  I noticed that in all of the streets there were stacks of temporary walkways, which are used by city workers to build raised walkways linked together like folding tables.  These walkways, and waterproof boots, were commonly used throughout the city, and we were fortunate to be visiting during a dry period of time. 

I don’t think I would have enjoyed living in such a city or become accustomed to its frequent flooding, although it was certainly a very beautiful place to visit.  A bartender in our hotel that evening told us that nobody who worked there actually lived in Venice, they commuted by water taxi every day to the city center.  “It is a nice place for you to visit,” he said, “but not to live.”

 As evening approached, we took another water taxi to the island of Burano for a delicious dinner – wonderful seafood! – and then spent some time walking around perhaps the most picturesque city we have seen, with its buildings painted many different colors.  Every street looked like a watercolor picture.

We all met back at the dock after dinner and time on our own, and were treated at the end of the day with a gorgeous sunset on the way back to our hotel.