So when I left you yesterday, we were ready to explore Venice, heading to San Marco square from our hotel, crossing little canals & cute squares...
To finally emerge in San Marco square!
Despite the rain & the grey sky, the place was magnificent!
In fact I hadn't been in Venice from quite some time & I had almost forgotten how beautiful it is!
Plus, the advantage of visiting Venice under the rain is that there was almost no queue to enter San Marco Cathedral.
The downside being that I had to buy and wear one of those awful, touristy, plastic poncho (no, I won't show you a picture).
The interior of the Cathedral is huge and gold. There isn't an inch of the wall that isn't decorated. Everything is gorgeous. It made me think of the Church of the Savior Blood in Saint Petersburg.
Actually I found many similarities between Venise and St. Petersburg.
We then went to the bell tower to see Venice from above.
There there was even a smaller queue of tourists... Maybe it was because up there wind was unbearable, rain was swirling and it was freezing...
The panorama was worth it nonetheless, don't you think?
Anyway we couldn't resist up there more than 5 minutes...
Eager to stay in a dry place, we visited the Doge's Palace.
Doge's palace is a gothic beautiful building that was the residence of the Doge, the supreme authority of the former Republic of Venise.
We began our visit with the courtyard
To continue to the institutional Chambers where the governors of the Republic met and all decisions were taken, in a very modern & democratic way for that time.
All the Chambers are richly decorated and you can see paintings from all the most important artists from that time, like Tintoretto, Veronese...
Unfortunately, Doge's apartments were closed; we finished our visit with the prisons. The prisons were connected to the Palace through the Bridge of Sighs : prisoners would sighed at the last view of Venice they had while crossing the bridge.
No pictures of prisons: they were creepy...
And I'm gonna leave you with the Bacaro Risorto advice for different ills you could have: love, loneliness, lost keys... And don't worry there's a specific alcohol to treat each one of them ;)
Doge's palace is a gothic beautiful building that was the residence of the Doge, the supreme authority of the former Republic of Venise.
We began our visit with the courtyard
To continue to the institutional Chambers where the governors of the Republic met and all decisions were taken, in a very modern & democratic way for that time.
All the Chambers are richly decorated and you can see paintings from all the most important artists from that time, like Tintoretto, Veronese...
Unfortunately, Doge's apartments were closed; we finished our visit with the prisons. The prisons were connected to the Palace through the Bridge of Sighs : prisoners would sighed at the last view of Venice they had while crossing the bridge.
No pictures of prisons: they were creepy...
By the time we emerged from the Doge’s Palace it was lunch time.
As you can imagine around San Marco there are lots of unappealing touristy restaurants… But I have a hidden, little gem for you, the Bacaro risorto.
A cute little bacaro, 5 minutes away from San Marco square. Plus going there, you have a beautiful view over the Bridge of Sighs.
No need to say, we shared some cicheti ;)
And I'm gonna leave you with the Bacaro Risorto advice for different ills you could have: love, loneliness, lost keys... And don't worry there's a specific alcohol to treat each one of them ;)
Even though I've been to Venice, I never got to see the inside of the cathedral or Doge's Palace. Good to know if I ever go again. But my favorite takeaway from your post is the alcohol advice provided by Bacaro Risorto. Now that's a picture to print and hang on the wall! lol. Thanks for sharing your tour of Venice! #citytripping
ReplyDeleteahah yes the alcohol advice is quite fun ;)))
Delete& for the Doge's Palace, I must admit we mainly went inside because it was raining, but it really worth the visit!!
We were in Venice last fall and I absolutely loved it! We didn't see the inside of the Palace, but we did tour the inside of the Cathedral. So much gold! Ugh, your pictures are making me wish I was back in Venice... #citytripping
ReplyDeleteeheh yes Venice is so gold & opulent ;) & beautiful! Wish I was back there too! ;)
DeleteOh my.. the view from the bell tower is just STUNNING!! I'm feeling a bit soar that I missed that when I visited Venice. Couldn't get past all the queuing when I was there on a bright and sunny Summer day. Just ended up roaming around randomly and getting hopelessly lost for most part of our day there. #CityTripping
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about the queues in Venice!!! We were really disappointed by all the rain when we were there, but the good side of it was that there was no queue anywhere!! & that was quite amazing :))
DeleteAnyway, for next times, you know you can now book online most of the visits in Venice to avoid some queuing ;)
Beautiful photos, particularly the views from the bell tower!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :))
Deletexx
What stunning photos! I had forgotten how beautiful Venice is too - thanks for the reminder. The views from the bell tower are awesome...we didn't go up when we went...another place I am going to have to revisit! Thanks for sharing on #citytripping
ReplyDeleteThanks! It had been quite some time since the last time I had visited Venice & me too I had almost forgotten how beautiful it is! ;)
Deletexx
Venice is so beautiful, even in the rain - I definitely think it was worth braving the rain for those views too. I haven't been inside the Doge's palace either (or realised the reason for the Bridge of Sighs' name) but will have to add that to my list... plus some medicine at the Bacaro after! #citytripping
ReplyDeleteYou're right even in the rain, Venice is still Venice!! :))
Deletexx
Venice is so beautiful, even in the rain - I definitely think it was worth braving the rain for those views too. I haven't been inside the Doge's palace either (or realised the reason for the Bridge of Sighs' name) but will have to add that to my list... plus some medicine at the Bacaro after! #citytripping
ReplyDelete