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Venice, Italy (8.-11. September 2015)Probably the most beautiful town in Europe or even the whole world. Visiting Venice in northern Italy together with Emma and familymueller.ch Before arriving there, we have to cross the Swiss alps (pink line: Auenstein - Gotthardpass - Milano - Verona - Venice)...
Passo del San Gottardo 2'106 m ü. M.
Venice is a city in northeastern Italy sited on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. It is located in the marshy Venetian Lagoon which stretches along the shoreline, between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Venice is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture, and its artwork. The city in its entirety is listed as a World Heritage Site, along with its lagoon.
The first pictures of Venice and his canals...
Our Airbnb apartment (red X) was great and in the center of Venice...
Second floor with the balcony...
Venice, one of the most remarkable and extraordinary cities in Europe, has been a first-class cultural centre from time immemorial. The ‘Queen of the Adriatic’ has given birth to such eminent personalities such as Marco Polo and Giacomo Casanova, who are famous throughout the world. During the epoch of the Renaissance, Venice was among the most important art and cultural centers, with its own style of musical composition and a host of great painters and artists. Today, Venice is still a city of culture, which can be felt everywhere through its unique atmosphere of romance, art and architecture.
The city has a total of 150 canals. Motor boats are not allowed to travel in small canals that are narrow. The city has almost 400 bridges and the Grand Canal cuts the city equally into two proportionate halves from the north to the south. One of the constant threats that the city has, is the weakening infrastructure of the buildings. Rather than visiting Venice by car (forbidden in town), it is very common to find water buses and water taxis that are used for transportation.
Venetian masks are a centuries-old tradition of Venice. The masks are typically worn during the Carnival of Venice, but have been used on many other occasions in the past, usually as a device for hiding the wearer's identity and social status. The mask would permit the wearer to act more freely in cases where he or she wanted to interact with other members of the society outside the bounds of identity and everyday convention. It was useful for a variety of purposes, some of them illicit or criminal, others just personal, such as romantic encounters.
Every evening - and yes - ate Emma drinks wine now...
Americans (Navy people) are everywhere...
The gondola is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. The rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, is used in a sculling manner, also acting as the rudder. For centuries the gondola was the chief means of transportation and most common watercraft within Venice. It is propelled by a gondolier. In modern times the iconic boats still have a role in public transport in the city, serving as traghetti (ferries) over the Grand Canal. Their primary role today, however, is to carry tourists on rides at fixed (expensive :-) rates.
Piazza San Marco (often known in English as St Mark's Square), is the principal public square of Venice, where it is generally known just as "la Piazza". All other urban spaces in the city (except the Piazzetta and the Piazzale Roma) are called "campi" (fields). The Piazzetta (the 'little Piazza') is an extension of the Piazza towards the lagoon in its south east corner. The two spaces together form the social, religious and political centre of Venice and are commonly considered together.
Thursday: Visiting MURANO (by boat of course) - Murano is a series of islands in the Venetian Lagoon. It lies about 0.9 miles north of Venice and measures about 0.9 mi across with a population of just over 5,000. It is famous for its glass making. It was once an independent commune, but is now a frazione of the commune of Venice.
Murano’s reputation as a center for glassmaking was born when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire and the destruction of the city’s mostly wooden buildings, ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291. Murano glass is still associated with Venetian glass and well known in the whole world.
The Murano Glass Museum collection is laid out chronologically. Starting from an archaeological section on the ground floor, which contains noteworthy Roman works dating from the 1st to the 3rd century A.D., it follows to the largest historical collection of Murano glass in the world, with pieces dating from the 15th to the 20th century, many of them world-famous masterpieces.
Time to go back home to Switzerland - over the alps again (blue line)...
A stop in Tirol and Emma is trying 'Knödel'...
Dearest Emma, we hope you where enjoying the trip, Venice and our accompaniment.
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