Today we drove to Venice and spent
the day drinking in the character of that amazing city. We accidentily bumped
into a man named Francesco, who was gathering people for a free city tour. We
decided to join the group and spent the next four hours walking the back alleys
of Venice, learning about the history and unique characters of the city. We
rarely came near the usual tourist sites, as Francesco wanted us to experience
Venice from “behind the scenes”. We walked over six miles of back alley ways
and were exhausted when done. He recommended a small, off the tourist route
Italian pub, where we had a delicious lunch.
After lunch we did walk to San Marco square to absorb its immense
beauty. It
was great to visit Venice again and experience it differently this time.
Venice, city of water streets
There are some beautiful boats running around the city
We joined Francesco's walking tour
The Jeweish guetto is the oldest in Europe
The Jews were locked in the guetto from 8:00PM until 8:00AM for over 600 years
They had to hide their Synagogs amongst their apartments
They opened the first pawn shops (or banks) to lend money to merchants
During WWII, over 8,000 Jews were sent from Venice to German concentration camps
The back ally tour took us to some neat places
The canals are spectacular
All the wealthy merchants had homes with access to a canal
The Gondolas are everywhere
The famous Rialto bridge
Life off the main tourist areas is very quaint
Many ally ways were very narrow
...and so were some canals
Venice is sinking! About 30" since 1904 when they started measuring it
The famous Doctor's mask was packed with perfumes and spices and used by
doctors during the plague to block the stench of the dead bodies
One of two Gondola factories. A new Gondola costs about 70,000 Euros
The grand canal looking across to St Mark's Square
Famous St Mark's Square with its pigeons
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