Posts Tagged ‘rialto bridge’

Hidden Venice

Thursday, September 18th, 2014

DSC02311 (300x400)Ever been to Disneyland on a holiday?  The crowds kinda take some of the fun out of it when you can’t do or see all you had hoped for because of just too many people.  That’s Venice! And don’t get me started about expensive! Gondola rides are now  more than $100 or sitting in St. Mark’s Square and ordering a glass of wine will set you back $19.

So allowing for 3 days in Venice, we settled for two and had a day in Padua instead. It’s a university town (60,000 students worth!) and it has rivers and canals and cobbled streets and market day and cheap pizza!

But Steve and I did turn a few hours in Venice into a treasure hunt and had a great time seeing things people would normally pass over. For example, among all the white pillars of the Doge’s Palace there are two pink ones. You’d miss it if you didn’t look for them. The Doge would stand there for all criminal sentencings as well as hangings. You can find the site where the scaffolding was erected because it’s across from the elaborate clock so the condemned man could see his last minute. St. Mark’s Basilica does not line up with the square, but if you seek it out, there is a medallion in the marble that is the perfect axis point to the church. We ran around the Square and the Rialto Bridge finding these sort of things in lieu of standing in lines.

So a little hide n’ seek, a dance in the middle in the square, and a gelato…we had a party Venice-style!