Ca' del Dose

Venice in Pictures

by PeterReed

"St. Mark's Basilica"

Tourists gather in the quare to gaze at the intricate frontage.

"Basilica Ceiling"

The stunning golden ceiling of the basilica with various scenes from the Gospels picked out in mosaics

"Vaporetto view"

Heading out towards the Lido this is the view looking back to St. Mark's Square

"Rialto"

The scene on a thousand postcards of the Rialto Bridge across the Grand Canal.
Beware the hoards of tourists crowding the narrow alleyways either side of the bridge.

"Burano"

As mentioned, this could almost be a set for an advertisement for a paint manufacturer with all the houses painted in pastel shades.

"Shopping canal style"

Like a market garden, there were fruit and vegetables on sale from this waterborne shop as well as garden plants on Murano

"San Zaccaria"

The view from a bridge near the Ca' Del Dose looking over the San Zaccaria vaporetta stop

"Murano Glass"

A fascinating half-hour was spent watching the galssblowers in a Factory on Murano. Here, the craftsman produces a beautiful glass cockerel

Venice – vaporettos and canals

by PeterReed

"Very Enjoyable Notable Italian City to Explore"

We arrived by bus from the airport at Treviso – about an hour’s drive away. Alighting at the Piazza de Roma, Making our way to the stop we were pointed in the direction of a no1. A slight mistake as this takes the long way down the Grand Canal stopping at every point. But, hey, what a great introduction to the City.
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Five minutes walk from San Zaccaria, over three bridges, and we found the Ca’ del Dose

To get the feel of the place we strolled back over those three bridges and wandered into St. Mark’s Square to be met by hoards of people and pigeons.

The square has porticoed buildings around three sides and the magnificent Basilica of St. Mark completing the square. The first sight of the golden mosaics on the façade of the basilica is breathtaking.

After an enjoyable meal at the restaurant next to our hotel we strolled back to St. Mark’s where the day trippers had gone and there was a wholly more relaxed atmosphere with music wafting across the square as small ensembles played outside the four main restaurants (beware the prices if you sit down!).
Music drifted across the square from ensembles outside the restaurants– a truly romantic setting under the stars.

On to the first full day and we joined the throngs to tour the basilica – equally as stunning inside as outside – see pictures. A lift to the top of the Campanile gave us an overall, if somewhat windy, view of the City.

Forgoing the delights of the expensive restaurants in the Square we wandered the alleyways close by and found a local bar for a sandwich and a beer. Making our way to the Canareggio district alongside quiet tourist-free canals we searched for a restaurant we had hear of – All Antica Mola’s. A couple of coffees sat outside by the canal gave us the chance to book for that evening.

At the Park off Via Garibaldi we saw turtles basking in the sun around a small pond below a statue of the great man.

A vaporetto to the Lido showed a much quieter side to Venice. Quiet because all the tourists had gone the other way to tour the sites of the main City. This left the Lido very pleasant for a stroll to the deserted beaches and through the residential streets – but watch out, there’s traffic here!

Wwe returned to the Antica Mola’s for our evening meal – see restaurant guide.

On to Day two, and time to explore the islands: Murano, Burano and Mazzorbo.

Again a vaporetto heads across the lagoon to the north of the City to Murano – long famed for its glass factories. Watching glass blowers at work passed a fascinating half-hour as they fashioned such creatures as a cockerel from the molten glass.

Purchase of fruit from a floating shop by the side of a canal sufficed for lunch before heading back on a vaporetto to visit Burano. You could be forgiven for thinking all the houses showed different shades for an advertising campaign for a paint manufacturer but the truth is that the colours were intended for fishermen to spot their own homes from a distance as they returned. Across a wooden bridge is the larger island of Mazzorbo. We crossed the bridge, turned left and eventually reached a small hamlet round a canal. The place seemed deserted so, in dire need of refreshment, we retraced our steps to the bridge and Burano, deciding Mazzorbo had nothing to offer other than greenery. Following the necessary beer by the vaporetto stop on Burano we headed back to Venice, passing by the other side of Mazzorbo where we spotted a couple of delightful trattorias which we would have enjoyed an hour previously.

The last evening was spent in the restaurant we should have gone to on the Monday. Again the name escapes me but it was on Via Garibaldi back near the park. Adequate but nothing special.

After fond farewells to Anna, we vaporettoed back to Piazza de Roma – this time using the no52 which took about 20 minutes as opposed to the hour on the no1.

Truly Venice is a magical place.