Venice
7th April, on flight SA019 Bulawayo to Johannesburg
We got to the airport in one piece (or two pieces) in the Goodburn Taxi. I managed to get my photograph of the Gamtoos, our plane, without putting Ann into a state of anxiety, as it arrived just before we were called. According to the Captain it’s raining in at Jan Smuts and we are in for a rough landing. Anyway, we have our brollies this time.
The Gamtoos at Bulawayo Airport.
6.50 p.m.
Departure Lounge, Jan Smuts
The changes in pen and carbon paper are because the triplicate book we bought
had only one piece of carbon and the second is a piece of typing carbon. We’ve
swapped them around to see which works best.
Ray forgot to say S.A.A. gave us an apology for a meal – coffee and a biscuit –
so we were famished by the time we reached Johannesburg. Anyway, Stanley and
Aldyth were at Jan Smuts to meet us (for the benefit of the Hooles, Aldyth is my
cousin). We had no difficulty in recognising each other, and Aldyth says I look
just like you, Dad. When they discovered that we were hungry they took us off
for what we expected to be a sandwich, but they took us to the Carlton Centre
where we all had Welsh Rarebit with shrimps, bacon and a large bowl of salad.
Some snack, but absolutely delicious! We had a very pleasant afternoon chatting
to them, then they dropped us here about an hour ago. We are now waiting for our
flight to be called.
8th April, 10.00 a.m., on flight SA264, Lisbon to Rome
We were delighted to find that there were only 50 people on board our Johannesburg – Lisbon flight.
We were not lucky enough, however, to get ourselves four-abreast seats to sleep in for the night, but we did each have two, which
was considerably more comfortable than one. We both spent the hour or so at Lisbon stretched out on the centre seats, and I have
just woken up from a further 1 ½ hours on the same seats. Certainly it was the most pleasant overnight flight I’ve ever had, and
I almost feel ready to tackle Venice! Our luggage was booked through from Bulawayo straight to Venice, but we are going to look
out for it in Rome, just in case!
9th April, 7.30 a.m., Hotel Boccassini, Venice
In Rome we managed to get on an earlier flight to Venice, which got us here an hour earlier than we had expected.
Unfortunately our luggage arrived on the flight we should have been on, so we had an hour’s wait at the airport. We spent it
profitably finding out about buses, hotels etc., and chatting to an Australian couple who had come Athens – Rome – Venice and
had also been put on the same earlier flight and were also waiting for their luggage! Our hotel is quite expensive at about $13 B&B each.
Venice is nothing like we expected. We’re staying in the ancient city which is just a maze of canals and narrow pedestrian streets,
so narrow that cars couldn’t fit in if they wanted. So it’s very quiet, which is marvellous. After booking in we took a walk down to
the Rialto to get our bearings. Ann will tell you of our impressions of the city – or at least the little bit we walked through.
The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge.
We got our hotel by going to the hotels fellow at the air terminal. I had phoned our original hotel from the airport and had been told they were full. So we bravely got on a vaporetto to get here. One of the biggest problems about getting around Venice is the fact that all “street” names have been obliterated by age so you have nothing to get your bearings from. However, after several false starts we got here. After many attempts at sign language the hotel manager suddenly said “Franceses” (or something similar) and I said “Oui, oui!”. She speaks very reasonable French, so we no longer have any language problems! Our walk down to the Rialto was fascinating, with our “street” full of artisans: there is a glass blower with some lovely things in the window; a leather worker and even a book binder with some beautiful work; a marble mason doing mainly tombstone embellishments; a brass shop, presumably also selling wares made in the shop. All very beautiful and they all seem very reasonably priced. Our “bible”, Europe on $10 a Day, says the cheapest bargains are to be found on the Rialto and we saw silk ties at $4.50 as well as beautiful Persian carpets at one quarter the price we would have to pay at home. I wish I knew whether I’ll have any money left over! I don’t really know what I expected from Venice, but I certainly hadn’t thought there would be no cars at all. Nor was I prepared for the peeling paint, the air of dilapidation, the general seediness of it all.
9th April, 9.30 p.m.
We’ve had a very pleasant day walking the pavements of Venice. Really it is a most unimpressive city where everything has
been slowly allowed to decay, with very little evidence of any serious efforts at restoration. St Mark’s Basilica was very
beautiful and rather bizarre, with definite Eastern influences in the decoration, which consists mainly of mosaic panels in
golds, greens and blues.
St Mark's.
Above and below, Mosaics at the entrance of St Mark's.
Above and below, interior of St Mark's.
The Baptistry, St Mark's.
The Campanile, St Mark's.
St Mark's Square.
From the Balcony of St Mark's.
Hoisting a restored horse on to St Mark's Balcony.
The Doge's Palace which we visited next was in a dreadful state, and of all the palaces we have visited in Europe this was by far the most badly preserved. Many of the paintings were so dirty as to be hardly discernible, and the lighting was very poor too. A few signs were up to say that this or that work of art had been restored, and all of them were financed by U.S.A. concerns. Obviously the Americans care more about Venice than the Italians!
The Doge's Palace from St Mark's.
Courtyard of the Doge's Palace.
Great Council Hall, Doge's Palace.
View of the Promenade from the Doge's Palace.
Promenade outside the Doge's Palace,
San Salute across the Grand Canal on the left.
The Bridge of Sighs from the Promenade: Palace left, Prison right.
View from San Salute, looking back across
the Grand Canal to the Campanile and St Mark's.
After these visits, which were separated by lunch at a delightful Italian café, we took a vaporetto back to the Rialto and walked home.
From our café window, where we had
lunch.
Heading home on the Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge just in view around the corner.
Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge on the left.
From the Rialto Bridge.
10th April, 6.10 p.m.
After another day’s sightseeing we’ve both decided that Venice has more charm than we originally thought. We started
off with a trip to St Mark’s Square to try to confirm our bookings to Amsterdam at B.A., as there is no Lufthansa
office in Venice … no joy.
Above and below, exterior of St Mark's in the morning sunshine.
We visited the Aquarium which had some lovely tropical freshwater fish and then came back to our hotel for lunch. After that we took a vaporetto out to St Michele, Venice’s cemetery island, and then on to Murano with its glass factories where we spent a fascinating hour watching various pieces of glassware being made.
On the way to St Michel, a gondola factory and repairs.
Courtyard of the church on St Michel, the Venetian cemetery.
Glassware stall on Murano.
Above and below: glassblowing on Murano.
One of Murano's canals.
View of San Michel (left) and Venice from Murano.
Then we caught a vaporetto to the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, after which it was off to the Lido where we walked across the island to the beaches on the Adriatic Sea. It was far too cold for anyone to be swimming, but there were quite a few people on the beaches.
Tintoretto's "Martyrdom of St Stephen" in the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore.
The Lido on the Adriatic Sea.
The Campanile and Doge's Palace from the Lagoon.
We decided to take another vaporetto for a slow and very lovely trip up the Grand Canal. Although it’s cold the sun has shone the whole time we have been here. Ray’s right when he says that our attitude to Venice has changed. It really grows on you and you become blind to the terrible damage centuries of damp has done and you see only the beauty of the architecture. On our way home from the canal this afternoon we stopped in at a couple of churches. Most of them were too ornate and claustrophobic for me, but one in particular was really beautiful, also ornate but in blue marble rather than red plush, and I found that much more pleasing. Ray is busy making soup for supper – I’m starving!
2th April, 8.20 a.m.
We had a lovely day yesterday. We decided to buy day tickets on the vaporetto ($2.50 each) which meant
we could travel around with an unlimited number of journeys, getting off where
we felt like it. We started off by
having a look at a couple of churches, some really beautiful, with a lot of
marble and fascinating designs in their floors. We then went to the Gallerie de l’Accademia of fine arts which is
arranged chronologically. It was
most interesting to see not only the changes in style, but also the development
of subject matter as well. The first
two rooms were almost entirely crucifixes and “Maddona with child” paintings,
and the change to secular subjects was very gradual. The final exhibits in the museum were some vast canvases by Venetian
painters of Venetian scenes. Magnificent. We then came home and
had a lunch of cheeses, ham and bread.
The Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, again!
Church of St Maria Assunta de Gesuiti.
Inside the church.
Rio del Gesulti.
St Moise Church.
6.45 p.m., on board Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt.
Our visit to Ca’ Pesaro Museum of Modern Art was most enjoyable – mostly Italian artists, but some French as well. We had lunch on the Rialto and arrived at Marco Polo airport about three hours before our flight was due to leave, but checking in was so chaotic that we were just about the last to check in. We had about L10 000 (about $10) which we couldn’t change at the airport so spent it in the duty free shop, where we bought Cointreau for the Kings. By the time we had done that our flight had long since boarded, although, in typically Italian fashion, it was never called! We were the last to arrive, not, I might add, feeling in the least bit awkward about holding up the plane, as it certainly wasn’t our fault! Because the flight was full, Ann was nearly put in first class, but unfortunately somebody had sat in second class who actually had a first class ticket, so the found him and Ann got his seat.