{"id":3582,"date":"2011-11-09T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T17:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=3582"},"modified":"2011-12-11T19:31:22","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T00:31:22","slug":"our-last-day-in-venice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=3582","title":{"rendered":"Our Last Day in Venice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday – November 9, 2011<\/span><\/p>\n

Today was our last day in Venice and thankfully the sun was shining brightly! \u00a0I was so happy that it was finally a sunny day, I wanted to celebrate by running around the city and taking as many photographs as possible. \u00a0I wanted to take lots of sunny-day-Venice pictures!!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Gondolas for Hire<\/span><\/p>\n

The people who were part of the many tour groups wasted no time rushing into Piazza San Marco and cueing up for their tours of the Doge’s Palace. \u00a0I know why we don’t go on lemming-like tours!!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Light and Shadows<\/span><\/p>\n

The pigeons and souvenir stands slowly moved back into their places in the Piazza as the alta aqua receded. \u00a0The sun was shining brightly, and all seemed right in the world…..<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Il Campanile – The Bell Tower<\/span><\/p>\n

On our last trip to beautiful Venice, we had \u00a0visited the Doge’s Palace, and we were awed by the golden Basilica, and we had climbed the Bell Tower. \u00a0This time, we decided not to see the interiors of these interesting historic buildings. \u00a0We admired these magnificent structures from the outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Looking Toward the Riva Degli Schiavoni<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>San Giorgio Maggiore<\/span><\/p>\n

Because it was so bright and sunny, we decided to take a vaporetto ride up the Grand Canal and stand outside on the boat and take photos and enjoy the boat ride and the view! \u00a0The sun light was incredible!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Amazing Light on the Grand Canal<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ponte Accademia<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ponte Rialto with Gondolas<\/span><\/p>\n

We rode the vaporetto past the Rialto Bridge and got off at the market station called Rialto Mercato. \u00a0It was still early in the morning and we were looking for the famous fish market. \u00a0We were surprised to be greeted by a busy fruit and vegetable market along the canal. \u00a0I was astounded by the unbelievably fresh produce at very reasonable prices.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Greens!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Chili Peppers<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fresh Fish<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Octopus and Sardines<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Keeping the Fish Cool & Fresh<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>More Fresh Sea Food<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Filleting and Cleaning Fish on the Sidewalk<\/span><\/p>\n

We walked around the markets, took photos, and admired the freshness of all the seafood and produce. \u00a0No wonder Venetian food tastes so good! \u00a0We stopped at a cafe for a couple of cups of good cappuccino and took a traghetto across the Grand Canal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Traghetto Crossing the Grand Canal<\/span><\/p>\n

It was bright and sunny and the traghetto was full of Venetians going to work or going shopping. \u00a0The ride was smooth and silent; and much too quick!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>View of the Canal From the Traghetto<\/span><\/p>\n

We decided that this would be a good day to go to the outer island of colorful Burano. \u00a0We had to walk to Fondamenta Nove to get the vaporetto to the islands.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Colorful Small Canal in Cannaregio<\/span><\/p>\n

Murano is the island where the famous Venetian glass is created. \u00a0The furnaces were moved to the island hundreds of years ago for the safety of all the Venetians. \u00a0Burano is the smaller island beyond Murano in the Venice Lagoon north of the central part of Venice. \u00a0It takes about 40 minutes to get to Burano on the vaporetto. \u00a0It is a pleasant ride especially when the sun is shining.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Vaporetto Stopping at Murano<\/span><\/p>\n

Burano is known for its handmade lace production, although most of the cheap lace in the tourist shops are obviously machine-made Chinese imitations. \u00a0The island is also known for their colorful houses which are painted in bright colors so the fishermen could see their own houses when they’re offshore.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Burano Main Canal<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>Burano Houses<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fun Colors!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bright Ideas!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Reflection<\/span><\/p>\n

Burano is such a fun place to walk up and down the little canals and look at the colorful houses and take lots of pictures!! \u00a0Since our last visit, more houses are painted bright colors and the town looks more prosperous. \u00a0There are also many more touristy souvenir and gift shops. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A Personal Favorite<\/span><\/p>\n

We had a simple lunch on Burano and had fun looking at all the rainbow colors of the houses. \u00a0I think more communities should paint their houses bright colors like these. \u00a0They’re so much fun!! \u00a0After a while, we took the vaporetto back to Venice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Across the Venice Lagoon<\/span><\/p>\n

When we returned to Piazza San Marco, the sun was setting and it cast a golden light on the Basilica. \u00a0The 13th Century domes of the Byzantine church glowed and looked incredibly beautiful!!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Basilica di San Marco at Dusk<\/span><\/p>\n

We returned to our hotel room to rest up before dinner. \u00a0Later at night, we took the vaporetto back up to the Rialto area to find a restaurant for dinner. \u00a0We couldn’t find the rotisserie-type restaurant we had in mind, so we started to walk back towards San Marco. \u00a0The walk was familiar now and we passed many sights that we recognized. \u00a0I stopped to purchase a variety of Italian hard candies from a colorful candy shop. \u00a0Then we happened upon Restaurant Felice. \u00a0It was an acceptable restaurant with modern decor and friendly young waiters. \u00a0We had a light supper and continued our walk slowly back to Piazza San Marco. <\/span><\/p>\n

I always feel sad to leave a beautiful magical place like Venice. \u00a0The thought of going home to my ordinary routine always leaves me yearning for another adventure. \u00a0Venice is truly “magical”; full of history and beauty and surprises. \u00a0We walked along the Grand Canal admiring the twinkling lights of the city for the last time and promised to return soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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Wednesday – November 9, 2011 Today was our last day in Venice and thankfully the sun was shining brightly! \u00a0I was so happy that it was finally a sunny day, I wanted to celebrate by running around the city and taking as many photographs as possible. \u00a0I wanted to take lots of sunny-day-Venice pictures!! Gondolas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-italy","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3582"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3675,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3582\/revisions\/3675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}