Today was the fifth day of my trip to Venice, and the longest day of sightseeing thus far. I left the hotel at 7:45 in the morning and didn't get back until 7:20 at night. Despite all that (and the fact that I walked 5.5 miles, about a mile more than I've been averaging per day) however, it was a very relaxing day.
The day's journey began in the Castello district. I started off at the Naval History Museum -- five floors of boats, ship models, and military and civilian seafaring artifacts which I had entirely to myself. From there I walked down to the public gardens at the southern tip of the city and sat in the sun and read for a while. Then I moved on to wander around the streets of Castello and I still had some time to kill before my afternoon tour of the lagoon islands, so I decided to have a nice lunch.
Lunch has been something I've either skipped or settled for grabbing a sandwich on the run. Today was the first day I had time to enjoy a good lunch. I picked the restaurant of the Hotel Monaco and I sat on their terrace bordering the Grand Canal while having a salad, baked monkfish with potatoes and asparagus, zabaglione, and two glasses of Proseco. It was tremendous.
Then it was time to join my tour. First stop was Murano, the island of the glass-makers. The glass blowing demonstration was pretty short and not much different than other glass blowng I've seen. This was probably my least favorite of the three island stops we made. Next was Torcello, with its two very old churches. The paintings inside the main church were very Eastern Orthodox in style, which makes sense given that when the church was built this area was still under the sway of Constantinople. Finally, we stopped at Burano -- island of fishermen and lace makers.
After the unremarkable glass blowing demonstration, I skipped the lace making show and just wandered around taking pictures. The houses on Burano are all painted in spectacular colors. They look like a row of gumdrops lining the canal. This was my favorite stop on the tour. On the way back to Venice from Burano we lucked into the beginnings of a rather spectacular sunset, as you can see above.
The last stop of the day for me was Harry's Bar in San Marco, favored haunt of Ernest Hemingway and countless others and birthplace of the Bellini cocktail. I had two of them and they were both great. The bar itself was smaller than I expected, but very cozy.
Tomorrow, it's my birthday. I plan to start out the day in the last neighborhood I have yet to explore, Cannaregio, and then go to see the opera "Romeo and Juliette" at Teatro La Fenice. After that, it's either a Vivaldi concert with musicians in 18th century costumes or a trip to the casino. Or perhaps both. It will be my birthday after all and I certainly believe in spoiling myself rotten.
(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)
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