At the end of our 24 hour cruise from Ignoumenitsa was the spectacular early morning arrival in Venice - the serene one. We floated, 10 storeys high, past Venice's greatest sights. We drove Cecile off the ship and straight onto Tronchetto island's huge car parking facility. From there is was a vaporetto ride to San Samuele and a short walk to our hotel - an old Augustinian monestary tucked down a quiet calle just five minutes walk from Piazza San Marco.
Venice is a city of heavenly delights. For me the main attraction is.....simply walking the maze of salizadas, fondamentas, rio teras, sotoportegos (don't you love the Venetian names for 'streets'?) and bridges that connect the island. The weather was warm and pleasant, followed by a day of higher humidity. The sun positively sparkled on the emerald canals and our 24 hours with L and PJ was bliss. We walked together and chatted, stopped, sipped, walked some more, ducted into galleries, always chatting and catching up. We spent a lovely couple of hours in the pretty courtyard of the old monestary, had dinner in a delightful ristorante, and let midnight approach as we wandered again through Piazza San Marco and headed for Hotel Monaco and Grand Canal where we sat on the beautiful terrace overlooking the Grand Canal. "Ahem..signor..." whispered the white-jacketed waiter, "mi' scuse, no shorts allowed on the terrace". "Excellent!" exclaimed senor, "I'm exhausted and just want to go to bed!" We laughed and laughed as we bid goodnight to senor. PJ agreed that bed sounded good and also headed home. And so L and I were left to sit and chat some more while we sipped Bellini and espressos. I will never forget that precious memory of sitting in that magical setting with our beautiful eldest daughter.
We met up again the next morning for coffee and a visit to San Marco's splendid Basilica where we marvelled at its magnificence. All to soon it was time to say farewell again.
Until November.
<>
 |
Sailing into Venice - right past San Marcos and the Grand Canal.
A most spectacular entrance! |
 |
| It couldn't be anywhere else in the world |
 |
Summer days in Venice were good to us. Not too hot, cool breeze
in the evenings and apart from San Marcos during daylight hours, not too crowded. |
 |
| Delightful around every corner, over every bridge |
 |
| Magnificent Doges Palace. I love this building |
 |
| ......I love this building too! |
 |
We had made a date to meet L and PJ a t11.00am at
Harry's Bar, but in our excitement we all arrived
early, and Harry's Bar wasn't yet opened. So it was on
to Campo San Stefano for coffee frappe. What a
joy it was to see them both again. |
 |
| Isn't she lovely |
 |
Happy.
(Thirty two years ago senor and I walked
hand in hand over this bridge.) |
 |
View of the Grand Canal from Peggy Guggenheim's
bedroom window. |
 |
| Venetian splendour |
 |
| Taxi! |
 |
| Midnight in Piazza San Marcos |
 |
| Traffic jam |
 |
| Urgences! |
No comments:
Post a Comment