A truly remarkable and unique city, Venezia as the Italians know it, is built on low mud banks and has somewhat miraculously survived for centuries. As a major medieval and renaissance trading port it became one of the richest cities in Europe and many famous family empires (known as doges) have stamped their mark on the Venices architecture and feel. The city literally is all waterways and footpaths , no cars at all.
It is the little things that capture the different lifestyle in Venice. Like the barges laden with produce for shops or the boat that is built for the sole purpose of being a crane. Everywhere you look the place is designed for water travel. We took a ferry along the main canal to end up at one of the most beautiful piazzas in the world – San Marco. There was a lot of scaffolding and stage work there when we visited as Pat Metheny and Nora Jones would be performing there over the next few weeks! A shame to miss that.
Next was a gondola ride for the kids. It was a lot of fun. Then we went looking at all the shops full of Venetian glass and masks. The glass work in this area is world famous and has a really distinctive style. It seems so pure and really is very good as jewellery. We jumped on a ferry and went over to the nearby Island of Murano, where all the glass factories were. There we were lucky enough to get to see a demonstration of how they make the glass jewellery, vases and decorative figures. It is all crafted by hand and is a 1000 thousand year old craft that has been handed down on this Island. They use long hollow poles to attach the melted silicon sand to and can blow the bubble out wide once hot enough. The men were true masters of their craft. They were even called maestro. I watched one make a horse in minutes using long tweezers to tease out a shape while he took advantage of the way the molten glass would slowly bend down to the floor as he worked.
After this it was back to Venice for gelati and to look for a place to eat. All in all, it was a really successful day for the kids. They got to do lots of things and not have to endure any more art galleries or museums! It was very hot though and they did well to survive the day in good spirits! Like Florence the place is set up for the shopper. Beautiful window displays of shoes, bags, Murano glass, venetian masks and food stuffs. We all got into the act this time!
Fred
Genevieve’s Word: At Venice we went on a gondola. The gondola had very pretty designs on it like dragons and paintings. There was a man who steered it with an oar and he stood on the back of the boat. After that I bought a Venetian mask. It is so beautiful. For Carnevale people dress up in colourful masks. I also got a Venetian glass bracelet from Aunty Lil for my birthday.
Kailin’s word: Venice was wonderful. It was wonderful because instead of roads, they had waterways. We hired a gondola ride which was really cool because we went through all these narrow streets where the doors just open out onto the water. The gondolier pointed out certain places in the city to us, while we sat on cushioned chairs and admired everything. Genevieve enjoyed looking at some very decorative masks and, after she bought one, we got a gelato. We looked at some venetian glass and it was really nice because all the colours swirled together and some had tiny little flowers in them. Then we went on a ferry to go and see how the glass was made. We went to a nearby island and got to see how the glass blowers made the glass. At the end, they made a horse by pulling at the molten glass. The whole trip was really weird because it just felt odd with all the water. They also had small streets on land, but these were half a metre wide. It was strange.
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