Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
mosaic, done by Art Nouveau in the early 20th century, features Venice as a queen being
appreciated by the big shots of society.
Santa Maria del Giglio:
Back on the left stands the fancy Gritti Palace hotel. Heming-
way and Woody Allen both stayed here (but not together).
Take a deep whiff of Venice. What's all this nonsense about stinky canals? All I smell is
my shirt. By the way, how's your captain? Smooth dockings? To get to know him, stand up
in the bow and block his view.
Salute:
ThehugeLaSaluteChurchtowersoverheadasifsquirtedfromacanofCatholic
Reddi-wip. Like Venice itself, the church rests upon pilings. To build the foundation for the
city, more than a million trees were piled together, reaching beneath the mud to the solid
clay. Much of the surrounding countryside was deforested by Venice. Trees were impor-
ted and consumed locally—to fuel the furnaces of Venice's booming glass industry, to build
Europe's biggest merchant marine, to form light and flexible beams for nearly all of the
buildings in town, and to prop up this city in the mud.
As the Grand Canal opens up into the lagoon, the last building on the right with the
golden ball is the 17th-century
Customs House,
which now houses the Punta della Dogana
Museum of Contemporary Art (listed on
here
). Its two bronze Atlases hold a statue of For-
tune riding the ball. Arriving ships stopped here to pay their tolls.
San Marco:
Up ahead on the left, the green pointed tip of the Campanile marks
St.
Mark'sSquare
,thepolitical andreligiouscenterofVenice...andthefinaldestination ofthis
tour. You could get off at the San Marco stop and go straight to St. Mark's Square. But I'm
staying on the boat for one more stop, just past St. Mark's Square (it's a quick walk back).
Survey the lagoon. Opposite St. Mark's Square, across the water, the ghostly white
church with the pointy bell tower is
San Giorgio Maggiore,
with great views of Venice
Maggiore past the Venice youth hostel (with a nice view, directly across) to the Hilton Hotel
(good nighttime view, far right end of island).
Stillonboard?Ifyouare,asweleavetheSanMarcostop,prepareforadrive-byviewof
St. Mark's Square. First comes the bold white facade of the old mint (marked by a tiny cu-
pola,whereVenice'sgoldenducat,the“dollar” oftheVenetian Republic, wasmade)andthe
library facade. Then come the twin columns, topped by St. Theodore and St. Mark, who've
welcomedvisitorssincethe15thcentury.Betweenthecolumns,catchaglimpseoftwogiant
figuresatopthe
ClockTower
—they'vebeenwhackingtheirclapperseveryhoursince1499.
Thedomesof
St.Mark'sBasilica
aresooneclipsedbythelacyfacadeofthe
Doge'sPalace.
Next you'll see the
Bridge of Sighs
(leading from the palace to the prison—check out the
maximum security bars), many gondolas with their green breakwater buoys, and then the
grand harborside promenade—the
Riva.