Day 4
Saturday, December, 9, 2023
Ordinarily, I don't make a big deal over my birthday. But, turning sixty seemed different. That's why I chose to come to Venice. It was also the only day I had anything pre-planned. I had booked a walking tour for the day. I was up nice and early, so I took the long way to the meeting place, just soaking in the morning .
There are 472 bridges on the islands that make up greater Venice.
The tour meets in Campo San Giacomo del Rialto. It's a small public square in front of the city's oldest church, San Giacomo del Rialto. Venetians will tell you the first church was built in the year 421. Though the first with documentation is from 1097. The square out front was used as a public market. The fish market was moved to the next square over simply due to the smell.
Elena explained the Turkish influence seen in so many buildings. Venice didn't always have enough knowledgeable builders and craftsmen. So, they would offer free room and board to those willing to come to Venice and share their knowledge. Many came from modern day Turkey and brought their own designs with them.
As we crossed the Rialto Bridge, she told us this used to be the biggest glass making area of the city. Since all the buildings were built of wood, there were the inevitable fires. By 1291, the city had had enough. Glassmakers were offered land on the island of Murano and heavily encouraged to move.
In church courtyards around the city, you'll find these cisterns.
One of the things included in the walking tour is a half hour gondola ride. That's the usual amount of time and they basically go around the block.
After the gondola ride, we all had an hour for lunch until reforming the tour group. I just grabbed a sandwich and walked around.
This shot is from later in the day. When the bell chimes, those figures turn to strike the bell with the hammers. Seemingly in unison, the entire crowd below turns and points their phones upward.
The day's tour included entrance to San Marcos Basilica. Entrance is free, but you have to wait on a very long line. Or, you can pay eight euros for a ticket and skip the lines. But first, a little backstory.
Mark the Evangelist is said to be the author of the New Testament's Gospels According to Mark. In the year 49, he was one of seventy-two disciples sent out by Jesus to spread the word.
From Luke 10:1-3: After the Lord appointed the seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefor, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves."
Mark wound up going to Alexandria and forming the Church of Alexandria. Not everyone took kindly to this stranger trying to turn them from their traditional beliefs. In 68AD he was brutally murdered.
Over one of the basilica entrances shows a depiction of St. Mark's remains being smuggled out of Alexandria and back to Venice.
In 828, a fleet of ten Venusian ships landed in Alexandria to seek shelter from a storm. While there, two of the merchants took daily visits to St. Mark's tomb. That's when they met a priest and monk who filled them in on the threat to the church housing St. Mark's remains. The church was to be demolished for the building material which in turn would be used to build mosques.
St. Mark's remains were quietly removed from the church and hidden in a basket. In order to assure the contents wouldn't be searched, they covered the remains in pork. The plan worked and they left for home. Along the way, St. Mark is said to have appeared and warned the crews of bad weather ahead and how to get around it.
This mural depicts their arrival back home.
From inside the basilica...
Note the brown ring near the bottom of the left hand column. That's from the November, 2019 flood. The water level was the second highest on record. Elena told us floods usually build over a day or two. This one hit and the city was flooded within an hour. You can read a report of the flood, complete with some video from The Guardian. Dirk Snyman was vacationing in Venice during the flood and posted this video on youtube. Then of course you have your opportunists. When would this guy ever get the chance to swim in San Marcos Square again.
Before the flood, long wooden pews would have been here. After the flood, the decision was made to remove them and replace them with easily removable folding chairs.
The last stop of the day the adjacent building, the Palazzo Ducale.
The facility was a combination courthouse, jail and center of government. It was also the home of the Doge(pr: doej) The Doge was elected into office for life and served as the supreme leader for the Republic of Venice.
The Doge's immediate inner circle included an official from each of the other main islands. But, he still overruled them all.
The Great Council met in this room, and handled the day to day decisions involving the Republic of Venice.
The building also housed accused criminals awaiting their day in court.
En route to the jails, prisoners would cross one of the few enclosed bridges in the city, nicknamed the Bridge of Sighs.
From outside...
The day was waning I was thinking sunset. After working my way down the canal for a better vantage point, I settled in...
I was a few blocks from another big bridge across the Grand Canal. I decided to work my way over, cross it and just go walking. It worked out quite well actually.
Eventually, I found myself in a plaza of locals, well off the tourist areas. There was a small cafe with an outdoor seating area. It seemed the perfect place for a birthday beer. Sure, it was forty degrees. Sure, I was holding my beer glass while wearing gloves. But, it just seemed perfect.
I checked Google Maps over my second one and found I had wandered a lot further than I thought. Still, no complaints.
From the walk back towards the hotel...
After walking all day in an amazing city, this went into the books as a really great birthday!
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