In the early morning, St. Mark’s Square is quiet but on the waterfront, people are coming to work by a ferry from the neighbouring residential island and the mainland. There is the noise of motorboat engines and construction equipment.
The vendors are setting up their kiosks but most of the stores and restaurants are not open yet. Their staff are on their way to work. Let’s go see the busy waterfront where the water busses stop.
This could be your front yard or your driveway or your backdoor. It is not all waterway, there are walkways and bridges crossing the canals and connecting the walkways. Almost everything is done by boat or barge. Did you notice that everything has to be brought to the island by boat? An I bet you didn’t think about where the garbage goes. Here is something you will not see in your typical tourist video.
One of the famous bridges is called the “bridge of sighs”. It was given its name by Lord Byron in the 19th century. It connects the Prison cells with the interrogation rooms in the Doge’s Palace. The legend says prisoners would sigh at seeing Venice for the last time before being led down to their cells. Actually, they could not see much through the stone grills covering the windows. The bridge was built in 1600 and the infamous days of inquisitions were earlier in history. The cells were occupied mostly by petty criminals.
The Doge’s Palace is on the left and the Prison is on the right. Notice the bars in the windows.
Imagine a water taxi dropping you off here so you could go shopping or a boat stopping with stock for one of the stores.
Doug, this is a great visit-to-Venice for me, the non-traveler who is intrigued by Venice. I especially enjoyed the video about how trash leaves Venice! [And then where does it go? :-)] Thanks for a great post.
Probably back to the mainland but then where? I didn’t notice any blue boxes or separation of organic waste. There must be a lot of wine bottles taking a different path. Did you know that Murano Glass is manufactured on a nearby island?
OMG how breathtaking! Can you imagine waking up and seeing the peaceful canal as your backyard? Love you photos as usual!
A lot information digested.Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful pictures! Great info, you took me right there.
Thanks Victoria, that is the purpose of my blog.
We were able to take our daughters to Italy a few years ago. We splurged to ride on a gondola because it was a memory I wanted to make.
This post was a fabulous walk down memory lane for us 🙂
You might like the next post of a water taxi ride.