The travel books call Chioggia “Little Venice”. The locals point out that Chioggia is much older than Venice and call Venice “Big Chioggia”!
We had a guided walk in Chioggia this morning, with the fish market as the main attraction. Diane and I also explored the weekly market on the main street, but it wasn’t terribly picturesque.
Our day started with a quick boat trip to Torcello – this was a very important center in the middle of the first millennium CE (it’s even been called the mother settlement from which Venice sprang). Today, the permanent population is in the teens, but it’s still a popular spot for tourists, both locals and those coming from far away.
Our main goal today was to visit the piazza, which houses both a “normal” church (Church of Santa Fosca) and a cathedral (Baslica of Santa Maria Assunta) – in most cities, the two are in separate parts of town.
The cathedral was the highlight of the visit. Photography is not permitted, but our guide (Susan Steer, one of the founders of Venice in Peril which helps fund the restoration and conservation of the cathedral) quoted her grandmother’s advice to us: “If you can’t be good, be discreet”, and I chose to interpret that as permission to ignore the prohibition. :-) I was not alone.
We left the piazza and walked back to our boat.
Once back in Burano, we had time for a walk, exploration, and shopping before lunch.
After lunch, we boarded a ship to Murano for a glass-blowing demonstration at Ferro & Lazzarini.
After the demonstration, we had the chance to walk through their showroom and admire the products for sale (prices from 20 to 20,000 Euro…with a special 20% discount for us!). Some pieces were practical (cups, including Kiddush cups); some were over-the-top; all were beautiful. Photography was not permitted, and this time, I obeyed.
As soon as we returned from Murano, the ship sailed for Chioggia at the other end of the lagoon. We’re supposed to arrive during dinner and we’re staying there overnight.
Vicenza is a small town about an hour away from Venice by road; it is famous as the home of Andrea Palladio, who has been called the “father of American Architecture” – not that he ever visited America, but because the Palladian style greatly influenced American architects, including Thomas Jefferson. Monticello, the Rotunda at the University of Virginia, and the White House are all built in Palladian style, featuring strong symmetry and arches surrounded by windows.
Vicenza has nearly two dozen of Palladio’s buildings, including the Teatro Olimpico (the first purpose-built permanent indoor theatre in Europe).
We returned to the ship and sailed to Burano, a small island near the northern end of the Lagoon, where we’re docked for the night. We took a short walk to Martina Vidal Lace where we saw one of their life-long lacemakers at work (she was in her 80s), and then had an opportunity to shop. Credit card receipts were generated.
This evening, we had a special visit to Saint Mark’s Cathedral Basilica, beginning with a short sailing to Saint Mark’s Square.
Our group of about 80 people were the only ones in the Cathedral, giving us time to look around without being hurried or jostled. My photos do not begin to do justice to the beauty of the Cathedral, but I tried.
We were also able to visit the crypt, which is not possible on a regular visit. Our guide explained that Saint Mark’s relics were originally stored in the crypt, but were moved after a flood. There have been several major floods in the crypt in the centuries since then, most recently when a window broke under the pressure of the water.
The cathedral is amazing; I’m glad Uniworld was able to give us the opportunity to see it in peace.
This afternoon, we had a “scenic sailing” of the Venetian Lagoon, complete with narration. But before we set sail, Diane and I made a short visit to the Marinaressa Park where the ship was docked. The park has an exhibition called Personal Structures which held in parallel with the Venice Biennial. Here are a few of the sculptures which caught my eye:
Then it was time to cruise the lagoon. I took fewer photos than I expected to (it was cloudy and dull), and although we had commentary along the way, I didn’t catch the names of many of the islands.