We started out in St. Mark's Square. It is even more magnificent in the morning than it was last night when we arrived. The square is massive with buildings on three sides and the basilica on the fourth. The whole inside of the piazza is wide open with just some tables from local cafes set in the middle.
This morning we also experienced acqua alta for the first time. When we were taking our usual route to St. Mark's Square we discovered that after we crossed the only bridge between the square and our hotel, the walkway was completely underwater. Since Venice is at sealevel, and sometimes under sealevel (similar to New Orleans), when the tide is just right, and especially in the fall and winter, the water comes right up onto the streets.
We went back the long way around to the piazza and saw that most of it was underwater as well. There was a small walkway through the middle of the square that was dry, and then once we got right in front of the basilica, there were some risers that we could walk on to keep us out of the water. They led all the way from the basilica all the way down to the edge of the water.
Eventually we came to the Rialto Bridge, the main crossing of the Grand Canal. Is is very similar to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, in that the bridge has a lot of shops on it. We were able to look at the jewelry and clothes as we crossed the bridge. We also got some gelato and took some photos.
On the other side of the Rialto there was an open-air market. During the week there is a produce and fish market as well, but since today was Sunday we just saw the rest of the market. Tons of stalls were set up with people selling clothes, food and souvenirs.
We left the Rialto area and walked to an area called San Polo and Santa Croce. There was a restaurant in San Polo that we wanted to try. We walked to an area called Campo dei Frari and ate at a place called Frary's.
Frary's was a Mediterranean restaurant specializing in Greek and Arabic food. We had some wine to go along with hummus, keftes (spicy greek meatballs) and dolmades (rice wrapped in grape leaves). Ken Pettus would be so proud of us (Elizabeth, be sure to show this to him).
We walked on through San Polo and through the edge of Dorsoduro to the Accademia Gallery. We crossed the bridge across the Marina Grande and headed back toward San Marco.
We got back to St. Mark's Square and decided to be tourists for a little while. We took the elevator up to the top of the Campanile, the tall clock tower in the middle of the piazza. From there we had a wonderful bird's-eye view of the city. Even though it was overcast and starting to rain, we still had great views from the top.
We came back down and walked into the St. Mark's Basilica. This basilica was different than some of the others we had seen on our trip in that this basilica was in the shape of a Greek cross instead of a Latin cross. A Latin cross has one long end, and three smaller ends at the top. The Greek cross is more of a "plus-sign," with all of the edges an equal length. The entire ceiling of the basilica is covered in mosaics, small pieces of colored glass or metal put together like a puzzle to form a scene. The audio guide we listened to said that covering the ceiling of St. Mark's Basilica in mosaics would be like paving an entire football field with contact lenses. Pretty impressive.
We walked around some different areas of San Marco, and found a nice coffee shop where we stopped for a little while, and then a nice little restaurant where we shared a pizza for dinner. We walked back to Piazza San Marco and had a slowdance in the piazza before heading back to our hotel for the night.
Today is our final day in Italy as we head to Paris tomorrow afternoon. We have loved Italy, but are excited to see what Paris has in store for us over the next few days. Ciao!
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