15 June Venice
With the horror of yesterday's bus debacle fully exorcised, we approached the day with new vigor.
First order of business: master the public transit system. The last travel day needs to go smoothly, and my track record of finding the most complicated path between two points is well documented. I studied up on it and the answer was so simple I was convinced I was missing something. Catch bus 5. One direction goes to Marco Polo Airport (go ahead, chuckle) and the other ends in Venezia. Tap to pay. That's it.
We tested the theory, tapped in, and twenty minutes later stepped off in Venezia. Seasoned professionals. Half of the way, anyway. We still had to get back. We'll worry about that later.
Venezia! What a place. The moment you set foot on the island there are no more cars, no more Vespas giving me the Napoli PTSD I didn't know I had. Just foot traffic. Streets so narrow in some places you wonder if the architects were optimists, and then wide again just when you need them to be. We strolled, admired the brick facades, ducked into a little wind-ventilated opening and grabbed a Spritz. There was bread topped with ham and pistachio sauce and something else I can't remember. Whatever it was, fantastic.
We wandered, crossing more footbridges than I could count. Eventually we just fell in with the tourist current on the theory that they were headed somewhere worth going. They were. The flow led us to the widest part of the waterway, where the only way across was gondola. Not the romantic kind with a singing man in a striped hat. This one carried about ten people and cost 2 Euro each, as opposed to the 90 Euro, thirty-minute canal tour option. One bucket list item checked off at a very fair price.
Some of the briges appeared to be what the Intragram famous use to build there portfolio. We joined in.
On the other side, the throng kept moving and we kept following, right into Piazza San Marco. And there it was, coming into view: Basilica di San Marco.
Venice doesn't do anything small. The Basilica has been standing since the 11th century and is covered in gold mosaics looted from Constantinople. Over 8,000 square meters of them. Venice was wealthy, powerful, and had absolutely zero shame about its shopping habits.
To the left stands the Torre dell'Orologio, the Clock Tower, built in the late 1400s. It tells the time, the lunar phase, and the zodiac sign. Two bronze Moors hammer a bell on the hour. It has been doing this for over 500 years. My phone can't hold a charge for twelve hours.
Look across the lagoon and you'll see Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore on its own island, Palladio's elegant 16th-century church staring back at you. There are over 100 churches on the main island. Wealthy families competed to out-donate each other on chapels and facades for centuries. Part ego, part genuine piety, part "please God don't bring the plague back." The result is that you genuinely cannot turn a corner without hitting a dome.
Our track record for getting tickets to the inside of things remained perfect. Sold out. Oh well.
We wandered toward the waterfront, where steps led right down into the lagoon. I gingerly stepped down and ran my hand through the water. I touched the Adriatic. It was a moment. Then we moved on past the tourist stands where Pam did some damage, and through the fashion district where you can find two luxury brand stores within flatulation distance of one with their name on it. After a while it got a bit old.
Google Maps was guiding us to the Mission Impossible bridge, which brought us along the wide part of the waterway past a long row of restaurants. We stopped for a Spritz and a Caprese.
The Rialto Bridge is the oldest of the four bridges crossing the Grand Canal, built in 1591 and lined with shops. It also moonlights as a Hollywood action set; Tom Cruise used it for a chase sequence in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. The bridge has been there since 1591. Tom Cruise has not.
Tomorrow we'll try to catch the other two bridges from the film.
The Rialto also meant we could walk back across without a gondola, which was good to know. We made our way back to the transport hub, stopped for one more Spritz while I studied the bus situation, and figured out the return trip in no time. Wednesday should be a breeze getting to the airport. And if everything goes sideways, the airport is within walking distance of the Airbnb. Good to have options.
We got back, freshened up, and headed out for dinner.
Tomorrow is our last full day before a 9:30am flight home.
