Home » Italy » Veneto - Venice

April 1999

Veneto - Venice

David Aaronson
2005-09-23 23:38:19

Displayed times (last time: )

On Tuesday we returned to Venice, this time to spend the entire day there. We found it to be rather crowded during the day, and many of the major sights had extensive lines. The Accademia gallery for instance, is only open 3 hours a day and the line to get in may have been that long. We had no problems getting into the Santa Maria Glorioso dei Frari however. A massive gothic church found somewhere in the maze of alleys. The very recognizable painting over the altar in this photo is Titian's 'Assumption'. Titian is also buried inside the church. The church also contains works by Bellini and Donatello and an impressive room of religious relics.

We spent the rest of the morning wandering the section of Venice called Dosoduro. It was in this section of town that we entered our first osteria. An osteria is basically a wine bar that serves appetizers as well. If you're willing to stand at the bar, you can drink wine for about 2000-3000 Lire per glass (about $2). Thus we decided to try and avoid the dinner prices by having a large lunch and then appetizers (and gelato) for dinner. We highly recommend this approach - most osterias also have tables though you'll probably be charged a coperto (cover charge) for sitting at one.

This is the grand canal from the Ponte dell'Accademia. The canal in the previous picture is about the size of the majority of canals in Venice. The Grand Canal is much wider and deeper and runs through the center of town in a reverse-S shape.

This photo shows one end of the Grand Canal where it empties into the lagoon on the south side of Venice. The huge building on the right is the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. The Accademia bridge from which we took these pictures is one of only three bridges in Venice that cross the Grand Canal. This makes navigation even more difficult. There are actually signs in various alleys that say things like 'Rialto' ...

Pages: [1] 2