March 18th & 19th

We had no plans for our last day in Venice. We woke up to overcast, a little drizzly, windy and very cool. We had breakfast in the hotel and then we decided to see if we could get into the Doge Palace. The Doge was the elected leader in Venice centuries ago.

The palace is where the leaders lived but also where government offices were, court was held and even had a prison in the basement which was quite extensive.

Because we were “senior” citizens the rate was 1/2 price and there really was no line. The Palace dates back to the 14th century and has tons of historic paintings, elaborate ceilings and even an armory with all types of weapons of the time and also different examples of armor. The paintings, statues, mosaics, ceilings and stone floors were really nice. Some reproductions or replacements after damage but a great collection.

Some examples of the elaborate ceilings.

One of the displays at the armory.

A very detailed painting of a 16th century naval battle. Amazing the detail considering that you are doing all this from what is in your mind and not from a photograph. They had a free (downloadable to cell phone) audio guide.

We spent a little over 2 hours walking the palace and the prison and then we went back to the hotel before going out and finding some lunch. we wanted to eat lunch a little earlier since we needed an early dinner, then finish up packing and go to bed.

After lunch we decided to try to get into the St Marks Basilica and after asking the workers outside the Basilica we found that the only way to buy tickets is on-line. We managed to buy 4 tickets after a labor intensive process and watching all the people that the staff outside had to help, you really wonder if they are saving anything by not just having a ticket booth. Even after you bought the tickets on line a lot of people had to be helped to find their tickets so they could be scanned. I also had to look up the difference between a cathedral and a basilica and found that a cathedral is defined by its function as the seat of a bishop, while a basilica is an honorary title bestowed by the Pope upon churches with high historical, spiritual, or architectural significance.

The Basilica is beautiful.

The walls and ceiling are all tiled with gold tiles and tons of mosaics. The tiled floors were all patterned and beautifully done.

Some of the designs in the floors.

We paid an extra 5 euros to see the Pala d’Oro which is an altar screen which has been enriched over the centuries with gold, silver and thousands of precious gems.

The Pala d’ Oro. This is a small section of it. Trying to zoom in to see the gems.

The visit to the Basilica does not take long and then we did a little shopping. We wanted to go to an eyeglass place that our friend Kathy Huff has shopped at and we had also seen a couple of optical places during our walk.

Kathy found 2 pairs at the place recommended and I found 2 pairs, one has magnetic sunglasses that attach to the frames. We will take them to Costco on our return which I recently discovered does lenses in frames you bring in for a very reasonable price.

We debated taking a gondola ride but it was chilly and gondolas are a set price of 90 euros for 30 minutes plus a tip. You can take up to 5 people in a gondola for the 90 euros but still a bit expensive and since it was not a pretty day and we did one last time we were here with Linda and Micheal we passed.

Last look at one of the canals.

Dinner was at a pasta place right around the corner from the hotel and I finally had spaghetti bolognese which was very good but not something I usually order.

We were back at the hotel by 8:30 for showers and to get all packed up for our early morning. The water taxi is set to pick us up at 4am.

We were up at 3:15 am and the water taxi was right on time. It was a smooth ride to the airport and it is funny that the canal side of the airport is all set up for boats to pick-up and drop people off.

Our water taxi dropping us off at the airport.

We flew from Venice to London and then London to Dallas/Ft Worth today. We are currently in Dallas waiting on our 7:45pm flight to Tallahassee.

We had a great adventure. This trip was a little more tiring than some of our long cruises because so many different stops, hotel in Istanbul, than Cappadocia, Cairo, river cruise, back to Cairo hotel, Athens hotel, ocean cruise and lastly Venice hotel. A lot of packing and living out of suitcases and making flights and connections.

Thanks for following along and until the next time!