Saturday, May 2nd, 2009: Venice during the day: the Lido and the Doge Palace.

Bob:

Our first step was to purchase a 24-hour ticket for the water bus system that connects the Venetian archipelago. We impulsively jumped on the first water bus headed out toward the Lido, an island known for its beaches. We had never visited any of the "out" islands of Venice, and wanted to at least see what the Lido was like. Our particular boat took the long way around the main island complex rather than running down the Grand Canal, so we got to see how the mainland side looked.

Along the way we passed the seaside boundary of the Venice's Arsenal, which we had walked past on the landward side during our visit the week before. The Arsenal was apparently a major ship-building fort in the heyday of the Venetian Republic. From the sea, it was much larger than I had expected, extending for half a mile or so along the waterfront and enclosing some kind of interior basin where possibly the galleys had been built in the old days. Clearly the complex was still in active use although the exact nature of that use escaped me as I saw boats that looked like fishing trawlers, rowing shells, and other small craft but no identifiable military vessels or other military functions.

Disembarking at the Lido on the lagoon side, we strolled across the island to the beaches that lined the Adriatic Coast side of it. The Lido is a relatively long but narrow island, so we only walked about 4 blocks or so. The street we were on was clearly the main commercial avenue bisecting the island, with hotels, shops, restaurants, and other boutique businesses lining both sides of it.

We walked through an entrance gate onto the beach, and although the basic entrance was free, a sign clearly warned us that any other services such as changing rooms, bathrooms, snacks, and so forth would all cost money. That was fair warning, I thought, as we had already discovered the high cost of basic necesssities in Venice, especially in the tourist areas. The Lido's beaches extended for at least a half a mile in either direction and had a very gradual shelving out to sea with a corresponding very gentle wave action. It looked like a very pleasant place to spend a day at the beach in warm weather, but that early in the season the water was still cold enough that only the young folks attempted to go in, and they only went in up to their knees. Still, the beach was already filling up with sunbathers by the time we left, so it wasn't deserted by any means.

We were surprised at the abundance of shells along the shore. Walking along near low tide we found shelves and beds of thousands upon thousands of shells of all descriptions, some still with their occupants firmly ensconced! Most of the shells were, of course, empty and well-scoured, but the gentleness of the waves had preserved the vast majority of them so that they were intact. We both enjoy searching for shells at the beach and we found several very nice small shells to take home with us as mementos of the Lido.

Walking back across the island, we stopped to buy a couple of sandwiches and a Coke and had our lunch on some concrete benches beside a pretty little fountain. Monika had the bright idea that we should look for free bathrooms at the department store across the street, and sure enough we found a free bathroom there although we had to look hard to find them at the back of the store on the top floor as there were no signs. I also found a man's purse that was large enough to hold my Olympus SLR camera. That purse was too deep and awkward so I ended up not buying it, but it gave me the idea to search for a smaller purse to use as a camera bag during our next trip to Australia (Wanderung 20). Catching the next boat back to Saint Mark's square, we traversed yet another part of the Venetian lagoon and saw more of the old, picturesque buildings, canals, and bridges.

Once back at St. Mark's square, we took the opportunity to see the Doge's palace, another "must see" we had missed on our previous visits. It turned out to be a very impressive palace, to say the least. Although the exterior of the palace is a simple but gracious colonnade, the interior courtyard had a pretty colonnade on one side and a complex domed building as the center focal point. A grand staircase complete with statues at the top connected the wing with the Doge's private apartments and allowed, I think it's safe to say, a really grand entrance by the Doge himself.

The interior rooms we were allowed to tour contained a plethora of paintings on the walls, marble mosaics on the floor, and gilded sculptures on the ceilings to the point that it rather reminded me of being in a church, but with a definitely secular rather than a sectarian flavor. While there I learned about the history of the Venetian Republic, which lasted several centuries. It was very different from the democatic republic of the U.S., however, in that it was based on the "Casa Vechia" or royal houses of Venice rather than on any type of popular vote.

The power structures of the Venetian Republic also evolved over time in a way that has not occurred in the U.S., possibly due to the lack of a written constitution. The Doges seemed to have a lot more power than a President, in part because they were essentially appointed for life, but the Venetians also had to suffer under "bad" or ineffective Doges for far longer than we have to suffer under our dud Presidents, even if we are stupid enough to re-elect them for a second term.

Jumping back on a vaporetto after our tour of the Doge's palace, we arrived back at the hotel in time to sign in, wheel our luggage around to our room (thankfully on the first floor so I didn't have to hump it all up flights of stairs!). Monika went out to shop for some wine or beer and found a store just down the street that had prosecco, or sparkling wine, on tap at 2.70 Euro per liter. That was, by the way, the only thing we found to be cheap in Venice, but maybe the Venetians consider prosecco to be one of life's essentials! In any case, Monika took one of our half liter water bottles over and had it filled for 1.30 Euro and so had some nice wine to enjoy for the rest of the afternoon while I napped.

For the rest of our day in Venice, click below: