Venice - Day 5, Wed 7th Nov 2018

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This morning we walked to The Ghetto with the aim of being at the Museo Ebraico (Jewish Museum of Venice) in time for their daily tour. We stopped on the way for a quick breakfast to eat on the go and walked through the tunnel which was the entrance to the Ghetto. The Ghetto is on an island accessible by 3 bridges and in the early years (1500s or so) the Jews were not allowed to leave their homes at night.

The Museo Ebraico has a small entrance but extends upstairs and either side into buildings next door. There were originally 5 synagogues in The Ghetto and there are no others in Venice. We were taken into the 2 smaller Ashkenazi synagogues, which are only rarely used today. The first is the oldest and is in the building to the left of the Museo. The second (Scola Canton) to the right of the Museo was built slightly later with a French influence. In all of the synagogues, the women sit in a separate upstairs area, behind grills. We had to walk through the square and over the Ponte Torno to get to Campo del Getto Vechio to see the 2 larger sephardic ones, which are still in use today. We saw stood outside the entrance to the Levantine Sephardic synagogue (Scola Levantina) and went inside the Spanish Sephardic synagogue (Scola Ponentina o Spagnola).

After this, we walked back to the hotel for a cup of tea and a cannoli, before setting off again to go to Ca’ Rezzonico. This was a private house now an art gallery.

Our next stop was Gallerie dell’Accademia, which is full of huge Renaissance paintings.

Dinner tonight was back at our favourite restaurant, where we shared Bruscetta for an entrée and then we both had Gnocchi for our main meal. Jo had it with a la Formaggio (4 cheeses) and I had Amatriciana sauce. The waiters are getting to know us now and gave us each a Grappa to try….. It doesn’t taste of much but I have a feeling that it is potent. :-)

According to the pedometer, we did 7.9km of walking today and the equivalent of 26 floors climbing.

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Comments

[Modris Vilnis]

Viewing photos
Great commentary. Won't recognise you when you return. Super fit and full of history and good food. Enjoy.