Ciao Giulietta - Benvenuto Venezia

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An early start this morning leaving Bardolino, as we sadly had to deliver Giulietta, our Alfa Romeo that has served us so well, to Marco Polo Airport Venice by 10.00am. Alfa’s are great cars, but they do not handle the canals of Venice so well. After handing in Giulietta, we made our way to the Vaporetto (Ferry) to take us across the lagoon into Venice, to the nearest terminal to our accommodation.



In driving through Eastern Europe we have been relying heavily on our trusty Garmin GPS. Now it was time to test the Garmin on the canals of Venice, which can be confusing to navigate at the best of times. I changed the Garmin to “walking mode”, and it led us straight to our Hotel, which is very well located, less than 50 metres from the Grand Canal, which we could see from our balcony. Well done Garmin.



The name Venice is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial centre, which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century. This made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history.



We messaged our friends, Liz and Darrol, who had arrived in Venice the previous day, and we met up and headed to the Galleria dell’Accademia. It was time for some Venetian culture. The Galleria houses the greatest collection of Venetian Renaissance artworks, including works by Tintoretto, Bellini, Carpacchio, as well as a special exhibition of works of the Dutch Renaissance painter, Hyeronimous Bosch (not Harry “Hyeronimous Bosch, the LA Detective). Many of the early artworks on display date back to the 1400’s, whilst the dimensions of some of the paintings stretch from floor to ceiling in a very large Galleria.



After dinner, we made our way to San Vidal Church for a Concerto, performed by the Interpreti Veneziana on Violin, Cello and Piano. The ensemble performed music from Vivaldi, Handel and Bach.

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