Blogs from Venice, Veneto, Italy, Europe - page 2

I didn’t like Venice one bit, the only time I visited it on a sweltering Saturday in July decades ago. I can remember impossible crowds, sickening heat, dirty water, a miserable hostel in a convent. My friends and I got up the next morning and showered under a cold tap, and caught the first train to Switzerland. Today I thought I would give it one more chance this Saturday, but try to be one step ahead. I booked a good hotel 0.9 miles from the train station. I left my suitcase at the train station for 18 euros, and carried a light bag. I got good instructions from hotel staff how to do Venice in a day, plus a map that clearly labeled the hotel. I found the tobacco store where you buy a ticket for ... read more

http://www.heygo.com it is believed that the tradition to celebrate the Venice Carnival may have started in 1162 with the celebration of the victory over Ulrich II of Treven, the Patriarch of Aquileia (an ancient Roman city in Italy). Urich II was taken prisoner together with his 12 vassals and eventually released on one specific condition. Every year on Holy Thursday the Patriarch was obliged to pay a tribute to Venice that included a bull and 12 pigs which than were slaughtered in the Piazza San Marco in front of Venetians to commemorate the victory. On that day the street celebrations, games, people dancing and bonfires would take over the streets of the city.&... read more

Maggie has definitely made the most of her time in Italy with whirlwind trips to both Venice and the Amalfi Coast since seeing Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. Yesterday, Maggie and four other girls (Salma, Bella, Meadow and Kelsey - all fellow SAS passengers) flew for a one-day sightseeing trip to Venice. She adored Venice, and found it one of the most beautiful cities she's seen so far. They rode in a Gondola, visited St. Mark's square, and just strolled through the Venetian streets before flying back to Naples that night. Today, Maggie decided to take a solo trip to the Amalfi coast. She navigated the Naples metro, Italian train, and Salerno buses to spend just over an hour admiring the Amalfi coast before reversing the trip in time to drop in on a castle she spotted ... read more

http:// www.heygo.com 16th March Cannaregio Starting from the mysterious church of illuminati we will move further north and discover the house of Tintoretto, learn the legend of the four moors and that of the statue of Mary of the Orchard and cross a bridge that's unique in a town that has almost four hundred bridges. The Cannaregio canal is one of the most important waterways in Venice. It connects the Grand Canal with the north-western area of the Cannaregio district, between the foundations of San Giobbe and the foundations of Sacca San Girolamo. We started our tour outside a church with a strange history. Venice, an ever magic and mysterious city, was already in the 18th century the centre of an influential Freemasonry fraternity, whose members also included the famous adventurer Giacomo Casanova. Here, the Freemasonry ... read more

http://www.heygo.com 31st January - Venice We started our tour today with Andrea outside the church that was is local church and the one he has attended since a child. The Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari was built between 1236 and 1338 by the Franciscan Conventual Friars, the structure was thoroughly re-modelled in the XIV century and given its present most magnificent form of central nave, two side aisles and seven apsidal chapels after the Franciscan-Gothic style. The bell tower is the 2nd highest in Venice. Andrea showed us images on his phone of some of the interior. Titian's depiction of Mary ascending into heaven & the tomb of Antonio Canova where his heart is, literally. It is a very beautiful pyramid shaped structure, guarded by a sad, sleeping lion. We walked through the alleyways ... read more