May 19-20 Cruising the Adriatic Part 1 Venice

In May we flew with friends Jim and Barb Word, as well as Jim's Sister Barbara and a long time friend of theirs, Melinda, to Venice, Italy, there to begin a wonderful and tiring two week trip. Landing in Venice's Marco Polo International we were taken immediately to our ship, the Celebrity Constellation, a "mid-size" ship that holds ("only") 2130 passengers + crew.  It's a great ship and company and we had a flawless cruise.

Venice is a wonderful city, unique in all the world, with its canals and gondolas, and beautiful architecture.  It consists of 118 islands in a marshy lagoon connected by 177 canals and 409 bridges. Home to around 60,000 people, it covers only about one square mile.  Transportation is either by boat or foot. A causeway connects Venice to the mainland. 
This view from a satellite revealed that Venice resembles a big fish.  The Lagoon is at the bottom of the picture with other islands reachable only by boat. Cruise ships sail up the Lagoon in the large space between the islands, docking in the cruise port at the far left, next to the causeway and the train station. The S-shaped figure cutting through the center is the Grand Canal. St. Mark's Piazza, the Doge Palace and most of the "touristy" sites are in the area immediately to the right of where the Grand Canal enters the Lagoon. 

On arrival your first stop is naturally St Mark's Piazza  in front of the ornate Doge's Palace.  It is as beautiful inside as outside!

Atlas

On some of the walls of the Palace are "Denunciation mouths" through which citizens could place anonymous notes accusing their fellow citizens of crimes.

If they were found guilty and sentenced to prison, they would be escorted from the courtroom in the palace across this "bridge of sighs" to the cell awaiting them on the opposite side of the canal.

A cell in the Doge Palace

The Bridge of Sighs

The view of "freedom" from the Bridge of Sighs

 The interior of the Doge Palace has high vaulted and decorative ceilings throughout.  And, of course, religious art dominates.

One of the world's largest paintings in oil on canvas! Why does it have SO many faces/heads?  The artist was paid by the number of faces he used!

Meg and GPS in hand!

 This is a spiral staircase within the city, somewhat hard to find, and known to some as the "snail."  It, of course, became the object of one of our geocaching hunts.

At one time Venice was a formidable seafaring force, imposing its will on countries and populations up and own the Adriatic coast.  

 Wherever they went the Venetian Winged Lion was carried with them to the architecture of the newly conquered lands.  Watch for more examples as we cruise the Adriatic.