Venezia

So I’ve finally gotten around to writing up a summary of my Venice trip. First off, I had an amazing time. I definitely can’t stress that enough. Venice is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I went for my fall break, which is called Toussaint (All Saints' Day) in Europe. I went on a study trip with AUP, for my history of Venice class. The trip was from Wednesday to Sunday. I traveled all day Wednesday and got in during the evening. As soon as I arrived I knew I would love Venice. We took a boat down the Grand Canal to get to our hotel, and I was immediately struck by the beauty of the city. Out hotel was fine, though there were bugs. But it was a step up from a hostel. We saw so much on the trip, we did sightseeing from 8 am to 6 every day! It was tiring, but I know I saw everything. I can’t remember everything we saw, but some of the main sites were:

1. .Doge’s Palace (Doge means Duke)

2. Piazza San Marco, which is the main square in Venice.

3. Church of San Marco- It has many Byzantine mosaics, reflecting the strong Eastern influence in Venice as a result of all the trade Venice did with the East.

4. Jewish Ghetto- The word ghetto was coined in Venice, and is named such because on the site of the ghetto was a foundry. Ghetto comes from the Venetian word to throw metal. We went in three different synagogues. Today only about two Jewish families remain in the Ghetto. Jews came from all over Europe and Middle East to live in Venice, in the 16^th Century, because of the relatively tolerant laws regarding them. Venetians saw Jewish money lenders and merchants and valuable contributors to trade, so they allowed them to live in the city. However, they were only allowed to live in the Ghetto. The buildings were very cramped, because the Jewish people were densely packed in a small area.

5. St. Giorgione- This is a church designed by Palladio. It is Classical in style. Instead of being ornately decorated like Gothic churches, it has only white and gray stone with lots of light. Usually I find Classical architect somewhat boring, but this church was beautiful. It has a large dome over the crossing of the church. We went up in the bell tower, and were able to see a beautiful view of Venice. I got lots of cool aerial shots.

6. We saw several Scuole, which were guilds of Venice. They had their own buildings for which they commissioned art work.

We saw art work by Giorgione, Bellini, and Tintoretti, the most famous artists of Venice.

I also had some interesting Venetian food. Venetian food features lots of seafood since the city is right on the Adriatic. I had cuttlefish, which is a kind of squid, and pasta. The sauce was made using the black ink of the fish! It sounds weird but it was good. I also had lots of pizza and a cone of gelato.

Venice is famous for masks and glass, and of course the tourist shops are packed with them. I bought two necklaces with glass pendants and some postcards as souvenirs.

Venice is gorgeous. I’ve wanted to go for a long time, I’m so glad I was able to.