Adriatic Sea
Isola San Giorgio Maggiore
Sailing Club
SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the jetty, between two solid timber pilings; € 50.- per night.
Click below for an aerial view of our safe and expensive marina berth:Crossing the
Fulfilling a long-cherished dream and entering the marshy Venetian Lagoon with SY “Kamu II” thus coping with strong tidal currents, which often come from different directions, following the well-marked channels and dodging a vast number of gondolas, water buses aka vaporetti and even the odd cruise liner on our way from the lagoon entrance (passing Isola le Vignole and the reclaimed Isola di Sant’Elena on starboard and Riviera San Nicola on port) to the marina entrance on Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, right opposite Riva degli Schiavoni and St. Mark's Square, with a spectacular view of the city and of passing traffic.
"What boat owner, reading of Venice, has not dreamed of sailing there in his own vessel? It is indeed the most fitting way to visit the city..."
Gaping at the wonders of Venice, the flamboyant, radiantly beautiful “Queen of the Adriatic” and the only sinking UNESCO World Heritage Site, such as St. Mark's Square aka Piazza San Marco with St. Mark's Campanile and St. Mark's Basilica, Basilica di Santa Marina della Salute and Gran Teatro La Fenice, strolling over the piazzi and campi of the six sestieri (Cannaregio, San Polo, Dorsoduro, Santa Croce, San Marco and Castello) and getting repeatedly lost, many times, in the back lanes of the city with her many palazzi and churches without being rescued by Donna Leon’s helpful but somewhat slack Commissario Brunetti.
"Though there are some disagreeable things in Venice there is nothing so disagreeable as the visitors."
Touring the gothic seat of Venetian power, the Palazzo Ducale di Venezia which is linked by the infamous Bridge of Sighs to the Piombi Prison (which owes its name, the Leads, to the fact that it was covered with slabs of lead, and where Giacomo Casanova made a famous escape in 1755 CE), marvelling at paintings from Tintoretto and Veronese and putting ourselves in Mark Twain’s shoes who visited Venice, at heart a classic small town trapped in the body of a monument, and who toured the Doge's Palace in the summer of 1867 CE.
Exploring the Jewish Ghetto of Venice, the first ghetto in the world (coming from a Venetian word for the iron foundry that was on the site previously), made famous by Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, now a pleasant neighbourhood, with five top-floor synagogues, where Venice
"If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men’s cottages princes’ palaces."
Enjoying a meandering ride on vaporetto numero uno (the faithful ACTV Number One canal-bus, € 3.50 per non-Venetian) from one end of the Grand Canale near Fondamenta Santa Lucia to other end near the main railway station Venezia S. Lucia thus shooting under Ponte degli Scalzi, Ponte di Rialto and Ponte dell’Accademia.
Feasting our eyes on modern art in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection +39412405411 where notable works from Picasso, DalÃ, Magritte, Brancusi (including a sculpture from the Bird in Space series) and Pollock were on display.
Buying a romantic gondola ride through the stinking canals around St Mark's Square (negotiated price: € 45.- for the full afternoon), a classic and quintessential Venetian experience, kissing each other under the Bridge of Sighs aka Ponte dei Sospiri, entranced by the ceaseless murmur of the water as it never tires of kissing the stones and being assured eternal love, and listening to the wonderful Neapolitan songs which our friendly gondoleri Stefano bellowed out in his natural tenor; arrivederci, Venice, we love you...
Click below for more blog posts about our visits to other great riverine cities
27 Nov - 31 Dec 2013 Kaohsiung
11 Jul - 01 Sep 2013 Kuching
13 Mar - 18 Apr 2013 Bangkok
13 Dec - 17 Dec 2012 Hong Kong
25 Oct - 08 Nov 2012 Hanoi
Click below for a summary of this year's travels:
2003 Map Konni & Matt
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