Italy
Canal Grande

Discover travel destinations of travelers writing a travel journal on FindPenguins.
Travelers at this place
    • Day 11

      Quack quack waddle waddle

      November 2, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

      The rain came with joining the tour group. We have an awesome group leader. He's fun, energetic and kind to a fault, looking after all of us, almost hovering to make sure everyone is happy and tonight he taught us the 5 rules for proper toasting (where you clink glasses). We all waddled in a long line around town in the pouring rain in darkness while he shouted encouragement and held aloft his cell phone playing Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. I'm adding some random pictures from today. And some more.masks, which I can't get enough of. I learned it was the law to wear masks in public for 5 months of the year to promote social equality! Socialism in the extreme! Men's were plain white and had a flared.front (looks like Homer Simpson) so they could eat in public. Women's masks were plain black but were kept on by biting a mouthpiece, so there was no eating food for her in public! I have my doubts. Eventually, the masks conveyed social status in extreme one-upmanship. I still love them.Read more

    • Day 1–5

      Erster aufregender Tag....

      December 29, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

      Grrrr.....Flughafen BER .... keine Leute. Da musste ein Mitarbeiter alle Koffer in das Flugzeug allein einladen. Der Ramp Agent kam auch ewig nicht, so daß wir mit einer Stunde Verspätung gestartet sind.
      Sonst eine sehr entspannte Anreise. Wir haben eine schöne Wohnung in Sant Angelo.
      Nach den ersten wichtigsten Besorgungen ( Kaltgetränke und Frühstück) haben wir die erste kurze Tour durch die Stadt gemacht. Auf dem Markusplatz war Livemusik.... das war sehr toll bei dem Ambiente. Der Rückweg zur Wohnung war nicht so einfach.... da wir eine halbe Stunde in die falsche Richtung gelaufen sind ;-). Lag das an den Aperol Spritz ?
      Gegen 23 Uhr nach zwei Limoncello liegen wir völlig fertig im Bett. Wir freuen uns auf morgen.
      Read more

    • Day 11

      Saint Marks

      November 2, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

      This church gets its own footprint. Spectacular-- all gold tile and marble. We got there for the 1 hour each day they turn on the lights. It has a glass.fence.to keep the water out that regularly gets a couple of feet deep before the close the flood gates.because it costs the city 250000 euros every time they close the gates. They had so.e proper seraphim in this church. Also we passed a square.dedicated.to the angel Gabriel, but Napolean -- that short French guy--- destroyed the church (along with many others) so it is just an open square now. St Marks.is.1000 years old but the.greek horses on it is 2000. The horses, like the bones of St Mark, were stolen. (Yes, the Mark who hung out with Jesus and wrote the gospel). I saw the grave that is now an alter.Read more

    • Day 11

      Things I've learned

      November 2, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

      1. Keep a closer eye on dad. He lost his wallet. Fortunately I brought my credit card and his passport was not in it. Today we retrace our steps and hope it was left in a friendly restaurant. We should have tipped...
      2. Order a latte or an Americano coffee or you will be served a shot-glass of bitter resentment covered in a foam of sadness.
      3. Don't buy expensive water bus (Vaperetto) tickets online. They don't work.
      4. Do drink the water. Even the ever-flowing water fountains in the squares are piped from the alps.
      5. The canals smell like a sewer for a reason. I have seen men pissing right off the sidewalk.
      6. Navigating Venice is like doing a speed run in a video game. Hidden passages everywhere... called streets... that you swear is a dead end until you come up and face it. Crazy fun place to get lost.
      7. They dont always check for tickets, but if they do, don't lose your ticket to the Vaporetto or you will get deposited at the next stop despite your loudest protests and no matter how far it is to one of the only 3 bridges that span the Grand Canal. This didn't happen to us, but we witnessed it.
      8. Only Americans offer to help if you are struggling with luggage over stepped bridges, with the exception of our female host at the bnb.
      9. Every square across the cities we have visited have swarthy characters selling one of two things: a helicopter slingshot that lights at night, or a squishy toy that flattens when you throw it on the ground, them resumes it's form. I admit I was tempted.
      10. I want to keep going around the world, even though sleeping with dad is like ... well, I keep earphones on playing soft music all night. Unfortunately I lost my nifty eye mask with built in Bluetooth earphones on the plane, but I kept cheapo phones we got to hear a tour guide. Oh, and I found my missing makeup while turning everything out to look for dad's wallet. Perhaps all the freakin' angels I've captured on my phone will lend us a hand on getting it back, but so far no trench-coated messenger has appeared.

      Random picture follow
      Read more

    • Day 8

      Florenz

      April 7, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

      Super-Städte-Tag! Beginnend in Florenz, wo wir uns die Uffizien ansehen wollten, der Andrang aber wieder viel zu stark war, führte uns unser Weg vorbei an "David", der ersten Monumentalstatue der Hochrennaisance, erschaffen von Michelangelo, welche als bekannteste Skulptur der Kunstgeschichte gilt. Die Statue ist aus einem einzigen Marmorblock geschaffen, über 5 m hoch und wiegt ca 6 Tonnen.
      Im Musei Cicici fanden wir Dante's Totenmaske, Fresken von Lorenzetti und den Saal der Elemente von Georgio Vasari. Gleicher stand in ständigem Konflikt mit Michelangelo und wer weiss, hätte er den Auftrag für die Sixtinische Kapelle erhalten, wäre es vielleicht sein Name, der uns geläufiger wäre.
      Read more

    • Day 30

      Venice 5c - At Night

      October 4, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      Venice at night was so different to during the day for crowds, particularly in St Marks and around the Rialto Bridge, although the vaporettos were still very busy. An enjoyable half an hour walking around St Marks Square and listening to the music.Read more

    • Day 75

      Yes, Venice is sinking!

      August 31, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      As you travel on the canals you can see where the original doors are now underwater at the bottom and rotting, some church tower's no longer straight but on an angle and balconies are sloping. They are trying to address the enormous problem but just a little daunting.Read more

    • Day 3

      Final cicheti call

      December 22, 2016 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 3 °C

      To stave off the tiredness that comes of walking 20km and then drinking wine, we headed out into the Venetian night; it was either that or fall asleep at 8pm. So we headed around the block from the hotel to Enoteca al Volto for one last cicheti call and a nightcap. The only downside of any of these stops is the number of people smoking in and around the restaurants - it's so easy to forget how quickly this has changed in the UK and so unpleasant to deal with here! Nonetheless, a fine nightcap and get more flavours of cicheti.Read more

    • Day 1

      Venice, Italy - Gondola Ride

      May 18, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

      Thursday, June 1, 2017 - 6pm
      The tour begins at Bacino Orseolo just behind Saint Mark’s Square, following smaller but unbelievably beautiful secondary canals such as Rio dei Barcaioli where the home where Mozart lived is located, and Rio dell’Ovo to reach the Grand Canal. From here, to your right you will enjoy the spectacular view of the Rialto Bridge from the water, and to your left imposing palazzi such as Ca’ Farsetti, seat of the municipal government, and Palazzo Grimani, the largest building overlooking the Grand Canal and which now hosts the Court of Appeals. The tour continues down Rio San Luca where it passes Palazzo Manin, residence of the last doge of Venice, Ludovico Manin, and today the Bank of Italy’s Regional headquarters building, before returning to end again at Bacino Orseolo.Read more

    • Day 16

      Getting the best from a 24hr ferry pass

      September 4, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

      After a bit of a slow start we headed out to find breakfast… we wandered towards Fondamenta Nuove but found a great looking place called Farini somewhere near the Rialto Market where we could enjoy great coffee and sweet or savoury bread and pastries – we also chose a Marmalade Brioche to take away for lunch. Next stop was the Fondanenta Nuova which is the main ferry strop for the islands of the Lagoona. We purchased (and validated – one must validate before EVERY journey) a 24 hour ferry pass and then jumped about the 4.1 heading to Murano but got off only a few minutes later when we pulled up at St Michele the cemetery island. The island is attractively landscaped, with tall cypress trees and a 15th Century church with a cloister that leads to the cemetery proper. Most of the shallow graves that you see are occupied for just ten or twelve years; after that, the graves are excavated and the bones are transferred in boxes to mausoleum niches or dumped into a communal ossuary. We had a bit of a wander around the graves for about 45minutes or so then headed back to the ferry and caught the next 4.1 off to Murano.
      We got off at the stop and walked along the water until reaching a "Fornace Glass" sign on a door below the Calle S. Cipriano street sign here we were able to view a free glassmaking demonstration. After that we wandered the island browsing in a few shops and galleries and making a couple of purchases. We ended up at the Faro ferry stop where we ducked into a café - Kirstin had a coffee and I enjoyed my firsts “spritz” which is very popular in Venice and consists of Soda water with Aperol, a wedge of orange and an olive – odd but it works!
      Next stop was Burano via the number 12 Ferry The island of Burano lies in the northern part of the Venetian Lagoon It has a much different atmosphere from Murano or Venice's historic centre, thanks to the Buranese custom of painting houses in bright colours--a tradition that may have had its origins in the colour schemes of local fishing boats. Everywhere you look, you'll see houses clad in blue, green, pink, rose, lavender, purple, yellow, and other colours. Fishing is one traditional occupation of the Buranelli; the other is lacemaking. We sat in a park near the ferry stop and ate our fruit and Brioche before spending an hour or so wandering the island – it really is rather cute.
      Back on the Number 12 again we headed out to Punta Sabioni where we changed for the number 14, this took us on to the Lido, the long but very narrow island that guards the mouth of the Lagoona and is currently the home of the Venice Film Festival (we kept our eyes open for George Cluney and Judy Dench but no luck. We walked about a km from the ferry stop to the other side of the Island and sat on the beach for a bit before dabbling our feet in the Adriatic (just to say we had) then we headed back to the ferry terminal via the gelati shop (mmm I had fig and walnut and Kirstin mixed berries).
      We got onto a number 1 ferry which is a great way to see the city as it travels all the way up the grand canal to Piazalle Roma we passed St Marks Square, the Academia Bridge, the Rialto and so on – it was really great. After that we had a quick visit to the supermarket where Kirstin resisted the temptation to buy 5 litres of red wine for $5 (it is cheaper than water!) and headed for diner at the place across from the hotel. Tonight we had calamari and scampi with some grilled veggies plus some of he house wine (you order by the ¼, ½ or full litre). After tea we thought a walk was in order and managed to make our way to La Zucca which was finally open (they don’t answer the phone because they are very busy apparently. We made a booking for tomorrow night and then meandered about getting a tad lost (the map is pretty rubbishy really) and turning up at the Rialto Market ATV where we caught the number 1 ferry back home – another full day!
      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Canal Grande, القنال الكبير, Kanal Qrande, Гранд-канал, Канал Гранде, Gran Canal, Granda Kanalo de Venecio, Gran Canal de Venecia, התעלה הגדולה, カナル・グランデ, 카날 그란데, Lielais kanāls, Голем канал, Grande Canal de Veneza, Büyük Kanal, Canal Grando, 大运河

    Join us:

    FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android