Today we had a very long bus ride to get from Rapallo to Venezia (that’s the real Italian name for Venice). On the way we learned a bit about the regions of Italy and some history, we saw how the terrain and the weather changed as we drove along. We played a little guessing game about Italian things to pass the time along the way, like how much pasta an average Italian might eat in a year (the answer is (about 27 kilos) and what the most expensive Ferrari ever sold (the at a trick one, the answer was $70 million for a 1962 vintage Ferrari sold at an auction).
When we reached Venezia we road in a water taxi to our hotel. It was sure a different way to travel, but all the ‘roads’ are waterways here. On the way we heard that the land wasn’t sturdy enough to support the buildings so the original settlers, back in the 5th century, came up with a plan to drive wood poles deep into the ground providing a stable base to build on. As time progressed Venezia became a merchant town, home to wealthy merchants and their families living along the former lagoon waterways.
After we were settled in our hotel we got to take another water taxi (what a fun way to get around!) to St. Mark’s Square. Then we took a ride on a real gondola, with a Gondolier all dressed in his black and white striped sweater. He took us on a tour of some small waterways and we got to see how all the buildings are right up to the water’s edge. We thought it was quite amazing how they can drive the gondolas standing at the back with just a long handled paddle.
After our lovely gondola ride we visited the Doge’s Palace on a special “after hours” tour. The palace was the home of the leader of Venezia and place of government for the former Republic. We even go to see the prison on the ground floor as we followed the corridor, called the ‘bridge of sighs’ (that’s because the prisoners would sigh when they were taken down to the cells, and likely to impending death). It was originally built starting in 1340, but a number of fires and other things meant it had to be reconstructed a few times so there we could notice different architectural and decor styles.
It will be exciting to see what other adventures await us tomorrow around Venezia.
Well Behaved Kids Travel 