Diary of a Traveling Kid: Venice: Masks, Pork, and Stolen Items

Once I reached Italy, I realized that the French were much happier when I attempted to speak French while Italians much less so with Italian. My guess is because Venice is astronomically more touristy than Nice and listening to hundreds of people a day struggle to order Spritz in Italian isn't too fun. It’s probably the most touristy place I’ve seen aside from Disney World. You can always tell the tourists who just stepped foot into Venice for the first time because the reaction is always the same. Open mouths, turning heads, and pictures at every bridge. They soon find out that there are over 400 little bridges connecting the 118 islands that make up Venice. I was no different. Venice was unlike anything I had ever seen and simply a different way of life. No cars or motor vehicles in the central section, just gondolas, waterbuses, water taxis, and private boats. Water taxis and buses stayed on the outskirts and larger canals while only the private boats and gondolas perused the smaller canals. The job as a gondolier is passed down from father to son and you must be of Venetian ancestry to do it. There has been some scandal in the past from women attempting to become gondoliers.

The first bridge we passed

Throughout our trip, Brittany and I have become more and more grateful that we booked to stay longer at each place rather than a quick stop and go. It gives us time to get lost throughout the city and find the tucked away shops. Venice is a great place to do this because 1. It is impossible not to be lost with all of the windy roads, half of which are not listed on maps and 2. Avoiding the large crowds and escaping into the shaded streets is much more comfortable in the summer heat.

But seriously…

First thing on our list: real Italian pizza. We went into Campo Margherita and paid quite a bit for pizza that definitely lived up to its standards. Throughout the two days we were there, we had PLENTY of gelato (which is so much better than icecream), bruschetta, more pizza, and the best tomatoes I’ve ever had.

That night we went on a walking tour guided by a Canadian who had originally come to Italy as an au pair and was now living in Venice with her fiancé. Some things we saw along the way:

Spritz-common Italian drink consisting of Chardonnay, tonic water, and flavoring (normally orange)

Ca'Dario: A privately owned house in Venice whose previously owners all had unexplainable deaths. One of the tenants was the former bass player for the Who.

I'm pretty sure this is the Indiana Jones Church from the movies

Piazza San Marco: Supposedly they built it out of spite to show the world that they too could have a large square.

St Mark's Basilica: A Roman Catholic Byzantine styled cathedral. Interesting because the pictures depicted on the side were not religious stories but the story of how they stole a saint’s body and brought it back to Italy. Many things in or on that church, in fact, were stolen.

Outside of St. Mark's Basilica. Unfortunately, it was under construction.

Found these pictures from a blog. She took some amazing photographs. This marble by the way was stolen from Istanbul

These horses originally had bright red stones as their eyes that have since disappeared. Constantinople fell, allowing the Doge to bring them to Venice, where after the fall of Napoleon, the French took them to France. These fine horses made their way back to Venice in 1815, returned by the French government.

The Muslims held St Mark's body captive in Egypt and his fellow friends in Venice wanted it back. They went to Alexandria and put his body in a storage container full of pork. When the Muslims went searching through the ship, they wouldn't go near the pork, so St. Mark made it back to Venice slimy yet in tact.

The bridge of Sigh: Appropriately named because this particular bridge connected two parts of the prison. As prisoners would pass through that bridge, they would see the sunshine and sigh, knowing that they may never walk outside again.

Casanova: the ultimate womanizer of the 18th century. The more married, the better, they say. For his seductions and public controversies, he was arrested at the age of 30 and sentenced to five years of prison. He was a smart and inquisitive man and smuggled an iron bar into his cell on one of his exercise walks. He sharpened it then began digging at the wood beneath his bed, with intentions to escape through the Inquisitor's Chambers located below. His escape day was on the horizon when officials had him change rooms. He was distraught but not defeated. He began planning another escape plan, in conjunction with the imprisoned priest next door. Being a womanizer, Casanova had a way with words, convincing the priest to make a hole connecting the two cells then subsequently terrorizing his own cell mate into silence. They broke into the palace, slept until morning, changed their clothes, then walked out. He first went to Paris and his life was a story of money-making, then money-losing with some seducing in between. It continued like that until his death in 1798.

In Italy, it seems that every other store is either a shoe store, one with Murano glass, or a mask shop. The Murano glass is made on the island of Murano whose secrets were well preserved because the artisans were held captive my the government. The masks were out of this world! So elaborate and we had the opportunity to see the process. They are typically worn during a festival called Carnaval (present throughout Europe). During the height of Venice, Carnaval lasted 10 of the 12 months in a year. One mask, in particular, has a long nose and used to be worn by doctors during the Middle Ages. While plagues were ransacking the city, doctors wore capes and these masks. Supposedly the doctors put antiseptic on the end of the noses and the length allowed them some personal space between them and the patient.

Artisan in the process of painting the mask

Doctor's mask

This place housed the infamous Venetian merchant who traversed the Silk Road for 24 years. None other than Marco Polo

A women's prison. Notice the height of the doors. Not the mention that these parts flooded quite often giving the prisoners a small pool in the cell. Not quite spa standards.

So many movie references in this city. This is the house that sunk in Casino Royale. Notice the gondolier on his smart phone.

Oldest church in Venice: San Giacometto

They often named streets after what they sold. This street previously sold cheese and while Casaria doesn't directly translate, another translation for cheese in Italian is cacio. Close enough I guess?

Balcony that Jonny Depp jumped off in The Tourist

Jewish Ghetto: While ghetto may sound strange and politically incorrect, it is simply a word to describe an area. The bridges in and out of the ghetto used to be draw bridges and guards would control the area. Guards still stand there today because Europeans love their traditions! Little known fact: Hasidic Jewish women cannot show their hair so they wear wigs instead. The ghetto is still filled with many Jews and the synagogues are located at the top of the building, the reason being that no one should live above the house of God.

Synagogue on the top (small red lit window in middle of picture)

Brittany and I felt pretty accomplished as many of the places we intended to see had been done that first day. We took part in the night life that night, only drinking spritz. The lack of open container laws allowed us to leave the bar and sit on the bridge enjoying the canals and people walking past. The next day we simply wandered and relaxed. Some of the best moments were buying some tomatoes from the local fruit/vegetable stand, sitting next to the canal watching the gondolas go by.

One of the best realizations when arriving to a city is access to free water. In Venice, there was clean water constantly running in large plazas or along the canal.

The first time you see an enormous cruise ship come through the main canal it is a surprising site to see. The canal is large compared to all the others in Venice however relatively small for the size of the ship. Many of the citizens of Venice are attempting to petition to prohibit cruise ships coming through. Venice is a fragile city, sinking approximately 2 millimeters a year, though Venice officials argue that that is an overestimation. The massive cruise ships don't help the sinking city and not to mention cause an enormous influx of people on those tiny streets. I can tell you from personal experience, attempting to meander the streets through that maze of people is not pleasant in the heat. You'd think that they would bring a considerable amount of commerce to the city, when in reality, they don't spend much money because they sleep and eat on the cruise ships.