S Marco and the Vaporetto

The title pretty much sums up the day - we started out to San Marco after breakfast in our pensione - also pictures from the lobby of Pensione Guerrato, a former (800 yr old building) convent in the Mercato (market) area.








First stop was one of the oldest medieval churches in Venice right near our hotel.


Then we queued up to get in the Basilica - sorry no pictures are allowed although I was able to get one from the entrance on my other camera (without flash) but it might be out of focus due to low light. The outside is very ornate with lots of Eastern influence and the inside goes along - gold leaf everywhere, very ornate and fairly dark and HUGE. Not so large and tall as the Duomo in Florence but big still.

There are not many places to sit in the piazza, and the police will make you move if you sit on the ground. There are several restaurants with outside seating but you have to pay a cover charge and eat/drink there to sit. We did and and it was a wonderful place to relax over coffee and lunch and people watch.





I didn't get the picture on this camera but there is a 3-4 piece "orchestra" behind us playing classical music and some people danced as they walked by.





Next we boarded the vaporetto by St Marks and rode a couple of different lines around the islands and grand canal. That took a couple of hours and between the sun and the wind I am burned a bit - did I mention that it was sunny today? Guess the owner of our hotel in Varenna was right when he said the Italian weather forecasters lie - it was supposed to rain.









Ended up walking on the back side of our restaurant from last night and saw they had outdoor canalside seating during the day so stopped for a refreshing drink called "Spritz" but other than wine, orange juice and seltzer - the other ingredient was not familiar. We had little appetizers too.


The Venezia hat I bought due to the sun.