Venice, the middle

Wednesday 21st May, 2025

Going backwards still…

Today we left the ship and spent the day in Venice. Leaving the ship was quite a palava with little to no communication from the ship people and faced with having to negotiate our way from the drop off point to the hotel which was near the railway station. Seemed easy…

We walked the length of the drop off point (1km but felt like 5), dragging our bags behind us. Found a vaporetto and just hoped we were going to end up in the right spot. We did.

The hotel. Possibly needs its own chapter however, I’ll condense things a bit.

It is a converted convent (or monastery, not sure which) so I was primed for accommodation “cells” and, I have to say, I wasn’t far off. We were taken to the lift and given a brief tour of the lower floors. The public toilet was under the pulpit (not kidding), the walls were covered in crimson coloured flock material and our room had a chandelier.

The beds (possibly medieval) were comfortable-ish and the bathroom had gold tiles and mould to maintain its rustic charm (or maybe mould because, you know, Venice)

We had a look around and found our way outside which was pleasant. A few nice plants which, on closer inspection, proved to be imitation. The lawn was a lush, brilliant green but when the house maid started vacuuming it we realised it too was imitation.

Another vaporetto ride took us to St Mark’s square as we had booked to see a performance of Vivaldi’s Four seasons in the church of Santa Maria della Pieta, just along from the Doges Palace. Built between 1745 and 1760 it is a “jewel of Venetian architecture” although the facade was not completed until 1906.

I am reliably informed (thank you, Google) that the church is commonly referred to as Vivaldi’s church. He worked there for almost 40 years as a priest, teacher and composer. I think he was Scottish. He was called the Red Priest due to his red hair and he could play the bagpipes (I made that bit up. No idea if he could play the bagpipes but the abandoned and orphaned girls, who lived at the institution of the same name, were taught many instruments including the bagpipes so it goes to reason. Also, the church was built from 1745, an auspicious date in the Scottish calendar.)

The concert was wonderful but I have never sat on more uncomfortable pews in my life! Seats in Italy seem to be very short in depth or extremely deep so I am either perching precariously on the edge with a lot of sphincter clenching to stay in place or else I am sitting like a toddler, unable to bend my knees.

8pm came and went and I was thinking TG! I can unclench and leave but oh no, the audience insisted on lengthy applause and so the orchestra returned 6 times (count it, 6!!) to do encore after encore.

Following the concert Venice revealed its wonderful and subtle evening light.