Beautiful Venice

Today we took a water taxi to Venice on another beautiful but hot day!

As we arrived we could see Saint Mark’s Square and the many buildings surrounding it.

St. Mark’s Basilica is a church but also the official cathedral of Venice. It was built in 1063 and completed late in the 11th century. The original church was built around 828-832 but was destroyed by fire in the next century.

The front entrance is part of the Medieval decoration from the 11th century.

Many entrance portals feature beautiful mosaics.

Upon entering the church, it is hard to ignore the mosaic flooring.

The Nave was exquisite with mosaics throughout. Only the canvas folding chairs detracted from its elegance.

We paid extra to see the Pala d’Oro. This means Golden Panel in Italian and is the altarpiece located behind the high altar.

We climbed steep steps to go to the museum.

The Museum Loggia Cavalli houses beautiful mosaics that were part of the church.

Since the museum is on the upper floors of St. Mark’s, it allows a close-up view where you can examine the golden mosaics and Byzantine gold-leaf walls.

The original gilded copper horses that were on top of the church can be seen inside the church. These horses were brought from Constantinople.

The horses outside are replicas replaced in the 20th century to preserve the originals.

While we were looking at the horses outside we looked out over St. Mark’s Square.

We walked through alleyways looking in shops and looking for a nice place to eat. We finally found a place, Beppino, where I had ravioli and Bruce had tomato soup. We also shared bruschetta.

It was a photographer’s paradise, with all the canals and little alleyways.

I really didn’t care to go on a gondola ride but I did get to see a few.

We stopped for gelato and we both had coconut in a coconut shell.

Then we headed back to the area to catch our water taxi.

It was a really interesting day in Venice and the church with the museum and the Pala d’Oro was $15 Euro each for seniors. Under 65 it would have been $30 each.

Tomorrow we are heading home! It’s been quite an adventure.

#venice#italy#travel#tour#mosaics#food

@St.Mark’s Basilica

@Pala D’Oro

@Museum Loggia Cavalli

@Beppino’s