Winter Holiday in Venice - the best time to go in our opinion

We awoke on our first morning in Venice to tiny snow flakes falling into the garden courtyard outside our hotel window.

Another white holiday! And in Venicia! Wow!!

But no, the day was not cold enough, and the streets and steps had been well coated with rock salt to prevent ice forming.

On this our third trip to Venice, we walked everywhere, rather than hopping on and off the Grande Canale Ferries. There I found another reason for holidaying in Europe in winter - there were very few people there! We could wander down all the narrow streets withouth pushing past people coming the other way. We could do all the window shopping we wanted, without looking over people's heads if we could. We discovered many restaurants and cafes, and did not have to queue.

Best of all, St Marc's Square was not chocker full of people and pidgeons! We could stand in the middle of the square and gaze around us. We had decided to visit the Cathedral, as last time we came to St Mark's Square, in the summer, there was a huge queue of tourists to get in, so we visited the Doges Palace next door, instead. Today, there were no queues at all, so we could wander in and gaze at the Byzantuim style decor and art, at our leisure. Upstairs we went out onto the narrow balcony, which gave us an unobstucted view of of St Marcs Square, without pushing past people to take pictures. You may recall in a recent blog about the 4 horses at the National Geographic Shop and Museum not far from Piccadilly Circus in London, which were made of driftwood and modelled on the very same horse on this balcony. Today, replica horses are of this balcony the originalss, made of bronze, have been restored and are now inside. Also inside accompanying the broze horses, is an excellent exhibition of the history of the cathedral, its contsruction and resoration, art, articfacts, and tapestries.I am positive that this exhibition was not here when we first visited, around eight years ago. What is most interesting, and we found this also in other exhibitions about restorations, whether they be art or buildings, is the technology involved and the methods of the restorations, from the 'facelifts' to the preservation and restoration of the underneath materials which we do not see.

No, we did not visit Harry's Bar this time or go up the Tower, from which one gets an awesome view of of Venice and its surrounds, but we did meander through the markets and shops at the Rialto Bridge, as well as through the many squares and narrow alleyways admiring all the beautiful, but old appartment buildings, hotels and palaces. Of course it is hard to ignore the shabbiness of some,and the pealing off of plaster of others. But Venice is not crunhbling down into the sea. One only has to look beside many the shabby doors to find modern security keyboards for owners to get to their apartments. Like many cities, in Venice buidling facades cannot be changed, but behind the facades, if the real estate advertisements are true, apartments do seem to have all the mod cons.

We noticed several changes in Venezia since our first visit, 8 years ago. Because the damage sustained in the 1976, or round that time, high tides and flooding, Venice, along with Florence, sustained much damage and lost many art works and treasures. As a result various localworld wide groups, including "Save Venice" fundraised and restored many buildings in Venice. I recall one group which selected 10 Churches to restore, and visitors were encouraged to visit all ten and, of course, donate to the resotrations. I did not see and reference to the project this time so am not sure if the programme has been completed or not. But the clock tower, with its two men striking the bell on the top, has been finished. And a new bridge, located to the right of the railway station has appeared. This means that people coming to Venice by car, or bus across the causeway, do not have to walk miles to reach certain parts of the city. And what I always liked, when walking out of the station at Venice, was gazing across the canal at this run down church building. Today it is covered with neting for restoration, and topped with a huge advertisement for a fashion company!! One hopes that the company is paying a signifant amount to place such an eyesore for visitors wanting to feast their eyes on 'old Venizia.'

Winter definately is the best time to visit Venice. Certainly it is cold. I understand it can be foggy at times. But it is warm between the buildings and in the shops. There are still some hardy Gondoliers about, if one wants a cold romantic ride around the canals. It is also the best place from which to take photos from the water.

But we did wonder - what is the winter night life like in Venice? We discovered that the Restaurant promoting live Jazz Music every night means every night from March to November. Then, quite by chance we found out. One evening, which happened to be a Friday, we thought we would wander to the Rialto Bridge Area to relax inside (too cold outside by the canal) for dinner. We heard modern music, and turned towards it. There in this square, was a lot of people, in coats, hats and scarves, all standing up outside in the cold, all drinking and talking. The source the music was from one of several bars. Consisting of a counter, stock and no seating, these bars all served drinks to clients who stood outside. We found a bar which had seating inside, and squeezed in, sat down, and watched the activities. Outside, all the people seemed to come and go really quickly. We wondered why as we sat in the warm, enjoying our campary and soda's. Later when we left the bar, we found out why. Outside the temperature was cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.....*

* nautical saying - google it to find out what it means....



We found

More snow in Milano and our last day there

On our last morning in Milan we awoke to even more snow. Thick coatings everwhere!

A different type of winter magic to St Petersburg.

Once again we trudged along in the crunchy and even thicker snow to see the Last Supper fresco. We had booked well in advance, as one must, to see this particular work of art, and the viewing was very controlled. Our group stood silently in awe, gazing at this famous work, painstakingly restored, along with a nearby fresco from the same era, by Olivetti. Well worth the visit.

On the way back to the hotel to await the taxi to take us to the station - too far away to walk trundling our suitcases, I espied a couple of dresses - on sale, of course, in a shop window. ¨Wait here¨I said to Chris. ¨I will not be long.¨

In I went and said to the shop attendant. ¨I want to try on these two dresses and I am in a hurry.¨

¨Let me take your coat¨ he said.¨
Acutally I have three¨I replied.

Önly three? He demures....

A few minutes later Chris and I are back to the hotel, yes, with a dress, and waiting for a taxi to take us along the very snowy streets to the station for our new adventure in Venice. We had originally planned to drive there with friends, via a business call by Chris at Frienze, but this was now not possible because of the snow.

Milano looed even more spectaular today. The traffic, both moving and stationery, had about half a metre of snow on top, the telegraph and tram wires were lined with snow, the large Christmas tree and the statue in the square looked even more dramatic, and the Duomo, with the extra coating of snow all its whitte and gold parapets, looked like a huge fancy Christening cake.

When we finally shused our way to the Milano railway station, the train timetables had been turned topsy turvy by the snowfalls. Some trains to Venice had been cancelled, and ours was delayed by an hour. The Milano Railway station is probably the worst station to stand in in the very cold. There is no shelter, no bars, or shops to pop in to to keep warm. There are only 2 - 3 stand up cafes where you can purchase a roll and a hot drink. These were kept very busy by people, like us, buying food to warm up!

At last, our train was ready and we were off!! And in good time, too, as we found out in the following days, as Milano got colder and whiter. The snow covered ground, as we travelled east towards Venicia, gradually changed from white christmas card scenery to fields and villages lightly covered with snow. Maybe we will have a white holiday in Venice!!

We arrived late in the afternoon at the Venicia Station. This station is like most other European ones - all from the same drawing board, most likely, and Venice is the the end of this particular line.

So it is a great pleasure and change to step out and gaze onto the Grand Canal with some of Venices. beautiful old buildings behind. And the sound of absense motor traffic! Apart frome th quiet purring of canal ferry traffic, of course.

Chris found, on the interet, a lovely hotel just around from the Venice Railway station, and it was very easy to find. In the past, we have stayed in the middle of the city, however the numbering of the buildings of the narrow streets can be rather confusing to new visitors to Venice.

To be continued.....