Venice Excursions

Awoke to the alarm clock to quickly dress and meet the excursion assembly point on Deck 5 by 8:00am.  No time for breakfast, but L & G got a cup of coffee on the way.  We were escorted off the ship, showing our badges for a head count of who had embarked, and made a short walk to the waiting water transport boats and met our tour guide.  First destination was San Giorgio, the small island off the eastern tip of Giudecca, which is the southernmost island of the group called the “Islands of Rialto” that make up historical Venice.  Looking on a map of the Venetian Lagoon, the Islands of Rialto sit snugly protected from the Adriatic Sea by the Lido, an elongated sandbar.  The shuttle boat chugged through the narrow Giudecca Canal while our tour guide explained that the island of Giudecca was the home of an early Jewish merchant community (remember Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice?) and that the word “ghetto” was derived from “Borghetto” the Jewish Quarter in the NW of Venice. 

We approached the dock to see the church of San Giorgio Maggiore, with its west-facing white marble façade in shadows of the morning light.  The Campanile did remind me of the one in Piazza San Marco, and also was not the original one from the 1400’s; the original bell tower had collapsed and was rebuilt in 1797 in the Neo-Classical style of Palladio.  The monastery that stretched on the eastern side of the church was founded at the end of the 10^th century, and had once hosted the conclave for the election of Pope Pius VII in 1799 because Rome was under occupation by French troops.  The tour guide reminded us the Pope John XXIII, born Angelo Roncalli, was a native Venetian.

The church was founded in the mid-9^th century, dedicated to St George, and Benedictine monks established the monastery by the late 10^th.  However, the island’s buildings were destroyed by an earthquake in the 1200’s, and the present church was re-built from 1560 to 1610.  When I first stepped into the church the interior seemed to be sparsely decorated and designed in the baroque style, but when the tour guide told us the architect was Andrea Palladio, I realized I was wrong.  Palladio (born 1508 and died 1580) was probably the most influential Late-Renaissance, Neo-Classical architect -- ever -- in that his stamp was left on such architects as Sir Christopher Wren, Inigo Jones, and Thomas Jefferson.  Most of Palladio’s buildings are in the Veneto region, but what became known as the Palladio Style was spread throughout Europe and the young USA because of the publication of his book I Quarttro Libri dell’Architettura, “The Four Books of Architecture” which became the primer of study for subsequent young architects.  The interior of San Giorgio Maggiore has few frescoes, but two famous paintings by Tintoretto, The Last Supper and the Gathering of the Manna, are both on display near the high altar.  We had enough time to wander around and take photos, before the shuttle boat was scheduled to leave. 

Next stop, the island of Murano, home of the famous Venetian glassworks factories.  Of course, glass objects have been made since the time of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and the use of glass for window coverings, drinking vessels, and fine perfumes and oil storage has been around for centuries, with Venice one of many glass suppliers.  Murano Island became a glass manufacturing center in 1291 when Venetian city officials ordered all the glass furnaces out of Venice to protect the city’s predominately wood buildings from the potential for fire.  Our tour gave us a look into an age-old craft, with a demonstration of glass making at the Vetreria Estevan Rosseto 1950 factory.  We were ushered into an observation area of the furnace room where two mighty furnaces glowed orange-red hot.  The master craftsman pulled a long rod from the furnace with a glob of molten glass hanging on the end and proceeded to manipulate it with tongs, rods and scissors.  Soon he had the form of a rearing horse, nicely balanced on hind legs and long tail, and we all applauded.  Another master took a glob of molten glass and blew into it and shaped it into a delicate vase.  Just to demonstrate that this was still super-hot glass, the man dropped a piece of paper into the clear vase and the paper burst into flame. 

We were given a chance to wander through the showroom with the finished glass objects on display for sale.  What a variety of objects!  It seemed there was no limit to the articles, artwork, and home décor items these masters could turn out.  There were sets of wine glasses and decanters, lampshades, fountains, every shape and color of bowls and vases, earrings and necklaces, signs and symbols including the Blue Evil Eye.  I selected a small (can’t fit much into my luggage) blue owl with a transparent tummy displaying a small goldfish, with tiny air bubbles emerging from the fish’s mouth.  Incredible!

The final stop of the day was to San Marco for more shopping and a gondola ride.  Even after what I had read about the training and skill of the gondoliers, I was still amazed at how we could float through the very narrow waterways with tight corners, never touching walls or other gondolas, gliding effortlessly under bridges.  The professional gondoliers of Venice are members of an exclusive guild and must pass a rigorous exam, including Venetian history, foreign language skills, and practical oaring maneuvers. Our gondolier did not choose to wear his traditional striped shirt or straw hat that day, but plenty others did.  And there were requests from other tourists in gondolas nearby to hear “O Solo Mio” but our gondolier did not comply. 

The shore excursion time was at a close, and we found our way back to the water shuttle dock.  Back on the cruise ship, we freshened up for a nice buffet lunch, and relaxed around the pool in the afternoon.  Around 6:00pm almost all the passengers lined the decks to watch the commodore slowly pull the ship away from the port of Venice to start our journey.  We sailed past the beautiful city, the landmark buildings reflecting the warm glow of the evening light, watching flashes on shore from people snapping photos of the massive ship gliding by.  What a great start!

For anyone interested in a tour of a Murano glass factory, here is the contact information for ours:

Vetreria Estevan Rossetto 1950

Fondamenta Navagero, 50-30141 Murano Venezia

Tel. 041.739329   Fax. 041.5274367
Email:   rossetto1950@gmail.com