Monday is Wash Day in the Ghetto - Venice, Italy

Our cruise ended where it had begun, in Venice.  We stayed on for three more days to tromp the winding streets (and get lost many times) and explore this beautiful, water-world.

Venice is one of Italy's top travel cities and a beautiful, romantic destination with many attractions. Its small, traffic-free streets along the winding canals made for great walking. (But too many people for our comfort) We found many magnificent churches and palaces, lively squares, and interesting shops -- TOO many if the truth be known along with TOO many other tourists.  We couldn't believe how crowded it was and can only imagine what it is like in the height of tourist season.

The name Venice is derived from the ancient tribe of Veneti that inhabited the region in Roman times. The city historically was the capital of an independent city-state. Venice has been known as the "La Dominante", "Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals". Luigi Barzini, writing in The New York Times, described it as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man". Norm has now also dubbed it, "The City with the Bridges of Pain," for all the many tall bridges we walked 'up and over' during our three days in paradise, including the last time we left, dragging our heavy luggage with us to catch our Amsterdam plane. Note to self: NO MORE THAN 30 pounds each next trip!

Some of the well-known sites we visited were Saint Mark's Square along with the magnificent Basilica and the neighboring Dogg's Palace, Murano Island, where they make the beautiful blown glass (more on tht in a minute). One of the last places we visited was the Jewish Ghetto. In 1516, 700 Jews were forced to move to a then-remote northwestern corner of Venice, to an abandoned site of a 14th-century foundry. The word "ghetto," soon used throughout Europe for isolated minority groups, originated in Venice: ghetto is old Venetian dialect for "foundry."

Like most of the islands that make up Venice, the ghetto was totally surrounded by water. Its two access points were controlled at night and early morning by heavy gates manned by Christian guards (paid for by the Jews), both protecting and segregating its inhabitants. Within one century, the community grew to more than 5,000, representing many languages and cultures. Although the original Ghetto was periodically expanded, land was limited and quarters always cramped.

With the arrival of Napoleon in 1797, the ghetto was disbanded and Jews were free to move wherever they liked, but the Jews realized full freedom only in the late 19th century with the founding of the Italian state.(www.sacraddestinations.com)

One of the things we enjoyed most about visiting the 'ghetto' was that it was not crowded with visitors.  It was just a regular neighborhood and we were very tired of so many crowds.  It was nice to just walk through the nearly empty streets and enjoy the quiet.

Now, back to Murano Glass!  We did it!  Yep, Nancy is now the proud owner of a piece of fine art -- a large glass piece of two sea turtles.  And, one of our favorite sayings over the years has always been, "Behold the lowly turtle; she only makes progress when she sticks her necks out."  So, the turtles are being shipped and should arrive in a couple of weeks ....and we hope the kids don't mind our spending their inheritances :-)

 

Arrivederci  Venice - Hallo again to Amsterdam!

Norm and Nancy