On my last full day in Venice, it was foggy yet again; I had put off the belltower and San Marco because I wanted a good view, but I wasn't going to leave Venice without climbing it, the weather be damned. So, I took a vaporetto to the piazza and ducked into the basilica while I waited for the campanile to open.
To backtrack—you're probably familiar with St. Mark's Square, as it is one of the largest and most famous piazze in Italy. Wide open (if usually tourist-choked) spaces, absurdly expensive cafés, flocks of pigeons and gulls, vendors selling roses, photographs, t-shirts and souvenirs; it is bordered by the wings of the ducal palace and the ancient administrative buildings, now converted into museums and offices, but the centerpiece is the gilded Basilica di San Marco. Construction of this cathedral began a cool millennium ago and it was completed in the early 17th century. It is a prime example of the Byzantine architectural style, corresponding to the period of Greek rule over what was once the Western Roman Empire; the building exhibits characteristically Byzantine traits such as use of the Greek cross as the floor plan (rather than the Latin cross of later structures), mosaic decoration, and lots and lots of domes.
Having climbed a Duomo or two in my day, I felt a little resentful of the fact that they didn't let me take the stairs to the top of the bell tower of San Marco, but I guess I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that there was a really good reason that we all had to take the elevator.
Looking down on the cathedral:
Piazza San Marco between the wings of the palaces (now the Museo Correr):
Looking south towards Giudecca and San Giorgio Maggiore:
I still love how everything just disappears into the fog.
Up next: Bologna!
As spectacular as ever! Can't wait to see Bologna. Love, Mom
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