Italy: Venice Part 3

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

Continued from part 2.

 

So we were walking from Piazza San Marco towards the Santa Maria della Salute. The temperature when we were in venice was just nice, not too hot, not too cold, so it was perfect for a walk.

From Piazza San Marco to Santa Maria della Salute took about 15 to 20 minutes walking. We went through these alleys of shops, some of them are even high end brands (don't let the old and crummy alley fool you).

We passed through several plaza just like this one.

There are many bridges in Venice connecting the small canals, but for the grand canal, there's only two which are the Rialto Bridge and this other big one (I don't know the name).

We passed through this garden and this museums about music. This is the only one that's free to enter.

The music in this hall is so nice.

They have various instruments here that was used by famous artists like Vivaldi and Giovanni. Some of them even has some very interesting shapes.

On the way, we saw this guy playing water glass music. 

I've always wanted to see one up close.

It sounds beautiful doesn't it?

On the way to the Santa Maria, we passed through the Guggenheim collection. We didn't enter, we just passed through. There's one Guggenheim museum in the states (USA).  

I came across this shop and saw the throw pillow. Look closely at the writing. I can't tell exactly, all I know is that those are arabic. If you don't know, venice used to be under the ruling of Byzantine empire before they were defeated by the caliphate. You can read more of it here.

Basking in the gorgeous view. 

Santa Maria della Salute. It is one of the largest churches in Venice and has the status of a minor basilica. What's basilica you ask? Read more here. I know...catholic is so complicated. 

 

 

Panoramic view of the place 

From the end of the la Salute, you can see the Piazza San Marco Polo (the tower there). 

This is facing the grand canal. You can get away from the hustle at the Piazza here. 

We didn't go in the la Salute because it seemed like it's closed. Here in Venice, you need to know which date the attraction will open. Some of them close on Mondays, some on Sundays, and some on Tuesdays. Don't ask me why. 

Something don't fit in this picture. Can you find it? 

Afterwards, when we were walking, I came accross Leonardo Da Vinci museum.  

You can't not go in, can you? I was the only one that entered because the other two girls wasn't interested. I only paid €5. 

  

Inside, there are so many of Da Vinci's inventions, mechanics, drawings. 

 

Let me show you some videos of how these machineries work.

 

 

 

The painting of the last supper is one of the famous paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci. It depicts the final meal taken by Jesus and his apostles before he was sentenced to death by the Roman troop. The real painting is on a wall of a church in Milan.



This is his famous invention too, the room of many mirrors.




And of course, the mona lisa. This is just a replica though. The real one is at the Lourve, Paris. But this is close enough. huhu...



The famous drawings, sketches made by Da Vinci. They sell this manuscript, but I don't remember how much. 

Outside the museum, there's a grocer selling all types of fresh fruits and veggies. Kind of like 'pasar terapung' in Thailand, but these are on larger boats. 

Next, we went to get a bite to eat. Most pizza parlours here will give you a pizza like the one I'm holding (quite large for a slice), and you eat it just like that. We also bought some gelato. The pizza, gelato (three flavours) and water costs only €5. Pretty good eh?

Let me do my version of the dream (left), and the reality (right). hahaha...not a fair comparison though. Different time, different place. 

More of the dream (left) and reality (right). Some of the alleys do look nice like on the left. But some have a lot of those graffiti, pee stains (along with the smell), moulds and much more.

We didn't do a lot in Venice, but I think it was enough for us. I had enough visiting cathedrals and churches when I was in Spain, so we just see those buildings from the outside, which was still beautiful.

This is the bridge going back to the Piazzale Roma (where you can see vehicles here). 

Venice is beautiful, but I think the place is way overrated. It's fun and all to see how it is. But my next destination was a lot better. 

We were supposed to take the bus to Florence. Since there were no vehicle in venice, we need to go back to the mainland. There is a waterbus that you can take, but it will cost €8. The staff at the counter told us we can save money if we walk to Piazzale Roma and take the people mover for just €1.50. You heard me, it's called the people mover. =P

The people mover is basically a train (like monorail) from Piazzale Roma to Tronchetto, where the bus will be.



The view from the people mover. 

Tronchetto is a dock near the mainland. Before the tronchetto stop, there's a parking dock for cruise ships. So you can see huge and beautiful cruise there.  

Look at this beautiful baby...pink venice anyone? haha..this cute boat is actually a transport service from here to venice. It's pre-booked though.  

And this is our bus. It's familiar if you are from other parts of Europe and UK. Megabus is the cheapest coach you can find. But there is another one in Italy which I think is better.

I'll share it with you in a later post. Until then...

Back to Part 1.

p.s: Picture credit for my friend who took most of these pictures with her camera.