Venice by Boat



The sight of a large cruise ship navigating the Giudecca Canal always evoked in me words like monstrous, colossal and grotesque. I tried to put those negative feelings aside when I booked a cruise departing from and returning to Venice on the Costa Serena. My excuse: I wanted to see the same seas and the same shores that the Venetians saw in times of the Republic.
With ports of call in Bari, Katakolon in the Peloponnese, Izmir in Asia Minor, Istanbul and Dubrovnik, this cruise promised to take me on voyage in space as well as in time. The departure from Venice, at sunset right before the rising of a full moon, was a magical moment that I will for ever treasure.

Leaving Venice















How many campanili can you identify?













San Nicolò dei Mendicoli




Anzolo Rafael and the stazione marittima

















Ponte Longo on Rio de San Trovaso





S. Maria della Visitazione and Gesuati churches 
Spirito Santo church and scuola




Rio de S. Vio and Ponte de la Calcina






Rio Terà ai Saloni




Rio de la Fornace and Ponte de Ca' Balà

































Church of La Pietà and Ponte del Sepolcro




Rio and Ponte de l'Arsenal





Via Garibaldi





La Marinarezza








Rio de S. Isepo and Ponte S. Domenego




Rio dei Giardini









Church of Sant' Elena












San Servolo
















Seeing the Seas

I selected a few pictures from the voyage. Only those with coastlines, saints, musicians, windows, signs, paving stones, mosaics and even holes in the wall that reminded me of Venice made the cut.





Bari. Church of San Nicolò   
Bari. Norman Castle 




Katakolon. Peloponnese coastline 
Peloponnese coastline 




House of the Virgin Mary, near Ephesus, Turkey 
House of the Virgin Mary 




Izmir, Turkey  
Library in Ephesus, near Izmir, Turkey. No relation to Venice, but beautiful anyway




Ephesus. Paving stone reminded me of tria chiseled on Salizada S. Pantalon in Venice .
Asia Minor coastline




Mosaics in Hagia Sophia, Istanbul 
Mosaics in Hagia Sophia, Istanbul 




Hippodrome of Constantinople, Istanbul, where the horses of San      Marco used to be    
Musicians in Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, reminded me of Carpaccio's "Triumph of Saint George" in the Scuola di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni




Istanbul,  the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia   Dubrovnik, Croatia (old name Ragusa) was under Venetian dominion
 (1205-1358) 





Dubrovnik. Notice the holes protruding from the walls 
Dubrovnik. Sponza Palace 




Dubrovnik, old Custom House (Dogana)   
Dubrovnik, city walls 




Arrival in Venice


The approach to port in the early hours of the morning brought the sweet promises of the return.








Lido Airport









Fortress Sant' Andrea and Le Vignole behind 
La Certosa




Fortress Sant' Andrea. Casanova was imprisoned here years before his most famous stay and escape from the "piombi".

























Rio and Ponte del Vin













Ponte de l'Umiltà 










Rio de le Toresele and Ponte agli Incurabili








Rio de San Basegio and Ponte Molin
















Port of Venice. Deconsecrated church of Santa Marta. Notice the wall that divides the port from the rest of the city