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. |
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 |
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 |
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 |