CK Goes to Italy – Venice (Venezia)

Venice has been my dream destination for vacation since ten years ago, for her waterways that wind through the buildings. Not only until year 2006 that I had the chance to visit this captivating city built on water. I stayed in Venice from 29^th of May to 3^rd of June of that year just to explore her charm.

Waterways are the main transportation routes, as there are no motorways. As for me, I depended on my feet most of the time.

The streets are all very narrow around here, making it quite a challenge to navigate through them.

The signboards are not quite functional, as the streets are narrow and hard to locate landmarks. I depended on my instinct most of the time to walk my way through this labyrinth.

It's always interesting to get a little lost somewhere, as I could see the things on the routes less travelled.

The first two days of my time in Venice were wet days, and I need to get to the city by bus everyday as I was staying at a hotel near the Stazione Venezia Mestre which is 6 km west of the city centre.

Crossing bridges is inevitable in Venice.

The Venetians have most part of their life on water.

Probably it's the vast body of water here that produces these colourful and juicy vegetables.

And the colourful soaps that give off those distinctive fragrances too.

Probably it is those colours that inspired the crystal and glass crafts in Murano.

I could see abundance of arches here for the private boats to maneuver through.

Some of them are closed for public viewing.

Some balconies are elaborately decorated with flowers just to distract the people from peeping into the windows.

I took vaporetto No. 1 from Piazzale Roma on one sunny day to explore the Canal Grande (Grand Canal).

It was really an appealing experience to see those fascinating buildings rolling by.

Again and again.

And it was like there is no end to Venice's beauty.

Seeing a gondola gliding smoothly over the water is not uncommon.

And with the whole role of them parking by the dock is not an unfamiliar scene too.

There are only three main bridges that crosses the Canal Grande. Missing any one of them, you would need to take the traghetto (a type of small boat) to cross the canal. This bridge is called Ponte degli Scalzi.

This prominent bridge with shops along the bridge is Ponte Rialto.

The last one is Ponte dell'Accademia.

I boarded the vaporetto again on another sunny day to explore Venice until Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square).

I could see Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute and the Campanile (bell tower) on board the vaporetto.

After the vaporetto had made a turn, then the Campanile and Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace) were in sight.

Can you tell who's taller? Sometimes matter is just over the mind, so why do we have to reckon to mind over matter? I'm happier to follow the flow of matter over mind, whatever will be, will be.

Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute as viewed from ashore.

And I took a closer and more detailed view of the main dome of Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute.

Basilica di San Marco stands proudly in front of Piazza San Marco under the storm clouds.

Taking a self-portrait in front of Basilica di San Marco is somehow mandatory.

Basilica di San Marco is "framed" by the arch of a nearby building. I like this shot very much myself. I waited for almost an hour for the ever-flowing crowd to assemble, and to be dismissed, just to get this shot without anybody down below the arch blocking the basilica.

This is how it looks inside Basilica di San Marco.

Another "framed" shot, but this time is the Campanile (bell tower) of the basilica.

The Campanile looks stunning even without the frame.

I took a lift up the Campanile to have a look on Piazza San Marco.

Another prominent building on Piazza San Marco is Palazzo Ducale.

When I was tired, I could always occupy a seat along the long corridor of Palazzo Ducale.

Adjoining Palazzo Ducale to the prison is the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs).

I was sighing on Ponte dei Sospiri myself, as I realised that I am also a prisoner of sort; of love, of wealth, of fame.

Another top on the list place to visit is the Chiesa di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari situated on Campo dei Frari.

This church houses the treasures by the eminent Venetian painter, Titian, e.g., the enchanting Assunta on the high altar.

I took a look at the La Scale del Bovolo of the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo.

And I listened to some Italian songs by this artist on the street, before I left Venice with a satisfactory smile.

If you would like to read my other posts on Italy, these are the links:

• CK Goes to Italy – Rome (Roma)
• CK Goes to Italy – Vatican City (Citta del Vaticano)
• CK Goes to Italy – Florence (Firenze)
• CK Goes to Italy – Fiesole
• CK Goes to Italy – Pisa
• CK Goes to Italy – Siena
• CK Goes to Italy – Milan (Milano)
• CK Goes to Italy – Verona
• CK Goes to Italy – Genoa (Genova)
• CK Goes to Italy – Cremona
• CK Goes to Italy – Como (Lago di Como)
• CK Goes to Italy – Venice (Venezia)
• CK Goes to Italy – Naples (Napoli)
• CK Goes to Italy – Pompeii (Pompei)
• CK Goes to Italy – Sorrento
• CK Goes to Italy – Capri
• CK Goes to Italy – Amalfi Coast (Costiera Amalfitana)
• CK Goes to Italy – Amalfi
• The Return of CK from Italy

CK Goes to Italy – Como (Lago di Como)

Como is a small town 50 km north of Milan with very little attraction. Why did I go to this town then? You may wonder. Well, this town is the gateway to the fairytale villages of Lago di Como (Lake Como), the beautiful lake region of northern Italy.

Since I was still staying in Milan on 27^th of May, 2006, I took a train from Stazione Milano Centrale to go to Como. The slower train wandered through the tracks for about 40 minutes to arrive at the Como San Giovanni train station, and it was 9:05 a.m.

To get to the ferry dock about 800 m east of the train station up a slope, I walked through the streets with painted buildings, I mean buildings with paintings on the wall.

I was actually doing a little injustice to Como when I said that it has very little attraction. In fact the streets are lined with buildings of painted facades which are pleasing to the eyes.

There must be a lot of effort put into these artworks on the wall.

I took almost half and hour to walk through an 800-m distance, as there were so many paintings to see on the walls.

There is only one ferry operator on Lago di Como, the Navigazione Lago di Como. I bought a village-hopping ferry ticket and I was on my way to explore the fairytale villages.

Guess whose villa is this? It belongs to George Clooney. Yes, the Hollywood movie star! Those Americans on board kept on shouting: "Georgie! Georgie!", hoping that he would show up at the balcony, but apparently that never happened!

The body of water with the hills are always one of my favourite subjects. However, It was quite cloudy on that morning. Getting across these mountain ranges would have brought me to Switzerland.

My first stop was Bellagio. I went up the steps to explore this prominent village flooded by visitors everyday from April till September every year.

There is a church on top of the hill.

I boarded the ferry again half an hour later and took a glance of this beautiful village on the water.

Few minutes later, the ferry docked at another village called Menaggio. This village is awesomely beautiful!

It was past lunch time when I arrived at Menaggio, so I sat down at a cafe overlooking the lake to have my iced latte and a sandwich.

After a light lunch, I took a slow stroll along the waterfront of this fairytale-like village to explore further.

The sky has started to clear up in the afternoon when the clouds were gone.

The villagers planted a lot of flowers in their gardens and on the fences, including this burning red rose.

If there is water, there are boats.

If there is no boat, there is a always a jetty for the young and the young at heart to meddle with the water.

There were always beautiful flowers along the waterfront to sooth my breath.

I left Menaggio after hours of exploration. Along the way back, I spotted Villa Balbianello at which the Star Wars Episode I & II were shot. It was featured as Queen Amidala's Palace in the movies.

The very beautiful and fairytale-like villages were further and further away behind me.

I took a final glance of the villages and mountain ranges before I chit-chatted my time away with an Australian couple whom I caught their attention with the print on my T-shirt that reads: "Australia 16,776 km. It's a bloody long way."

If you would like to read my other posts on Italy, these are the links:

• CK Goes to Italy – Rome (Roma)
• CK Goes to Italy – Vatican City (Citta del Vaticano)
• CK Goes to Italy – Florence (Firenze)
• CK Goes to Italy – Fiesole
• CK Goes to Italy – Pisa
• CK Goes to Italy – Siena
• CK Goes to Italy – Milan (Milano)
• CK Goes to Italy – Verona
• CK Goes to Italy – Genoa (Genova)
• CK Goes to Italy – Cremona
• CK Goes to Italy – Como (Lago di Como)
• CK Goes to Italy – Venice (Venezia)
• CK Goes to Italy – Naples (Napoli)
• CK Goes to Italy – Pompeii (Pompei)
• CK Goes to Italy – Sorrento
• CK Goes to Italy – Capri
• CK Goes to Italy – Amalfi Coast (Costiera Amalfitana)
• CK Goes to Italy – Amalfi
• The Return of CK from Italy