Glass Factory and Gondola Ride

Picking up where we left off...after the Basilica, we took a short walk up a side street (please keep in mind these really aren't streets as we know them, but to call them alleys just feels tacky) to the Murano Glass Factory. In the 1500's glassmaking was a gangbuster trade in Venice. You might say they cornered the market on the glass trade until the 1700's. Well, as you can imagine there were glass factories all over the place and there were also fires all over the place. So in the 1500's all of the glass factories were moved to Murano Island in the northern lagoon. Nowadays there are little workshops all over Venice, but the main glass factory remains on Murano Island.

The furnace where the glass is kept molten. No wonder there were fires everywhere in the old days! The rod laying across the bottom of the photo with the glowing orb on the end is a tube with a blob of molten glass about to be shaped into a thing of beauty.
A new vase - freshly formed and ready to be cooled and sold

As we left the glass factory this is the street we returned to the square on. I told you the crowds were crazy!
But, that's okay - next stop - a peaceful ride down the waterways on a gondola.

Carvings in the wood bow of our gondola

Looking over the bow down the Grand Canal - lets get sailing shall we?

Brent was enjoying this

Leaving the gondola dock and moving out onto the Grand Canal. The Santa Maria della Salute church is in the background

Closer shot of Santa Maria della Salute - designed in 1630

Out on the Grand Canal - the gondolas share the waterway with the motorized water taxis (vaporettis), the motor tour boats and the motorized conveyances of the private residents of Venice

Ca' Foscari - the palace that was the home of Francesco Foscari who was the Doge of Venice from 1423 to 1457. The palace is now closed to the public and is part of the University of Venice

Off the beaten path of the Grand Canal and onto a quiet little side canal. Venice is made up of these peaceful little waterways. As a mtter of fact, there are no streets or cars in the old city of Venice. The people who have second homes on the Venice mainland and who need their cars for transportation there, have them ferried in. The only cars we saw were at the port of Venice

Our gondolier - does he look the part? A note about this job - it is highly coveted and hard to come by. Only 2 operating permits are issued each year and in order to obtain one the applicant has to pass exams covering not only the operation of the craft, but foreign language skills, Venetian history and knowledge of landmarks.

The gondolas themselves are handcrafted and very expensive.

Getting ready to go under another bridge. The motorboat must belong to a local resident.

I just couldn't stop taking pictures of the little bridges

Another of Venice's gorgeous churches - Chiesa de san Moise' - originally built in the 8th century, reconstructed in 1632 and altered in 1878 to remove several statues from the facade to keep it from collapsing

The Hotel Monaco coming back out onto the Grand Canal

Everyone else came back out onto the Grand Canal, too. This is a Venetian traffic jam!

As we were walking back to the catch the hotel shuttle we stumbled onto these two guys waving to everyone and posing for pictures.

We are now heading back to the hotel for a restroom and a little nap! This has been a day of sensory overload to say the least.