By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises
We have returned to the serene city of Venice, arriving in high style aboard the lovely Silver Spirit, passing in front of St. Mark’s Square in the early morning light.
The most famous transport in Venice, of course, is the Gondola, although they’re almost exclusively used for short rides for tourists.
They’ve been around for about a thousand years, although the design as we see them now dates only to about 1825. There once were perhaps 10,000 in use; today only about 500 are in service.
If you’re in the market for one of your own, a basic hand-crafted model sells for at least 20,000 Euros. That’s before you add floormats.
On the Piazetta, just outside the main Piazza, is the pink-and-white Palazzo Ducale, the Doge’s Palace.
This was a residence as well as the seat of government. It was also used as a torture chamber and prison and Senate—which in today’s world may seem to be the same thing.
Crossing a small canal—the Rio di Palazzo—into the Doge’s Palace is the Ponte dei Sospiri, the Bridge of Sighs. It was built in 1602.
The view from the bridge was the last view of Venice seen by convicts before they entered the prison.
It received its evocative nickname in the 19th century by Lord Byron who suggested that prisoners would sigh at the final view before being shuttered away.
Well, Byron was a poet and is entitled to an imagination; the fact is that by the 19th century the cells in the palace were used only for petty criminals on short sentences, and in any case it is difficult to see anything at all while crossing the bridge because stone grills cover the windows.
Today, it is mostly sighs of a different type. There is a belief that those who kiss beneath the bridge will enjoy a love that lasts forever.
It’s worked for us.
We are headed home for a vacation; we’ll be back at the end of August on Silversea Silver Cloud from Southampton to Lisbon with stops in Bordeaux, Bilbao, and Porto.
And then we’ll hop over to Rome to join Silversea Silver Wind in the Mediterranean in September. I hope to see you here (or there).
Text and images copyright 2015 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.
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