Venice (Italy) - Guidecca Canal at Water Level

I took these to give a different perspective. Water level vs 15 stories high.  I hope that you recognize the buildings from earlier posts.  These views are all of the buildings on the Dorsoduro side of the canal.  See if you can recall. I will post the answers at the end.

Venice (Italy) - Giudecca (Laguna Tour)

We started the Lagoon Tour by going on the Giudecca Canal the reverse route that we used to make our Grand Sail-In.  The posts on the sail-in focused on the Dorsoduro side of the canal so as we make the make the turn out of the main stream and in to the lagoon, we can now see Giucecca, the island.

Venice (Italy) - The Crown Princess docks

We turn at the end of the island and prepare to dock.  It is amazing to watch them dock the ship.

Venice (Italy) - Dorsoduro - Sacca Fisola

We are near the docks as we sail to the end of Dorsoduro.  The map shows this long building as warehousing.

Venice (Italy) - Dorsoduro - Wide walkways and Zippy Boats

The wide walkways make this section of Dorsoduro a great strolling area. We are now looking at Fondamenta Zattere Al Ponte Lungo.  "The Zattere", with all of its different street names, is a recognized pedestrian section of Venice with its wide walkways.

Venice (Italy) - Dorsoduro Salt Warehouses and Church of the Gesuati

"A particularly calm and beautiful part of the city that enjoys wonderful views, this area has always been favored by wealthy foreigners when staying in Venice. However, when the heart of Venice was at Rialto, this area was rather out of the way and became the site of numerous religious foundations and public buildings; those large warehouses and vast convent and hospital structures are still awaiting reconversion to more functional uses."

This photo was taken as we moved past the large church Santa Maria della Salute and continued our exploration of the section (sestiere) of Venice, Dorsoduro as we enjoy our grand "sail in" to Venice. Keep in mind that deep tones of the Italian singer floats through the air as we take in our first views of this port.

Venice (Italy) - Dorsoduro - Punta della Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute

Our grand entry in to Venice continued past the section named "Dorsoduro".  We are traveling on the Giudecca Canal.  The canal that we see on the right side of the photo is one end of the long winding Grand Canal. The section of Venice to the right is San Marco, and on the left is Dorsoduro.

Venice (Italy) - San Marco Gondolas and the Grand Canal

The first building on the right is the Hotel Metropole.  We talked about this hotel at the end of the previous post. The next building is a church and the tan building is Locanda Vivaldi Hotel.  Vivaldi?  Yes!  More about that hotel in this post.

Venice (Italy) - Castello Bridges and Boats

We sailed past the Castello sestieri (a municipal district) of Venice.  It is the largest of the six sections of Venice and was built around a yard shipyard (on the other side and out of our view).

Venice (Italy) - First Canals

TEXT is not finished. I'm posting the photos only.

Venice (Italy) - Enter the Lagoon

The Captain announced that we were entering the waters around Venice and told everyone that they really should find a place along the walkways as the "Sail In to Venice" is one of the grandest sail-ins of all.  I went to the 15th deck and squeezed my way around the railings until I found a tiny spot at the front of the ship.  Perfect!

Venice, Italy - Grand Sail-In

We had stopped at many ports prior to coming to Venice, but nothing compares to the beauty of the sail-in here.  Passengers were lining every outside rail for a chance to see Venice from a unique and high perspective.  I was on the 15th deck at the front of the ship.  Italian opera was playing on the loud speakers and it was beautiful.

This map should give you a good idea on our path as we made our way to our berth. (google maps)

Rome, Italy - Return to Civitavecchia

5/12/2012 It was time to leave Rome and return to the ship docked at Civitavecchia.  We had a wonderful tour of a grand city and saw many new and old sights.  

Rome, Italy - Vatican City area

5/12/2012 Most visits to Vatican City focus on the Cathedral and Vatican grounds.  Come along on a tour of the area and get a different point of view.  This statue is on the outside of a building which houses a large group responsible for social media. 

Rome, Italy - Aurilean Wall, Villa Borghese, Porta del Popolo

5/12/2012 This part of the tour follows the northern end of the Aurilean Wall.  It is primarily in the Roman districts (rioni) Ludovisi and Campo Marzio.

Rome, Italy - Shopping for Italian Souvenirs

It was delightful to find a shop with a wide selection of souvenirs.  The bus stopped near the Vatican so that the group could walk around St. Peter's Square or shop. I chose to shop, as it was nice and cool inside and very warm and sunny (and crowded) outside.  We had about an hour for this stop, so I knew that I didn't have enough time to dash over to see the Sistine Chapel.  So....I will shop if I must!

Rome, Italy - Trajan's Bath, Santa Maria Maggiore, National Museum of Rome

5/12/2012 This segment takes us through Monti Rione to see the tallest campanile (bell tower) in Rome.

Rome, Italy - Domus Severias and Farnese Garden entrance

South of the Roman Forum we could see the brick ruins of the private residences of Augustus and the welcoming entrance to the Farnese Gardens from Via di San Gregorio.  I am glad that the tour guide took a moment to point out the columns standing in a small traffic island.

In Piazza di Porta Capena there stands a memorial to 9/11. Two concrete columns solemnly represent the Twin Towers.  Click here to see a wonderful slide show of the dedication ceremony in Rome.  (The memorial is shown on the map below as #1.)

Rome, Italy - Il Vittoriano, Trajan's Forum, Forum of Augustus

A look at the ruins of Trajan's Forum with many questions about old development and new development.  What do we need to save?

Rome, Italy - San Nicola in Carcere and Theater of Marcellus

This post is on use and re-use of building materials.  For about a 1000 feet of this tour, we saw some excellent examples of holding on to the old, re-purposing materials, jazz it up a bit.