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.

We are leaving the Castello section and will sail past the San Marco section, the Grand Canal entrance, and the tip of Dorsoduro.  The ship is moving to the West (left), so you will see the photos in that order.

The Locanda Vivaldi Hotel is a boutique hotel that resides in the renovated home of Antonio Vivaldi. Vivaldi was born in Venice and is recognized as one of the most important Baroque composers.  The building has been restructured and made in to a charming hotel on the canal.  Aren't they all??  Read more hotel details here.  Note: I've looked through several websites and I can't determine the name of the white church on the right side of the photo.

We cross another footbridge and pass (tan building) Residenza Degli Angeli, Hotel Pensione Wildner, and the Londra Palace.

The Londra Palace is the white building on the right side in the photo below.  It is yet another fascinating hotel in a great location.  Details here. The street continues to be lined with places to stay and eat.

 Soon to see the parking lot for a lot of Gondolas!!

This section has a lot of street booths, restaurants and hotels. This is also the place where you can take a "vaporetto", the Venice waterbus.  There are several lines that run throughout the city and nearby islands.  They are the long white and yellow boats shown below.

I didn't ride in one of these but they look very convenient and easy to use. Their website is http://www.actv.it/en and the map below shows all of the locations.  Convenient, wouldn't you agree?  The website shows how to get to Venice from the cruise terminal.

You can even take it from the Marco Polo airport.  Hmmm.  good to know.  I'll need to refer to this later on a future trip.

We are now in front of Doge's Palace, with Saint Mark's in the background.  Doge's Palace is on the right hand side.

I like architecture, so I was trying to figure out the building style. I had to look it up. It is "Venetian Gothic". It uses the Gothic lancet arch with Byzantine and Moorish architect influences.  The style originated in the 14th Century with Byzantine styles from Constantinople (now Istanbul!), Arab influences from Moorish Spain, and Gothic from mainland Italy.  Wikipedia has a nice article.

I was excited to see the gondola parking lot!

So picturesque.  By the way, Hard Rock Cafe Venice is in the white building next to Doge's Palace.

The ship turns slightly to the left.  We see the park that is outside of St Mark's Square...and then...

 First view of the entrance to the Grand Canal.  On the right is the San Marco district and on the left is Dorsoduro.