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Venice, Italy - Escapade - 15th March 2003

Posted by Edmond on Friday, March 21, 2003 · Comments (0)

Santa Maria della Salute, Dogana di Mare, tourist traps around the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro and San Marco before and during sunset. I was rather surprised to find some peaceful areas of Venice near the Basilica, as well as the outer areas of San Marco and the canal banks that were almost devoid of tourists.


Background

Sunset was rapidly approaching when I arrived at the Salute vaporetto stop, and the location of the distinct domes of the Basilica di San Maria della Salute and the venetian customs house - the Palazzo Dogana al Mare. I walked around the church and the palace searching for vantage points and lookouts, but most of the paths had been barricaded. Disappointed, I took a coffee break at a nice quiet cafe near Cavour Nuovo before setting off again towards the varporetto stop.

I arrived at Ponte dell' Accademia a few minutes later and crossed the bridge back to the district of San Marco arriving at Campo San Vidal. As I headed east through Campo San Maurizio, I took a diversion through a small laneway to the Grand Canale. To my delight, I found a isolated place with clear views of the Basilica and the elaborate facade of Palazzo Barbarigo.

Nestled among the narrow streets of San Marco is the the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo and its famous spiral staircase - the Scala Contarini del Bovolo. While passing the churches of San Fantin and San Maria d. Giglio along the way, I ran into trouble. One of the streets leading to the palace was fenced off and I had to backtrack to Campo San Angelo. I then got lost in the process of trying to find the palace, even though I had found Cavour Della Vida Locanda, which is meant to lead to the building, but instead led to a dead end. Since many tourists did not head down this street or around Cavour della Locanda, I gave up and decided to head back to Piazza San Marco to see the square at nightfall (anyone who knows this palace, please add comments on how to get there!).


Technical

Canon EOS 300V with 28-90mm USM and 75-300mm USM lenses. Switched to Kodak 400 film due to the low light. Canon A20 Digital Camera.


Links

Virtual tour of Grand Canal
St Mark's Basin


© Edmond, 2002