Republic of Venice

The morning of our second day in Venice was spent at Doge's Palace, the former residence of the doge. The doge was the chief magistrate and leader of Venice for over a thousand years (up until Napoleon conquered the region). This palace was his home and political center of the republic.




We thought the palace was fascinating. Some of the rooms were simply gorgeous, and it's actually quite interesting to see how the government worked under the doges. The palace is also famous for the Bridge of Sighs, an enclosed bridge that connected the palace's interrogation rooms to the prisons. The tiny window in the bridge was said to give prisoners their last view of Venice before their imprisonment. Unfortunately, the bridge itself was under repair while we were there, so the pictures aren't that great. However, here's the view from the actual window:

We consider the palace a must-see while you are in Venice.

Strolling through the Streets

The rest of our morning/early afternoon was again without a specific plan; we simply wandered around the city. We started in the San Marco region (by Harry's Bar) and made our way back to the Rialto area (home of a famous fish market, which at the time we got there, was clearing up - although a few fruit and vegetable vendors were still open):

We passed a number of churches and other attractions along the way; one the highlights was the Scala Contarini del Bovolo, a unique spiral staircase near Campo Marin - it can be climbed but was closed when we walked by.

A late lunch was next - pizza at Trattoria Pizzeria Nono Risorto (where we had dinner last night). We then made our way north to the Santa Lucia train station, then southeast into the Cannaregio area and finally to the Chiesa di San Zacharia:

To see all of our Venice pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.