Orvieto

As an introduction to Orvieto, I offer the above gratuitous night shots taken on our first evening here, after a little drizzling rain was sent down from above to cleanse the village on the occasion of our arrival. How pretty, eh?  Since Monday night we have had beautiful blue skies with not even a hint of a breeze to spoil the serenity.  Aah, the serenity!  Orvieto is a peaceful little town, by night and by day and we are already having a wonderful time, just relaxing into life here.

On Tuesday we climbed the Torre del Moro  (a medieval bell tower) which was worth the trip up, for the fabulous view of the town and surrounding areas, with farmlands, vineyards, forest-covered hills and even a castle or two laid out like the cliched (can't find the accent, sorry) patchwork quilt that defines Umbria.  

We then walked along the main street towards the Orvieto Duomo (Cathedral), the foundation stone of which was laid in 1290. It is a stunning piece of architecture to come upon as you wander down the small laneway towards it and against the colour of the sky behind it, the photo opportunity was too good to pass up.

Internally, the Cathedral was just as beautiful as externally (the presence of a number of vigilant foto police means you will have to take my word for that) but the facade (again, sorry, no cedilla) made up of millions of gold, blue and red mosaic tiles, each one as tiny as baby fingernails, is absolutely stunning.

Yesterday, we walked around the outskirts of the city walls to take in further wonderful photo opportunities.  :-)

Have I mentioned that I love Italian men?  If I haven't, then now you know.  Here are a few that I loved yesterday.  David didn't mind taking some photos of them for me to add to my pin-up wall, which was generous, no?

Notice that in the background of the second of those shots is a poster for a production of "Trappola per Topi", the very famous Agatha Christie play that we know as "Mousetrap".  We have tickets to see that on Sunday evening in the local theatre and yes, of course it is in Italian, so we will have to do a little homework before Sunday so that we know the storyline and will recognise the characters. When we went to the box office to purchase the tickets, the young lady was kind enough to allow us inside the theatre to see where we would be sitting. It does bear some architectural similarity to La Fenice in Venice, which we've already written about.

I do have another story to tell you, but I will save it for Saturday afternoon, because it is a continuing one and the final chapters of it have not yet taken place.  More on that, later.

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Venice (again).

If Padua wasn't wonderful enough in its own right (which of course it is), it would still have the wonderful advantage of being close to Venice, to recommend it to the traveller. 

I was reading on the internet a couple of nights ago, about an opera house in Venice ironically named Teatro La Fenice (Phoenix Theatre) which has been burnt down and rebuilt twice since its original construction in the late 1700s.  Although we have been to Venice a few times, the fact that it is only a 30 minute train ride from here means that it is not a big decision to say, "Let's go again.  We haven't seen that, yet!"  So, by 11:00 this morning we had already checked the weather forecast, had breakfast at home, walked to our railway station, caught a train to Venice, wandered across the Rialto bridge, bought a leather handbag, enjoyed hot chocolate and pastries for morning tea, and we were standing in front of Teatro La Fenice.

From the outside, the opera house is not particularly impressive, on the Italian "architectural amazingness" scale, but cross its threshold into the foyer and begin to be stunned.  The massive marble columns, marble floor and walls shine in the reflection of the many humungous chandeliers ... and that's just the beginning.  The theatre interior is superbly opulent, with inlaid wooden floors, red velvet seating, frescoed ceilings and gilded mouldings.

This second image is taken from an internet site, using much better camera equipment than ours - the photo has been taken from the stage, looking out to the audience.

The most recent rebuilding of La Fenice was only a few years ago (after being burnt to the ground by arsonists in 1996) so the luxuriousness of the place has not yet been tainted by the usual tourist legacy of worn carpet, scraped paintwork, stains and fingermarks.  In fact the whole building interior is blissfully fresh and clean, which seems almost out-of-place in Venice.  We were able to sit in the royal box and look at the stage from the same vantage point as important visitors, but even sitting in the downstairs seating area and looking about is a magnificent experience, despite there not being a performance on, this morning. 

There are several other spaces within the opera house building which are used for piano recitals and other types of performances.  This is one of those areas.

Following our visit to La Fenice we went up the Campanile di San Marco (bell-tower of St Mark's Basilica) which is probably the only "touristy" thing we hadn't yet done. The trip up is via a lift, which is a good thing, as the tower is around 100 metres in height.  The 360 degree view of Venice and surrounds from that vantage point is obviously breathtaking - this link gives one panoramic photograph but here are a couple of David's shots as well.  Although today was a bit grey, it was still well-worth seeing.

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Murano and Burano - art in glass and very fine lace

No trip to Venice would be complete without a visit to the islands of Murano and Burano, both of which are situated in the Venice lagoon, and both of which can be reached very easily by using the public ferry system. The ferries are not cheap when compared with local rail and bus travel, but in Venice there is no alternative to be had that affords a cheaper journey around the various places of interest.

Murano is famous around the world for its glass. Everything here is "created" rather than made, everything comes from a "studio" rather than a factory, every piece is made by a "craftsman" rather than a worker, and yet amazingly, the same pieces appear in every second shop along the waterfront. And also amazing is the fact that when you do see a person making glass in a "fornace", he turns out to be a young man in overalls working in a factory. The island is very beautiful, the buildings all different heights, architecture and facades. There is also a much greater feeling of space when compared to Venice, and of course we were blessed with another fine day where the sky was painted in the brightest of blue colours.

The glass products have to be seen to be believed, as do the prices - everything from massive chandeliers, vases of every shape, size and colour , souvenirs and jewellery. The choice of product is overwhelming, and every piece comes with a "Certificate of Authentication", which broadly states that what you are buying is in fact made in Murano, and not imported from China.

The real pleasure of Murano is its difference from Venice, both in aspect and crowd density. Not everyone makes the journey from the main island of Venice, although those who do seem to be mainly US citizens from one of the several cruise liners that are seen to be in port. It's a great place to visit, and an even better place to move on from with all your money in your pocket.

Burano is a much smaller island, a further 20 minutes away, and it seemed there were at least 600 people crammed into the hull of the ferry taking us across, with no room to move and no fresh air. The first thing that struck us as we caught a glimpse of life above the waterline was that the buildings were painted in the most vivid colours imaginable. Legend has it that the fishermen who originally inhabited Burano applied the paint to their dwellings so that they could use it as a landmark on the homeward journey from the sea in situations where the fog was heavy, but we also have heard that the fishermen needed to be able to identify their own homes when they were returning from one too many alcoholic beverages.  Not sure of the real story, but the houses are certainly brightly painted!

Burano is now best known for its fine lace items of clothing, tablecloths and bedspreads, and again I was on the lookout for the collection of old Nonnas, dressed in black and all hunched over their lace frames churning out products for those of us who come to visit. Not one Nonna in sight, but a multitude of shops with very extensive displays of products "all made by me in my own home" says one sales lady before we agree to pay her price for a very attractive tablecloth and 12 matching napkins.

There is also a plethora of restaurants in Burano, and the local specialties are all seafood and pasta. I watched in fascination as two Japanese tourists were cajoled into ordering spaghetti with squid ink, and was even more fascinated watching the expressions on their faces as they munched into it. They clearly did not like it - but hey, when in Burano...!

No small Italian village or island would be complete without a magnificent church, and Burano is no exception where the Church of St Martino Vescovo dominates the main piazza, complete with a tower that leans at a greater angle that the more famous offering in Pisa.

The return trip to Venice on the ferry was no less crowded, but we had managed to chain ourselves to the forward gangplank so that we could get a reasonable supply of fresh air. Whilst there we counted the heads on board and came to the happy conclusion that it is no worse than the 5.15 pm train to Frankston. We all survived.

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A day in Venice for less than 25 euros

A relaxed day in Venice was had for the cost of two 2nd class return rail tickets from Padua, four pieces of fruit from the market, two sandwiches, a coffee and a bottle of fizzy water - all up cost just under 25 euros.

Venice today was much more enjoyable than our previous visit in 2009. Despite the fact that there were still significant numbers of tourists, we being among them, the crowds appeared to be less dense, and you could actually stroll down the myriad of narrow streets and laneways without feeling the pressure of having to move with the crowd. The visit was enhanced by the knowledge that we were not in a hurry; being only 25 minutes away by train we can go back to Venice any time.

We did the predictable things - visited the fresh food market, followed the tinsel trail to St Marks Basilica, ate our lunch in the square, gawped at the endless array of famous buildings and monuments, mocked the tourists who had paid a small fortune to ride in a gondola, took lots of photos, tracked down the only two public toilets in all of Venice, drank coffee as life passed us by on the Grand Canal, and then caught the train back to Padua so that we could be home for cheese, biscuits and drinks by 4:00 pm. A good day - and the weather continues to be perfect.

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