Gabi On The Go: Venice by night! November 15th

I am sorry for the delay of this post, but the Venice hotel's internet was not strong enough to upload pictures.

Just now I had the time to post these photos... more than a week later!

We normally like to stay right in the action and in apartments, but since we were travelling with my parents, we decided to get a hotel room with their tour group in Mestre. This is the greater Venice area, just on the mainland. It took us about 10 minutes by bus to cross the "Liberty Bridge" - named after the end of fascism in Italy after the war - to Venice Island.

Ponte della Libertà ("Liberty Bridge") is a road bridge connecting the historical centre (islands) of the city of Venice to the mainland part of Venice.

Designed in 1932 by engineer Eugenio Miozzi, it was opened by Benito Mussolini in 1933 as Ponte Littorio ("lictor's bridge") – a name used during the Fascist era for several other Italian bridges. At the end of World War II it was renamed Ponte della Libertà to honour the end of the Fascist dictatorship and of the Nazi occupation.

The bridge is the only vehicular access to the historical centre of the capital city of the Italian region of Veneto.

The eastern end of the road terminates in the Piazzale Roma, the bus depot of the historical centre.
The western end reaches mainland Venice and becomes the Via Libertà, which divides the Venetian boroughs (municipalità) of Mestre (north) and Marghera (south). It is final section of the old Public Road 11, "Padana Superiore [it]".

It is 3.85 km (2.39 mi) long and has two lanes each way, with no emergency lane. It is built alongside the Venice Railroad Bridge, which was constructed in 1846, with two tracks each way, and is still in use.

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_della_Libertà)

It gets dark here early at this time of year, at around 5pm, so we got to see Venice at night.

It was just magical.

I love the light and to me it has a bit of Arabic touch.

The moon was collaborating on this romantic evening - with the kids! :)

As soon as the bus stops at the entrance of Venice, we can see the "Ponte Della Costituzione," or the "Constitution Bridge." It's a super modern and cool looking bridge and kind of marks the entrance to this dreamy world.

The Ponte della Costituzione (English: Constitution Bridge) is the fourth bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava, and was moved into place in 2007 (connecting Stazione di Santa Lucia to Piazzale Roma), amid protest by politicians and the general public. The bridge was installed in 2008 and opened to the public on the night of September 11, 2008. The bridge was known as Quarto Ponte sul Canal Grande before the official name was adopted to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Italian constitution in 2008. Tourists and locals in Venice now refer to it as the Calatrava Bridge (Italian: Ponte di Calatrava).

(source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_della_Costituzione)

I love to see the tables by the water.

Lots of restaurants have external heaters to better accommodate the tourists during cold seasons.

Be prepared to walk a lot. The island is not that small and it is easy to get lost. There are no address or street names, but signs indicating piazzas (squares), bridges and areas. That's how the mail gets delivered. If you are lost - and you will be - just follow signs for Rialto Bridge or Piazza Del Marco. They are everywhere. From there you can always jump on the Vaporetto and get back to mainland.

Gondola. No need for description.

It's fascinating to imagine - and see here - a world surrounded by water.

We just missed the high tide.

A week before, some restaurants were serving locals with a foot of water inside.

Meet Hama, a local artist and mask maker, from La Mascareta Venezia. He was working on these mask after hours and was very gracious showing us his studio and some tips on Venetian mask making. Hama was kind with the kids - actually, one of the few in Venice - but he had a soft spot for Sofia. "I can see she's very sensitive, by the mask she's chosen, " he said with a sweet smile in his face. We bought a mask, but not the one she'd chosen. To cheer her up, he gave her a white small paper mache mask to paint herself at home.

Hama's work was portrayed in a New York Times travelling article earlier this year:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/04/world/europe/venice-carnival-2018.html

She finds her name everywhere... "With an F!!!!"

"No mafia, Venice is sacred."

I wish I knew the real story behind this sign.

Finally we arrived at the famous Piazza San Marco. Wow! It's incredibly beautiful and big!

I had heard a lot about it, but had no expectation to its size and magnitude. I am blown away

Although it was a bit colder - 15 degrees - the evening was really enjoyable.

There were only few tourists walking around and the girls had a wonderful time dancing and running in such a big empty space.

The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark (Italian: Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco), commonly known as Saint Mark's Basilica(Italian: Basilica di San Marco; Venetian: Baxéłega de San Marco), is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, northern Italy. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture. It lies at the eastern end of the Piazza San Marco, adjacent and connected to the Doge's Palace. Originally it was the chapel of the Doge, and has been the city's cathedral only since 1807, when it became the seat of the Patriarch of Venice, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, formerly at San Pietro di Castello.

For its opulent design, gold ground mosaics, and its status as a symbol of Venetian wealth and power, from the 11th century on the building has been known by the nickname Chiesa d'Oro (Church of gold).

(source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark%27s_Basilica)

The Florian Cafe, the world's oldest coffee house in continuous operation (with Cafe Procope, in Paris). We'll definitely come back tomorrow for tea, coffee and goodies.

It's time to get back to the hotel. Since there is no cars on the island, all the transportation is done by boats. We took the Vaporetto, which is their taxi or bus. It costs us 7.50 euros to ride on it, but we heard it's only 1.50 euros for locals. The whole ride took about 30-40 minutes, with over 20 stops. For us, it was just great to see the canals at night and it's beautiful and glamorous palaces!