VENICE / PIAZZA SAN MARCO

BASILICA DI SAN MARCO

As you may have heard on here and on twitter these past few weeks, I went on holiday to Venice. It was my first time there. I think the only other time I went to Italy was when I was two {or three?} years old. It was my first sea holiday with the whole family, and I mean grandma, grandpa, cousins and everybody. Some of the party did go to Venice for a day trip, but because I was so little I didn't come along. 

It feels like I'm doing this backwards - I'm showing you San Marco first, even though these pictures were the last ones to be taken. We were saving St Mark's basilica for the last day. Venice is one of those places that's on everybody's bucket list, and San Marco square is the most well-known, expensive and touristy place you can find in the city. Everybody goes. I first thought you have to pay a hefty fee to get into the basilica, like you do for St Paul's cathedral, for example, but turns out it's free. You just have to queue for about 40 minutes. Or five, if like us, you visit at the right time. {Though, the 'right time' is very fickle.}

Inside it's all glitter and gold, which is pretty characteristic of Venice, its history is nothing if not glamorous. You do have to dish out 5€ if you want to go to the museum and the terrace, but you may as well, the view and the museum is pretty worth it. Did you know that the four horses that are on the basilica's front are replicas? The originals date back to 2 AD and are stored inside of the museum. You can see them there, they're pretty cool.

A travel tip: The best way to get interesting information for free is to stand close to a guided tour - which we did for a little while, and we found out that the majestic clock in the last picture here, was built using lots of ultramarine and gold leaf. No money was spared in its construction. It was placed so that it was facing the lagoon, to make sure everybody knew about the wealth and glory of Venice. Not a modest city, to say the least. A father and son were commissioned to construct the clock and after it was finished, it was so perfect that the doge had them blinded to prevent them from making an even better clock somewhere else. 

Have you been to Venice? Or is it still on your bucket list?

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