Venice - the Doge's Palace, the Doge's apartments and the Institutional Chambers

Looking towards the Grand Canal from the roof of St Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace is on the left.

We had one full day left in Venice so we decided to visit both the Doge's Palace and St Mark's Basilica. We started at the Doge's Palace in the morning, my daughter had pre-booked our tickets so we didn't have to wait in the long queue. 

An impressive entrance doorway.

The Lion of Venice :)

The very impressive inner courtyard.

The buildings linking the Palace and St. Mark's Basilica

We didn't have any pre conceived ideas about the Palace, so it all came as a wonderful surprise ;)

The Lion's Mouth post box, used for anonymous denunciations.

The photo above shows one of the many ceiling decorations on the famous Golden Staircase, which leads up to the Doge's apartments.  

Everywhere we looked there were amazingly decorated walls and ceilings, each room we passed through was more magnificent than the one before.

Such gorgeous decorations...

The rooms are truly sumptuous, in contrast to the justice rooms and prison cells found in other parts of the Palace.

The ceiling of the Collegio Hall, the beautiful paintings were done by Paolo Veronese.

Each room had a different purpose, the laws of Venice and the government of the city were all decided here.

The Senate Room

The importance of the Doge is very apparent in these rooms.

The Senate room

Wall paintings in one of the side rooms, we were unable to enter this room so I have no details about the paintings.

A close up of a ceiling lion, in the Chamber of the Great Council, isn't he gorgeous?

The Chamber of the Great Council, a truly amazing room. The painting behind the Doge's Throne is the longest canvas painting in the world - Il Paradiso by Tintoretto, which was started in 1588.

After visiting the New Prisons, (more about them in the next blog!) which are situated on the ground floor we entered the courtyard again, the Giant's Staircase can be seen in the centre of the photo.

St. Theodore and the dragon. St Theodore was the original Patron Saint of Venice. When the relics of St Mark were taken to Venice in 828, St Mark became the Patron Saint of the city. 

The Giants Staircase, with the statues of Mars the god of war and Neptune the God of the sea.

The sculpture of the Doge Francesco Foscari kneeling before the winged lion of Venice. 

Also in the Doge's Palace are rooms where courts were held and justice meted out. The Bridge of Sighs and the New Prisons are on the ground floor, the next blog will cover these.

Venice - Torcello

 

Torcello, the last of the Islands that we visited. Sadly we only had 45 minutes on the Island, which was just enough time to walk into the centre, have a quick look round the Cathedral and get back to the boat.

There are less than 10 people living on the Island now, but in its years of importance its population was estimated to be between 20,000 - 30,000. The population was decimated by the Black Death during Medieval times, and has declined ever since.

The island is very beautiful, we all would have liked to spend more time there.

The Devil Bridge, so called because there are no hand rails. I didn't venture up there, but Alice and Joe did. It is wider than they thought it would be.

Local buildings, looking lovely in the sunshine :)

The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, originally founded in 639. It has many beautiful mosaics, including an amazing mosaic of The Last Judgement. Sadly we were not allowed to take photos in the Basilica. 

The remains of the Narthex or porch

It was a shame that we didn't get longer on the island, there were more buildings in the Basilica area which would have been lovely to look round. But we were pleased that we had seen the island, albeit very briefly.

Venice - Burano

Beautiful Burano, the island of colourful houses and lace.

We were lucky enough to get a seat outside on the boat again for the journey to Burano. This ruined building is one of the first things you see as you approach the Island. I think it is the remains of a Religious Centre.

Oh look, some of the famous coloured houses :)

Burano is a beautiful, peaceful place, which we all fell in love with :)

Arriving at the Island we passed many beautiful colourful houses, the houses are supposedly painted in bright colours to help the fishermen find their way home when the fog is bad on the Lagoon.

Yes, the church tower really does lean that much :) 

So pretty everywhere you look :)

We walked along the canal side just enjoying seeing all the colourful sights, and also looking for somewhere nice to have lunch. We found a beautiful restaurant right beside the canal and enjoyed a really lovely lunch.

Lovely houses lining the canals

One reason I was interested in Burano was the lace. Being a lace maker myself I really wanted to see some Burano Lace. Above are some examples of lace made on Burano, I make bobbin lace, Burano Lace is needle made lace, different from bobbin lace, just as beautiful, and very time consuming to make. 

Looking across the canal towards the Lagoon :) 

More lovely colourful houses as we leave Burano to travel to Torcello, the last and smallest island we visited.