Museo Storico Navale di Venezia

Il Museo Storico Navale di Venezia is a very interesting place to visit especially if you are interested in naval battles etc.  We were not so interested in the extensive more recent part of the collection but spent a long time looking at the older pieces and excellent models.

There are some really well-crafted models of old vessels from Roman times to times when the Venetian navies had a powerful influence.  There is a beautiful model of the last Bucintoro -the  ceremonial boat used by the Doges. The last Bucintoro was burnt by the French in the late 1700s - Napoleon wrecking another bit of Venice. 

We have been meaning to visit this museum for years and are glad that we finally did. We were there for a long while but you could spend many hours if you are interested in WW1 and WW2 naval battles and artifacts. It is absolutely worth a visit.

A highly decorated old Venetian cannon. The photos below show some of the detail

 The Venice lion was on everything

There were many old maps and models.  

This was of the city and fortress of Corfu and was dated 1692

Model of the Bucintoro

 If you're really interested, this is the info about the Bucintoro from the museum

There are many fragments and whole carved and gilded figureheads

Decorations on restored panels from the side of a Galley

La Fenice

La Traviata is on at La Fenice a few days after we leave for Rome - bad timing, we loved going to the opera here last year.

 Not far from la Fenice

 This head was above a window - must have been recently cleaned as he is much brighter than his surroundings

Rain and acqua alta

It has been a rainy few days  and we've had acqua alta. It rises and falls pretty quickly and is not too much of a problem for us but it would be terrible for local people trying to go about doing their daily chores and business.  Even something like rubbish collection becomes problematic.

Acqua alta near Ponte dei Pugni yesterday morning

Later in the morning the water had cleared

There are planks on metal frames everywhere that the acqua alta is a problem so you can still get around though boots are still necessary for big puddles which can cover the paths and calli.

In the morning the water was covering the wooden planks in front of the palazzo on the right

By the afternoon the water had dropped

The calm acqua alta resulted in this great reflection.

There were heaps of fish close to the steps which were underwater.  There are always a lot of small fish in the canals

There are fish markets in Campo S. Margherita in the morning and lots of gulls hang around waiting for treats.  The gulls are enormous compared with those in Australia

From time to time we don't eat at restaurants - heaps of great cheese, breads , vegetables etc around.  You'll always find great food whatever your budget.

Venezia in nero, bianco e molto grigio

There was heavy fog (nebbia) today and in the early morning visibility was very low. We wandered around shopping and taking  photos.  I thought it was a black and white day for photos.

 We often sit at this spot near the Rialto for an aperitivo in the evening

Da Trieste

 Here are a few photos from Trieste.

 Rob booked a great hotel room which over looked the harbour.

On our last morning we woke up to this:

an enormous ship from the Costa fleet.  It was so close.

 Trieste's main piazza fronts on to the sea.  Piazza Unità d'Italia is enormous and is supposed to be the biggest piazza in Europe.  The piazza in front of the St Peters looks bigger to me but I'm sure that there would have been someone out there checking with their ruler.

Part of Piazza Unità d'Italia looking out towards the sea

Il Canal Grande, Trieste

The reflections on the water were beautiful

Trieste also has a Canale Grand and I read somewhere that it rivals Venezia's Canale Grande -it is about 100 metres long and there is no comparison.

 Better to enjoy places for what they are than to continually make comparisons -I'm over newspaper and other travel reviews. I really don't care what some person writes about a place when they have had free travel and free accommodation. Also tastes are highly individual. We really love Venice and could live there, you may just like it for a day visit.

We walked about 30 kms around Trieste over the few days that we were there and had a good look around. We ate at a great restaurant -Antico Convento in Via delle Beccherie Vecchie, 2,  Trieste  on both nights (it is always tricky to find somewhere really good so we went two nights and tried different things.  It would become a regular if we lived there.

We also had some great gelato, a fantastic pork panino in the Triestina style with mustard and fresh horseradish from Da Siora Rosa.  We had to be careful what we ordered as we are not big on offal and there were delicacies such as tongue impanata.

We also had the obligatory spritz on comfortable chairs overlooking the vast Piazza Unità d'Italia