Murano in the Venetian Lagoon

9 May 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

Canal Grande di Murano © Rettetast/cc-by-sa-2.5

Canal Grande di Murano © Rettetast/cc-by-sa-2.5

Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about 1.5 km (1 mi) north of Venice and measures about 1.5 km (1 mi) across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures). It is famous for its glass making. It was once an independent comune, but is now a frazione of the comune of Venice.   read more…

Burano in the Venetian Lagoon

1 December 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Burano as seen from Mazzorbo © Unofeld781/cc-by-sa-3.0

Burano as seen from Mazzorbo © Unofeld781/cc-by-sa-3.0

Burano is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy, near Torcello at the northern end of the lagoon, known for its lace work and brightly coloured homes. The primary economy is tourism. Burano is 7 kilometres (4 miles) from Venice, a 45-minute trip from St. Mark’s Square by vaporetto, a Venetian water bus.   read more…

Fondaco dei Turchi in Venice

17 November 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  6 minutes

Fondaco dei Turchi © Didier Descouens/cc-by-sa-4.0

Fondaco dei Turchi © Didier Descouens/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Fondaco dei Turchi is a Veneto-Gothic style palazzo, later on named as the Turks’ Inn, on the Grand Canal of Venice, northeast Italy. It was described by Augustus Hare in the 19th century as “a Byzantine palace of the 9th century, and one of the earliest buildings, not ecclesiastical, in Venice. …. A few years ago it was one of the most unique and curious buildings in Europe, and the most important specimen of Italo-Byzantine architecture, but it was modernised and almost rebuilt by the … government in 1869″.   read more…

Venice Beach in California

2 September 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area Reading Time:  5 minutes

Sunrise at Venice Beach Pier © flickr.com - Jeff Turner/cc-by-2.0

Sunrise at Venice Beach Pier © flickr.com – Jeff Turner/cc-by-2.0

Venice Beach is part of Venice, a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California.   read more…

Doge’s Palace in Venice

1 September 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  17 minutes

Doge's Palace © Didier Descouens/cc-by-sa-4.0

Doge’s Palace © Didier Descouens/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Doge’s Palace (Italian: Palazzo Ducale) is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Republic. It was built in 1340 and extended and modified in the following centuries. It became a museum in 1923 and is one of the 11 museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.   read more…

Lido Isle in Newport Beach

3 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© D Ramey Logan/cc-by-sa-4.0

© D Ramey Logan/cc-by-sa-4.0

Lido Isle is a man-made island located in the harbor of Newport Beach, California. Surrounded by the city, Lido Isle was incorporated as part of Newport Beach in 1906. At that time it was part sandbar and part mudflat. There are no commercial facilities on the island other than a small snack bar open in the summer, and its only link to the city is a small bridge. The man-made island is solely residential with approximately 1,800 people living on the island.   read more…

Carnival of Venice

22 January 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

© flickr.com - Frank Kovalchek/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Frank Kovalchek/cc-by-2.0

The Carnival of Venice (Carnevale di Venezia) is an annual festival held in Venice, Italy. The carnival ends with the Christian celebration of Lent, forty days before Easter, on Shrove Tuesday (Martedì Grasso or Mardi Gras), the day before Ash Wednesday. The festival is world-famous for its elaborate masks.   read more…

Pellestrina in Venice

22 May 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union Reading Time:  5 minutes

© panoramio.com - ildirettore/cc-by-3.0

© panoramio.com – ildirettore/cc-by-3.0

Pellestrina is an island in northern Italy, forming a barrier between the southern Venetian Lagoon and the Adriatic Sea, lying south west of the Lido. The island is 11 kilometres (7 miles) long and has since the eighteenth century been bounded to its seaward side by large embankments. There are four main villages: San Pietro in Volta, Porto Secco, Sant’ Antonio di Pellestrina and Pellestrina, known for their colourfully-painted houses.   read more…

Theme Week Venice – Bridge of Sighs

8 January 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Didier Descouens/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Didier Descouens/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Bridge of Sighs is a bridge in Venice, Italy. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone, has windows with stone bars, passes over the Rio di Palazzo, and connects the New Prison (Prigioni Nuove) to the interrogation rooms in the Doge’s Palace. It was designed by Antonio Contino, whose uncle Antonio da Ponte designed the Rialto Bridge, and it was built in 1600.   read more…

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