The Lido

Today we got up a little later, and took a water bus to the Lido. The photo above is us riding a bus, taken as a reflection in the glass of a bus stop. Aidan thought it was time we were clearer on our method of transportation, so following are photos of a floating bus stop and an incoming bus.

The Lido is the largest island in Venice. It is a long narrow island (12 km x 1 km) facing the Adriatic Sea and is big enough to have cars and auto buses. However, bikes and scooters are as prevalent (or more so) as cars, witness the on street parking.

We were so excited to see cars and buses that we took photos of them too, but I'm not putting those on the blog. The Lido, I believe, is where everything happens for the Venice film festival. It has a lot of hotels, and apparently even a golf course, although we didn't check that out. It also has miles of beaches - most Venitian islands are edged with stone or concrete sea walls, a beach is unusual. The Adriatic Sea side has beaches, the Venice side has the sea walls. This time of year the public beach is pretty empty but I imagine it's packed in the summer.

We had lunch from a take-out pizzeria on the public beach, sitting under Venetian palapas (made with sticks on the roof instead of palm fronds). We walked along the street behind the beach for awhile. The classy hotels were starting to appear, and on the beach side the little beach huts were appearing, behind locked gates (parts of the beach are private). Aidan took a photo of some of the huts behind the hedge - I prefer the public beach, but maybe these huts are classy inside.

Anyway, Lido was quite different from the rest of Venice, with its wide, tree-lined streets, cars, beach, and general ambiance.
After we got back to St Mark's we bought our tickets for our transportation to the airport on Sunday, and figured out what time to go.

Then we went to the MuseoCorrer (photo above). This museum is in the building which runs down the right hand (water) side of St Marks square, if you are facing the cathedral. It would be my preferred place to live in Venice were I a 17th century Venetian, with painted ceilings in the halls and rooms and marble tiled floors and views of the square and the canal. The museum had some neat things in it, a mixture of art and artefacts.

Then we walked back to our hotel for our afternoon quiet time. One final photo of one of the orchestral groups that plays in St Marks Squares - 3 restaurants have these groups, who play things like Vivaldi and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Nice calming music to help along the digestive processes, and keep the passing crowds in check.