VENICE 2017: The San Simeone Piccolo Crypt

Here's your chance to connect some dots!  HA!

Astrid and I knew we were traveling by train from Venice to Verona on Friday, March 31, a week after we arrived in Italy.  And because we don't like travel "surprises," we decided to make a dry-run to the train station the day before (since we'd be dragging our suitcases)...and buy our tickets.

Here's the trusty map again to give the lay of the land:

The red X marks our B&B; the red circle marks the crypt in the church across from the train station.

It was an easy 10-15 min. walk from our Cannaregio district to the Santa Croce district.

The train station on the Grand Canal is the point of entry for most visitors to Venice from the mainland.

If your back is to the train station, you look straight across to the San Simeone Piccolo church.

Completed in 1738, it's one of the last churches built in Venice,

and is the only church in Venice where the Mass is still celebrated daily in Latin.

But speaking of the train station, which is why we were there, we did figure things out.

Notice the dome of the church from the tracks, seen from behind the station.

 With our train business done, we were able to concentrate on the church directly opposite us.

We had no clue about it and just decided, on the spur of the moment, to check it out.

And OMG, are we ever glad we did because we believe it's one of Venice's best-kept secrets.

(Crossing the bridge to this side of the canal, you can look back and see the train station., top-left.)

A sign said no photos were allowed in the church but I managed to sneak in a couple of the nave.

The bottom images were below the nave on the way to the crypt...

whose passage was pointed out to us by a kind church keeper, for €2 per person.

Equipped with flashlights, included in the price, we entered the crypt, alone.

Later online we discovered the crypt is laid out in an octagonal shape, with 21 small chapels,

8 of which are still walled up and unexplored.
The altar stands in the center and meets you immediately upon entering.

But talk about feeling like we were in a maze of blind alleys!

The lights you see ahead in some of the images are from Astrid's flashlight.

We both ended up going our own way, believe it or not, without it feeling eerie.

It's hard to describe such a place, but surely the images speak for themselves.

It was a damp and cool space but, surprisingly, not musty.  We could see our breath.

I actually had the feeling some of the handiwork had just been painted yesterday.

The parts that looked macabre actually made us laugh.
How is that possible...but we both felt the same way, like someone was having fun.

There was even a vase of flowers (bottom-left) which I wish now I had inspected.

And at the very end, it was even ethereal.

Don't you wish these walls (and ceilings) could talk!

Interestingly, this crypt was not mentioned once in our two travel books.

Nor can you find much of anything about it online because...it's still a bit of a secret.

Don't you wonder why?

As we left the church and turned right, we saw our B&B landmark churches in the distance.

It was time to head home for lunch...across the street from our B&B.

Lasagna, seafood spaghetti, schnitzel, and grilled salmon, all shared...with beer.

It was our last meal out in Venice!

The method to my madness in choosing first the Verona cemetery and now this Venice crypt,

is because of Holy Week...the celebration of death and resurrection.

HAPPY EASTER

VENICE & VERONA 2017: Overview via Facebook Posts

Now that you know Astrid and I took a trip away without much fanfare here, I'll start the onslaught of posts with this overview via the collages I put up on Facebook every day.  Gotta keep the social media thing going, you know!

Day 1, Friday, 24 March--Cannaregio District, Grand Canal and Campanile Tower

Before hopping on a vaporetto waterbus on the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco in Venice, 
we walked around the Cannaregio district of our B&B.  We visited one church, the San Geramia.  

Can you tell we were in heaven...and this was only our first day!

[As an aside, see the NW district in yellow?  Squint to see the X spot, where our B&B was located.

Get used to this map because you'll see it again.]

One of Venice's most iconic landmarks is the Campanile Tower at the Piazza San Marco.

I had been to Venice for 2 days in a past life, so I had seen Piazza San Marco.

But it was a first for Astrid and a first for both of us to visit the Campanile to see the views.

(Once I get into those posts, I'll include links to everything.)

Day 2, Saturday, 25 March--The Murano and San Michele Islands

You can't think of Murano without thinking of it's glass.

But we both know a lot about blowing glass, etc, because it's a Dutch trade as well.

So we didn't go to visit a glass factory (as most tourists do) but ended up getting a personal tour

when we stopped in one store to buy a couple of glass gifts.  Win-Win.

Our main goal for the day in Murano was to visit the Basilica dei Santa Maria e Donato from the 12th century.
The floor from 1140 incorporates fragments of ancient glass from the island's foundries (left-center).
Glass really IS important in Murano.

For us, this was more important than any glass we could ever buy.

Can you imagine an island that is only a cemetery?

Because San Michele is on the way back to Venice from Murano, we stopped there.

It's a walled cemetery with a church from 1469 and contains graves from famous foreigners,
including Igor Stravinsky (composer) and Serei Diaghilev (founder of the Russian Ballet).

A bonus was seeing a coffin being transported back to the city after a service (bottom-right).  

As Astrid and I often say, we learn a lot about a country and culture from its cemeteries.

Day 3, Sunday, 26 March--Accademia Walk and Piazza San Marco Basilica

We walked 3 km+ from the famous Rialto Bridge, through the San Polo and Dorsoduro districts,

ending up at the Accademia Bridge, where we had the only rain of the trip, for maybe 30 minutes.

It gave everything a magical look for us because of the umbrellas.

We had so much fun people-watching along the way.

[After our walk we visited St. Mark's Basilica at the Piazza San Marco but I didn't show a collage on FB.]

Day 4, Monday, 27 March--Torcello, Mazzorbo and Burano Islands

We chose this day to take the vaporetto to the farthest-out islands of the Venetian lagoon.

The draw of Torcello (population 60) is the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, 

a basilica founded in AD 639, making it the oldest building in the lagoon.

We even climbed the bell tower!

Burano is known for its painted houses and lace...and its tilted church tower.

[The wee island of Mazzorbo is joined to Burano by a pedestrian bridge...which I didn't post on FB.]

Day 5, Tuesday, 28 March--San Giorgio and Salute Churches

On our first day in Venice, last Friday, we went to the top of the Campanile Tower at the Piazza San Marco,
where I took the pic of Palladio's church from 1559 on the San Giorgio Maggiore island (top--loft).
From THAT bell tower, we looked back to the Campanile in the Piazza (top-right).

From the San Giorgio tower you look across the canal to the Santa Maria della Salute church (top-left),
started in 1630 in Thanksgiving for the deliverance of the city from the plague.
Salute means health and salvation.
From the front of the Salute church you look across the canal to the Piazza San Marco (bottom-left).

You can see how close all these landmarks are in Venice!

Day 6, Wednesday, 29--Castello District Walk

As you know, Venice is the main island of 117 in the Venetian lagoon, comprising 106 sq. miles.

On this day we took the vaporetto around Castello, the most eastern district of the island,

to complete our circumnavigation of Venice.  

It included the Arsenal area with its naval dockyard.

Once we got off the vaporetto at the Arsenal stop, we walked around,

visiting more churches and people-watching.

Every evening, except this one, we stayed home at our B&B to recuperate from the day!

But we HAD to see Venice at night, so we hopped on a vaporetto and spent 2 hours on the Grand Canal,
from 7:30-9:30, stopping off at the Piazza San Marco before our return back.

So glad we did it!

Day 7, Thursday, 30 March--San Simeon Piccolo Crypt

We've decided it's Venice's best-kept secret:  the crypt in the San Simeon Piccolo church,

across the Grand Canal from the railway station.  We went to buy our train tickets for our ride to Verona
the next day and when we saw the church, we decided to visit it...our last for Venice.

Once inside, the attendant told us about the crypt down below, for which we paid only €2 each,

and for which we were given flashlights to navigate throughout.

OMG!  It was the whipped cream on top of our Venice experience 

(and was nowhere to be found in both of our travel books)! 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Day 8, Friday, 31 March--Train to Verona and the San Zeno Basilica

After arriving by train in Verona (120 km from Venice), settling into our B&B and finding a place to eat,
we had time to walk by the Castelvecchio from 1355, looking back on the Porte Scaligero bridge
as part of the castle's defense (top row).  That was on our way to visit the Basilica San Zeno Maggiore,
built between 1120-1138.  Later I'll show you the inside.  Another OMG!

Day 9, Saturday, 1 April--Major Verona Sites

This was our first full day in Verona, chock-full of this, that and the other:

The Arena (the 3rd largest amphitheater in the world), Piazza Elbe with its stalls, statues and fountain (14th century), the Scaligeri Tombs lifted up against the sky (bottom-left), the Juliet Balcony, the Renaissance staircase from the Palazzo della Ragione (Palace of Reason), the hunchback beggar holding up the font in the Basilica di Sant'Anastasia, and a lift to the top of the Lamberti Tower to get the lay of the land, with the Duomo/Cathedral (center-right)
which we visited later.

Day 10, Sunday, 2 April--Roman Theater and Churches

A bit of a mishmash from another full day in Verona.

Besides spending time at the Roman Theater and the Archeological Museum 

(top row and bottom-right), we walked around and visited several churches.

Some of the finest inlaid woodwork in all of Italy is in the Santa Maria in Organo church (bottom-left).

We also had a fun surprise at the San Giorgio in Braida church when we arrived just before 4 p.m.
and watched people coming in for a children's first communion service, to which the Bishop was invited.
It was like a big party.  OMG!  I had tears in my eyes.

Day 11, Monday, 3 April--Verona Cemetery

We made the decision to "lie low" our last full day of vacation by going to the nearby cemetery.

You already know how much we LOVE cemeteries.

The next day we were up bright and early for our 9 a.m. flight back to Amsterdam.

What a fabulous trip and experience for both of us.

As we often say, we were "short of eyes."

And now, in the days to come, I'll add more flesh to this skeletal overview!

The Maria Laach Abbey, Germany

When we visited the Basilica of St. Castor in Koblenz, Germany, that weekend following America's Thanksgiving (last post), I didn't think it could get any better...until the next day when we drove 32 km NW to see the Maria Laach Benedictine Abbey, situated on the shore of the Laacher See near Andernach.

As I said on Facebook, this is when I know for sure I was an architect in a past life...or maybe a monk???

I'll tell you from the outset that the outside is what is most impressive about this abbey.

Construction began in 1093 until 1220 when it became the home of the Benedictines.

Our DK travel book said the outside columns had interesting capitals,

so we started there, before entering the abbey.

The book also mentioned the lion fountain in the atrium, made in 1928,

and visible near the abbey entrance.

You could say we saw a lot before even entering!

 Once inside, we saw how "basic" this holy place is...

like a perfect place for monks?

The canopy above the high altar, from 1220-50, is probably the most impressive "work" of it all.

Mosaics.  Statues.  Icons.

All a reminder that this is a Roman Catholic monastic community.

 The one tomb visible to all is that of Heinrich II, who ordered the abbey to be built in 1093

and who died in 1095, just 2 years later, and is buried there.
He never saw the completed masterpiece.

It was the crypt beneath that felt like the holy of holies to us both.

I could worship there.

We had hoped to hear Gregorian chants, as the book mentioned we might,

but not that day or at that time.  Only in our hearts.

Once back outside, in the abbey's courtyard, we had closer views of this incredible structure.

One has the feeling a lot of supplication is raised to the heavens around that place.

And then we walked across the road to the wee cemetery.

We were there at the right time, when this monk unlocked the gate for the day.

We watched him give his blessing on who-knows-whom...his BFF?

I came up with my own stories that day.

I repeat...I know for sure I was an architect in a past life...or maybe a monk???

And that was just the first part of the day!

From there we drove back to Koblenz to see the Stolzenfels Castle.

But that's another post...not to be mixed in with this holy place.

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland

So, I made an executive decision!  Trier, Germany, from early July (2 months ago!) can wait.  Let's see Dublin first.  It is too much in my blood right now to stand waiting.

But, because our two "boyfriends" from England (Chris and Chad, from our Shutterchance blog) are arriving on Tuesday, staying till Friday, I can only give you an appetizer today.

In fact, this is how I ended my short Dublin stay this past Sunday-to-Tuesday...with the Christ Church Cathedral, just a 10-minute walk from my hotel before heading back to the airport.  My girlfriends, Catherine and Robin, were already off separately for the day.  I was on my own....

Isn't she a beauty, facing the sun like that!

Born in 1030, she's the elder sister of Dublin's other medieval cathedral, St. Patrick's, from 1191.
(Let's save St. Patrick's for when Astrid can join me.)

Upon entering any church/cathedral, I always go for the "first impression" of space.

Heighth (68 ft.) and breadth, front and back, ceiling and floor.

Then the details quickly follow!

And because design enthralls me, I was mesmerized by the medieval mosaic floor tiles.

And the chairs!

Astrid was the one who noticed the 3 together...for Catherine, Robin and me.

And Astrid wasn't even there (unable to take time off work)!

Besides the pulpit (bottom center), I saw 3 lecterns.

The one near the pulpit (top center) is medieval...old enough.

But the one on the right, in the crypt, is supposedly Ireland's oldest of them all.
(To be honest, I'm confused...because the one on top may be a replica?)

Speaking of the crypt, it's the largest not only in Ireland but in all of Great Britain.

It's also Dublin's oldest surviving structure, from 1172-1173.

It houses the 2 oldest known secular carvings in Ireland
as well as memorabilia from King William III and James II.

But what takes the cake is the mummified cat & rat, found trapped in an organ pipe in the 1850s.

And that was the end of my short Dublin trip!
Soon you'll see the rest, with these teasers...

This is from Catherine's phone, taken by the Murphy's ice-cream man.
L-to-R:  Ginnie, Robin and Catherine.
Did I mention we're all from Vision & Verb?
Catherine is Irish and Robin lives in NYC, on a business trip with her hubby.

See.  Bloggers really DO meet up and have loads of fun!
Robin is the one who visited us in the Netherlands a year ago,
but Catherine was a "first" for us both.

And because I promised myself at least one Guinness,YES, I DID IT.

As we say, the proof is in the pudding.  (Thanks, Robin.)

(Actually, I think I've already acquired the taste.  HA!)

To be continued....