Day 8 Brenta Canal-August 30, 2016

Heading up the Brenta River Canal on a canal boat.
Got up while still dark, ate breakfast, boarded the bus and went to Fusina, a town near the coast across the lagoon from Venice.  

There were delays but we were on our way with a guide on a river boat called a burchielli towards Padova on the Brenta Canal around 10:30. This tour takes about 7 hours and includes a big lunch in Oriago (which was delicious) and had a guided tour of two villas.  After the one-way cruise, the bus will meet us and return to our agritourisimo (hotel). We are going from sunup to sunset today.  The second villa, Villa Widmann, was immense. None of the links to this villa paid it adequate coverage nor described it's beauty in any decent detail.   
After the year A.D. 1000, wealthy folks built summer places along the hand-dug canal. These mansions especially in the 18th century are much larger than the ones in Newport, RI.  Napoleon, Mussolinni, and every local Doge (leader) came here.  These sumptuous summer residences were popular from the 15th century until the fall of the Venetian Republic due to the arrival of Nepoleon. Early on these boats or burchielli were powered by oars and drawn by horses along the sides of the canal. The canal system along this section drops 10 meters and there are 9 swing bridges and 6 locks.  

This is a view from the main house of Villa Widmann to the stables in the distance.

Dining room

One of the garden houses.

Bed Nepolian slept in.

Swing bridge on the river Brenta.

 Entry area-Villa Widmann.

Some of our group on the canal boat.

Wall decoration at Villa Widmann.

Original wallpaper.

Mural.

Lunch at Oriago.

Water wheel at Oriago, next door to where we ate.

The restaurant is the building on the right with the two tall chimneys.

Walking from our canal boat to the restaurant for lunch in Oriago.

One of the locks along the Brenta River.

One of the carriages in their garage.

One of the beds in the villa.

Old style gondola cover.  The design of the ornament on the front (at left) was described to us and told us the meaning of it.  

One of many outstanding Murano chandeliers. 

Some of the boys, while waiting for the tour on the river boat to start.

Some of the girls, etc.

While we were waiting around town, a panel truck pulled up, the driver proceeded to remove the side panels and set up to sell his fish.  It was quite a procedure and it was very efficient.  Shortly folks from the town showed up and bought fish.  He had a sink set up with running water and cut and cleaned the fish for them.

Day 7 - a painting day in Chioggia

"Chioggia is a place they call "little Venice". It has an amazing extremely large beach with endless cabanas and umbrellas.  I never dreamed there could be such a place!  It has another side where there are canals and all kinds of boats.  The canals and boats are separated by types and uses and they have a large fishing industry with a large amount of working boats.  This was supposed to be a painting day and I had by pack with me but never stopped to paint.  It was a wonderfully scenic place and I was content to take lots of photos.  First thing, I took a boat tour and saw many points of interest including a mussel farm and The Mose Project, the system intended to protect Venice with concealed gates at the lagoon inlets. After that I strolled around the working boat section, visited a very old church that has a painting by Tintorretto and ate at the fishermen's restaurant having spaghetti a la volgone (mussels) for a lot less than my friends spent for their lunch in another part of town.  I took a lot of pictures to use later for painting references.  By the time I finished roaming around this beautiful place with prettier colored buildings then Burano, I decided not to paint as I wouldn't have enough time so I went to the canals where the shops are to find people in my group and then we headed to the bus.  When we returned some of us went to the pool and it was very refreshing. Tomorrow is an early day, breakfast at 6:00.

Place where I ate lunch.

Lovely neighborhood section with people's personal boats.

The area where the shops are open daily, except mid-day.

Same section as above.  Even with the tourists, it feels like a normal town.

This is the area where some of our group painted.

The one-hour tour boat I took around the area for $10.

Canal on the right is where the tourist shops are.

The tour was in Italian, but I think this is the newer part of the city, not on the island section where the canals are.

Mussel farms

Grounded ship that has been there for decades.

I was looking at the facade of this man's house and he came out and wanted to make a phone call to America.  I told him I wasn't able to make any phone calls, which was true.  He gave me a DVD, and the hotel put it in their computer.  It was a movie, probably taken there, with American movie stars in it but in Italian.  I haven't seen that DVD since I unpacked.  Hmmmm.  Of course, he didn't speak English and I didn't speak Italian.

This is the beautiful church there with the Tintoretto painting.

They still sell cigarettes in machines.

Map of the town.  We parked at the upper right corner.

Our tour bus, heading home.

This is the area where the very very long beachfront is.  Notice that there are parks, entertainment facilities, rides, cabannas, all along, and then lounges/beach chairs.  This area seems like miles alongside the road, the water is beyond that.