Travelsmartplanet

Never thought about where you park your gondola when you are off work. Notice the other boats tucked along the buildings. Front doors are often on the canals.

Tags: boat, building, canal, CostSaver, Europe, gondola, Italy, park, parking, sights, sightseeing, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, transportation, travel, travelblogger, Venetian, venezia, Venice, venice canal, water, work

Not all the canals in Venice are narrow. Some are broad highways. See if you can find the tip of a gondola in this one.

Tags: boat, canal, city, CostSaver, Europe, gondola, highway, Italy, landmark, sights, sightseeing, tour, tourist, touristy, Trafalgar, transportation, travel, travelblogger, Venetian, Venice, view, waterway

The Bridge of Sighs is named for the sighs of the prisoners who were interrogated and charged in the Doge’s Palace building and had to walk across the canal on this bridge to the New Prison. The white limestone decorated bridge is enclosed but has windows with stone bars; It passes over the Rio di Palazzo.

Tags: architecture, bridge, Bridge of Sighs, building, canal, CostSaver, decorated, Doge of Venice, Doge's Palace, Europe, History, Italy, landmark, limestone, New Prison, palace, prisoner, Rio di Palazzo, sights, sightseeng, stone, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, Venice, window

Inside Venice’s Saint Mark’s Basilica or more properly, the Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark. It’s free to go through to see the great example of Italo-Byzantine architecture and the ceiling mosaics, decorations, and intricate geometric marble patterns. Get here early as there is usually a big lineup but it moves quickly. No backpacks allowed, but there’s a free checking service around the corner and down an alley (just ask!).

Tags: architecture, backpack, Basilica, cathedral, ceiling, CostSaver, decoration, Europe, geometric, Italo-Byzantine, Italy, landmark, lineup, marble, mosaic, Patriarchal, pattern, Saint Mark, Saint Mark's Basilica, sights, sightseeing, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, Venice

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The Doge’s Palace, Palazzo Ducale, was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Venetian Republic. The Venetian Gothic construction started around 1340 and was modified many times over the centuries due to fires and governmental needs.

Tags: architecture, art, authority, century, city, construction, CostSaver, Doge of Venice, Doge's Palace, Europe, exhibit, fire, former, Gothic, government, History, Italy, landmark, modified, Museum, palace, Palazzo, Palazzo Ducale, Republic, residence, sights, sightseeing, supreme, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, Venetian, Venetian Republic, Venice

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In Venice, the Ponte dei Sospiri or the Bridge of Sighs is an arched limestone bridge that connects the Doge’s Palace to the Prigioni Nuove, or the New Prisons. It got its name from the sighs of the prisoners walking across it.

Tags: arched, bridge, Bridge of Sighs, city, city tour, city view, connect, connection, CostSaver, Doge's Palace, Europe, Italy, landmark, limestone, New Prisons, palace, ponte, Ponte dei Sospiri, Prigioni Nuove, prison, prisoner, sigh, sights, sightseeing, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, Venice

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On top, you have the victorious Vittorio Emanuele II (1849-1861) who was the first King of united Italy. On the 2 sides are statues of the winged Lion of Saint Mark with paws on books and a regal woman (and a silly woman).

Tags: book, city, CostSaver, Europe, Italy, King, landmark, lion, Lion of Saint Mark, monument, paws, regal, Saint Mark, sights, sightseeing, statue, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, united, united Italy, Venice, victorious, Vittorio Emanuele, winged, woman

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Approaching St. Mark’s Square, Venice, from the water.

Tags: architecture, attraction, boat, city, CostSaver, Europe, Italy, la Piazza, landmark, Piazza, Piazza San Marco, sights, sightseeing, square, St. Mark, St. Mark's Square, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, Venetian, Venice, view, water

An international idea celebrated in 50 countries, Restaurant Day is a food carnival created by food-loving people setting up one-day restaurants. The idea of the day is to have fun, share new food experiences and meet others in our community. People offer their family cuisine, favorite recipes, desserts or whatever in their backyard or a park.  Prices are very inexpensive.

Check the maps to see if there is one in your city.

Date: Sunday, August 17
http://www.restaurantday.org/

Tags: carnival, city, countries, cuisine, dessert, family, food, map, people, recipe, Restaurant

It costs $500 a year to join Patrons of the Vatican Museums which means you are a donor to the Vatican museums. For your basic membership, you get to jump the line at Vatican Museums – as in going straight in to the Sistine Chapel in the morning before anyone else. You get private tours of off limits galleries and restoration labs, special access to St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Gardens, priority seating at the Pope’s weekly general audience, and can score coveted tickets to Midnight Mass.

This is not necessarily for Catholics, but for anyone who is an art buff and eager for behind the scenes access. On top of that, it’s a good deal as it is tax deductible.

Three hundred and fifty of this fundraising organization (of about 2500) of Vatican lovers, had a 30th anniversary gala this year. The guests, art loving philanthropists,  were mostly from the US; They had become excited after seeing  a  traveling exhibit of Vatican treasures. For only $1900 a person, they enjoyed five days of touring, VIP treatment, lectures on museum restoration, catered dinners in museum galleries, question and answer periods with top official in the Secretariat about Vatican reform, vespers service in the Sistine Chapel – and even a one-on-one with Pope Francis himself.