All Along The Watchtower**. . .Or, The Glory That Is The Campanile

Some readers will think the headline is campy, because in 1902, the original Campanile came crashing down into the center of the piazza.  Apparently it had made scary groaning noises the night before, fortunately causing people to scatter from the piazza.

It was rebuilt in 1912, sans most of the medieval and Renaissance architecture the initial structure had.  The Campanile stands 323 feet high, and is worth the price of admission.

Besides, there is no work involved – an elevator zips you to the top.  But it is a beautiful red tower, and provides the best view of Venice.  At the top, you literally tower (get the pun?) over every place you’ve been in Venice.

You can buy fast track tickets online to skip the line.  Literally we stood outside the base of the Campanile, thought the line was too long, and I ordered the tickets right then and there.  As it turns out, the line moves quickly, so we did not save a lot of time.

St. Mark's Square from the Campanile.

San Giorgio Maggiore.

One last clock tower shot.

For dinner, I usually do NOT take Rick Steves’ advice on restaurants (I don’t know why, I prefer to figure out where to eat using other tricks), but after heading to our nearby VRBO to clean up and change clothes, we went to Restaurante Lineadombra because it has a floating terrace right on the Giudecca Canal by La Salute Church.

I booked a front row (on the water) seat, and we walked the mile plus from our apartment, across the Rialto Bridge, and all the way to the Giudecca Canal, down a quiet alley, to end up with stunning views.  As the waiter led us to our table, I strutted and, doing my best Bob Uecker: "I must be in the front row!"

(Editor: You only WISH you channeled the Ueck.  Writer: Yup.  Sigh.)

We watched day turn into night, all the while watching car ferries plodding through the canal, water taxis zipping along, and all sorts of other watercraft, as we enjoyed the excellent food.  

View to the east from the Rialto Bridge

at night.  (Editor: Thanks for clarifying

that it wasn't mid-afternoon!  Writer:

To be fair, there was an eclipse in the

U.S. about that time.  Didn't want

readers to be confused!)

Selfie on the Rialto.

Sun setting to the west from the Rialto

Bridge.  (Editor: wait, the sun sets in

the west?  You are a font of information.) 

Be warned, it’s not cheap, but if you want an impressive view to accompany your meal, it’s worth every penny.  

Apparently the restaurant is near a vaporetto stop, but the walk to and from allows you to do what is one of the best things you can do in Venice – wander around streets and across canal bridges you normally would not.  

Alas, I almost never bring my good camera to dinner, because, well, I’m not here to blog about what we eat.  Idiotically, however, I blanked on using the iPhone to get pictures of views and of us basking in our front row table.  The place wasn’t full, but, understandably, every front row table was taken.

So the only two photos I have are from the next day, when the tower we went up at San Giorgio Maggiore provided good views of the restaurant from high above.

The umbrellas on the floating terrace

at Restaurante Lineadombra.

The walk back through the night was also awesome.

**        This IS the actual song by Bob Dylan.  Never thought I'd get TWO blog post            titles out of the same Dylan song.