Corner La Trin: Doge's Palace

Visiting the magnificent Doge's Palace was our agenda in the afternoon and, although we all felt a bit weary from all of the walking, our energy was renewed as we approached the palace entrance.

The Doge's palace was a huge, imposing building of Renaissance and Gothic style. We bought our tickets and walked in.

Inside the beautiful building was a gigantic courtyard. Two of the walls were in the Renaissance style, and the other two were Gothic. There were two large basins in the centre, and at the rear of it, to the right, was a marble staircase. Featured at the top of staircase on either side was a statue of Neptune, and one of Mars.

We went up the stairs to the loggia on the first floor. It overlooked the courtyard. We spent some time up here, admiring the lovely views of the courtyard.

Finally, we went up to the second floor. This was the floor of the Doge's living quarters and the court's rooms. It was a pity that no photo nor video was allowed. We went into the living quarters first. They were barely furnished, because, after each Doge had died, his heir would take most of the furniture out. The rooms still had striking wallpaper, rich tapestries and, whatever of it there was, the furniture was also quite grand.

All the rooms in the living quarters had fireplaces. Elegant ones too. Marble, with lots of carvings. There were lots of rooms, but my favorite was the Map Room. The wallpaper in this room was actually maps of the known world, and in the centre of the enormous room were two huge globes of the world. Cool......

We went to see the court rooms. These rooms were MASSIVE! Really. Huge, airy, able to accommodate one thousand and five hundred people. Really big. There was a breeze floating in too, so the rooms were cool. Gold furnishings, lots of paintings, in fact, there was even a room, where around it it had the paintings of all of the Doges of the past. However, where one the Doges should have been featured there was just a black scroll. This was because that Doge had committed treason and it had been decreed that his image should never be shown but his treasonous act should not be forgotten. Wow.

Next came MY favourite part of the palace, the dungeons. We walked down into them, and let the mysteries unfold.

We walked across the Bridge of Sighs, connecting the court room in the palace to the prison next door. The bridge was so named because it connected the court rooms to the prison above a canal, the prisoners could glimpse their last view of the outside world as they walked across and sigh, knowing they couldn't escape. How sad...

The prison was HUGE! So many cells! There were carvings on the walls, that had actually been carved by the prisoners hundreds of years before. You could walk into a few of them, and wonder at the feeling of dread in the place. All grey. It would be cool here in the summer. But freezing in winter. Poor prisoners..

Finally, our visit to the place ended. I had loved it. Truly great!

The Doge's courtyard