cavingliz non-cave albums: Venice over 60 years

Monday, October 19, 2020

Venice over 60 years

I've been lucky enough to have gone on foreign holidays ever since I was born. In my early years we generally went to Italy. I guess that was the "in" place in the 60s. And ever since I could write, I kept a holiday diary and still have those diaries.

Having recently been to Venice in Oct 2020, which was my 5th time, I decided to dig out my old photos for comparison. The earliest photos are from a holiday to Italy in 1960 - we went to Rimini, Florence, Padua and Venice.

My next visit was in 1964 but there are no photos of Venice, possibly as we just did a day trip from Lido di Jesolo. Then 1978, but the photo colours are now terrible. The 1987 photos are better.

1960 - This was possibly my only time on a gondola. That's little me at the back, with mum, and dad is at the front of the boat -

And the gondolas in 2020, they now cost €80 for 30 minutes

St Marks Square -

1960

1978

2020

Note the abundance of pigeons in 1960 and 1978, but none in 2020. Feeding of pigeons was banned in 2008. But the pigeons were still there 10 years later. See more on pigeons of Venice and the historical reason they were there.

Similar views from 1978 and 2020 -

2020 was the year of the worldwide Covid-19 outbreak so there were a lot less visitors to Venice than normal.

View from Accademia bridge of the Grand Canal in 1978 and 2020, looking towards Basilica de Santa Maria Salute -

And a closer view of the basilica -

Photos of a similar view of San Giorgio Maggiore taken in 1960 and 1978 -

This is a 1987 photo, I don't remember seeing any cats or phone boxes in 2020 !

In 1964 we did a lagoon tour. We went from Lido di Jesolo to Punta Sabbioni then took a motor boat to Murano and visited a glass factory, then onto Burano where we went to a lace factory. Next to Torcello where we visited the church (Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta). The last island we visited was St Francesco del Deserto. It is said that in the abbey St Francis of Assisi retired in a mystical contemplation. In 2020 I went to the first 3 islands, but not to St Francesco del Deserto as there is no public boat there. 2020 photos -