San Marco

Thursday morning we made it to breakfast at a decent hour, and headed out to San Marco. The square had mild acqua alta! It was the worst around the basilica, but the bell tower and many of the cafes were also watered in.



We went to the basilica first. It's always a good visit. We headed back to see the jeweled screen, as spectacular as expected. The jewels are just so large, and the enamel work of the saints is really captivating. But it's hard to get a good picture of with all the glass and lighting.



The whole basilica is a riot of patterns. The tile work is awesome all over. The mosaics on the walls, and the marble floors.



We headed up to the horse terrace to take in a little more of the view.



There are substitute horses on the balcony, but the original horses of the basilica are inside to look at still.



The terrace also gives a good view of the mosaics.



The back rooms include a few exhibits of church artifacts. I liked these hymnals with the illuminated letters. The page numbers in Roman numerals made me laugh!



On our way out we saw this giant Carnival cruise boat being pulled into the harbor. It's kind of shocking to see such a giant thing in a small setting. The cruise ships all are bunched up at a weird dock that hangs off the city.