Piazza San Marco is the insanely popular epicenter of Venice tourism, and justifiably so. Back when Venice mattered, it was the center of political and religious power, so the main tourist honeypots are the Doge's Palace and San Marco's basilica, but there are plenty of other great things to see as well. One of the benefits of staying in Venice is the city is empty in the morning, before the daytrippers invade, so we took advantage of the quiet for some relatively undisturbed phototaking.


We then visited the Palazzo Ducale, or Doge's Palace. Venice made its fortune by having a monopoly on trade between Europe and Asia, and as a result its architecture is a real East-West hybrid. The Doge's Palace is a prime example of this, with Byzantine arches and points all over the place.