Sailing around the Med and Isles (2018): Day 11

The Saint Mark died in Alexandria. Christians in Alexandria (Cairo) were losing their position to the growing Muslim faith. Venice sent two monks to retrieve the bones for safe keeping. The locals said no so the monks stole the remains one night and brought them back to Venice. The basilica was built to keep remains safe.

Mosaics circa 1700

Original mosaics circa 1300

For one hour each day the church turns on all the lights in the basilica and you get the most amazing views.

Every inch of the ceiling is 24 carrot gold mosaic

Rather than try to make a single floor the church realized the entire building is set on wet mud and it's moving. Tiny mosaics move easier with the shifting building

In the very center there is where St Mark use to be buried but they moved him since this whole crypt is usually 15' under water in the winter / spring

The old location of St Mark (the concrete square)

Moving back upstairs...

The new coffin of St Mark

The tiny holes are for air to go to the crypt and keep it cool

Air flows down these columns downstairs and allow for venting

The story of God, 24 carrot gold

Filled with rubys from 1300 AD

This whole place is moving. See the enter between the two domes? The building is moving left and right

This crack appeared in May. If it's not addressed it will split apart, fall down and take the two domes down with it

You can see how much movement is in the building. The long granite is broken and chairs on the right create a 'U' from the dipping

1am. Time to go home.

The square and town really is beautiful at night when everyone has left. I understand why the locals want this to themselves every day.

The captain informed us yesterday that a small but well organized set of locals would be demonstrating against cruise ship passengers. Today we found out what they had planned. Why are they targeting cruise ships? They believe that the Italian government doesn't care about locals, they are losing their city to tourists, that flights are too cheap which brings people into town, that Airbnb is causing them to lose their houses and that the ships are causing their town to sink (they actually believe a ship coming into the harbor forces the foundation of their house to sink). Basically they think they own the city and anyone visiting is an enemy. Cruise ships are just easy to target to direct this frustration towards instead of tackling their issues with government.