Pigeons

At last, San Marco appeared almost out of nowhere. All that wide space without shelter from the sun seemed like torture so we collapsed against a wall in the shade opposite the basilica. After this long walk it seemed almost blasphemy not to take in immediately the full splendour of all these buildings but we were both so exhausted. Eventually we found some energy and walked around the covered arcades to the far corner. From there we crossed the square back towards the bell tower and Katarina shot some photos of the infamous pigeons (that 8 years ago she chased in a frenzy of excitement). It was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was so strong that our cameras were useless against the intense light. I was disappointed to (re)discover that the bell tower had been rebuilt 100 years ago. We had no energy to climb the tower or the basilica so had to satisfy ourselves with a ground level view of this glorious city, which wasn't difficult.