VIP St. Mark's Basilica After Dark & Doge's Palace Highlights
VIP St. Mark's Basilica After Dark & Doge's Palace Highlights
You can't go to Venice without visiting St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace, the city's two top sites! Your experience starts with a visit to Palazzo Ducale, or Doge Palace, the center of Venice's power and history. This building has been home to the Doge as well as Venice's government, courts and prisons for several hundred years. By visiting in the late afternoon you will be able to more thoroughly enjoy and explore the palace, the armory, and the prisons when it is the least crowded.
Survey the Doge's sumptuous apartments and learn secret stories behind the artworks, like why one doge in the painted series is covered by a black veil. You will learn how the Dukes were chosen, what they did and decide for yourself if you would want to be in their shoes. Enter the massive armory, check out the spooky prisons and see the infamous Bridge of Sighs.
After a short break you will make your way over to St. Mark's Basilica where a custodian will reopen the Basilica's closed doors for you. Once inside you will be one of the privileged few to experience the basilica the way the Doge himself did - in tranquility and peace. While here take the opportunity to admire Pala d'Oro, the spectacular, Byzantine altarpiece that uses more than 1,900 gems, without having to lean around people or wait in line to do so.
Night time is the best time to visit St. Mark's because that's when the mosaics are at their most beautiful; all 43,000 square feet are lit up, glimmering and sparkling in the dark! Throughout your time in the basilica your guide will share bits of history and stories, including the swashbuckling tale of how St. Mark's became St. Mark's; a story that pivots on a kidnapping and a dangerous sea voyage! Reserve your spot on this once-in-a-lifetime tour now to experience one of the world's most magnificent churches and see it like almost no one else... without the lines or crowds!