Basilica San Marco

I have to confess to being, if not a fan of Byzantine architecture, then at least impressed, overawed by its scale and weight. The sheer mass of Roman arches on solid walls is the opposite extreme of delicate Gothic architecture; really quite imposing, particularly when covered in gilded mosaics. On entering from the summer glare outside, it is almost disappointingly dark; I seemed to remember it being a lot more golden when I first visited forty years earlier. But as your eyes adjust to the calm interior, it comes to life, lit by shafts of sunlight through the tiny windows glistening on the mosaics. Despite having to queue for an hour or so, at least it is free to enter and, although photography is strictly forbidden, most people seem to ignore it and carry on regardless; nobody seems to care. As luck would have it, yet another architectural masterpiece covered in scaffolding specially to coincide with my visit.