Venice: Is that a Canal I see Before Me?

Venice is so much more than I expected.

Firstly, Venice is beautiful.  There is no question that Venice is one of the most wonderful cities in the world. The architecture, the canals, the narrow walkways that form a maze through the city lend it an air of mystery and bustle.  A feeling of wonder and a sense of a thriving, industrious  mecca.  The lack of cars on the island of Venice is a great blessing and lends to its uniqueness.

The light in Venice is absolutely exquisite and perfect for taking photographs of great beauty.  The play of the light on the water in the canals, the reflected light on the walls buildings and the variety of the building styles makes for wonderful photography. Photographs are naturally framed by the buildings and canals and the variety of subject matter is virtually infinite.  The crafts people of Venice have a very keen understanding of colour.  The use of colour in their decorative arts is wonderful and produces product of great beauty.

Rialto Bridge: Venice

We stayed in a small apartment near the Rialto area.  This is one of the oldest parts of the city.  We were worried whether or not we would find food to eat or drinks, but this was never a problem.  Throughout Venice the ground Floor “Piano Terresse” of almost every building is given over to shops of one sort or another.  Cafés, gelatereia, bead shops, glass shops, jewelry stores, leather bag shops, grocery stores, pasticerecie or mask shops.  (I would challenge any one to leave Venice without a mask or a piece of jewelry with Murano glass.)  The food was very reasonably priced and we took great advantage of the many cafes and Gelateria, over and over again.

Rialto Market in Venice

Rialto district is famous for its markets. While staying in Venice a visit to the markets is a must. Best go early for fresh produce including fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese, olives and prosciutto.  Using simple ingredients, we were able to make up very tasty dinners with Pasta or lentils.  The wine that is available in Venice is also a must try.  There are many places to buy local Italian wines.  These lack the full body of Australian wines, and some of the subtlety of French wines, but they are very drinkable and make a great accompaniment to the wonderfully fresh produce that is available.  We were able to put together a very simple but delicious dinner of cherry tomatoes, quartered and olives, heated for about 10 minutes in olive oil flavoured with garlic, and throwing this in with a bowl of freshly cooked bow tie pasta and topped with freshly grated Reggiano Cheese.

St Marks Square, early morning.

St Marks Square early in the morning, before the crowds come in for the day, is beautiful.  St Marks Square, later in the day when St Marks Cathedral is open at 9:30 am is less so.  Venice in summer can be very hot.   Do yourself a favour.  Arrange your visit to Venice by staying a few days in the city.  Venice is a maze of walking streets, ranging from narrow to very narrow, waterways and bridges that cross them.  There are no straight paths from one point to another, anywhere in Venice.  Although, the most important spots, St Marks Square, the Train Station, the bus terminal and the Rialto Bridge have very clear signage to get to them.  But you never get to walk in a straight line for more than 100 m and you travel through very narrow  lane ways and across small squares and over bridges all the time, and you can never see where you are going.  It takes a little while to work out the system.  Once it becomes clear, then you can concentrate on the really fun part of being in Venice.  Getting lost.  When you are lost you come across the most amazing secrete places.

Venice, is built on a series of Islands in the Lagoon at the mouth of the Brenta River which runs from the Euganean Hills down to the Adriatic Coast.  The Grand Canal that runs like a snake through the centre of the Archipelago is actually the channel trough which the water from the Brentna river flows through the lagoon.  I was always of the impression that Venice is sinking, and it may well be.  But it is also growing.  As recently as the late 19^th and early 20^th century the spaces between the islands has been filled in, as they have since the city was founded in about 576 AD, to give it the form that we see it in today, a series of land masses separated by Canals of various widths and connected by countless bridges.  Many of the areas which contain buildings today were formerly areas of reclaimed marshes and today seem very solid.



Recycled Bass Relief on house wall in Siestra San Polo

The buildings of Venice are very interesting.  Because the cost of building materials has always been expensive, the inhabitants of Venice have always been very big into recycling materials.  So in the buildings that exist today, one can see architectural elements and adonrments that have clearly been taken from older buildings.  This adds to the sense of discovery that one gets when roaming around the city.

We had such a wonderful time and we discovered so much while we were there, it was too much to digest in one sitting...