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| The Dolomites as back drop to Aproach to Venice |
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| Venice - Doge Palace, Campanile and San Marco |
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| Pink and White Facade of the Doge's Palace |
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| Typical canal of Venice |
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| Watery door steps of Venetian Houses |
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| Flooded Front Porch of Marble Columns |
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| Grand Canal |
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| Ornately painted Place Facade |
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| Interior Cort of Doge Palace |
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| Rialto Bridge and canal side restaurants |
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| Plethora of open air restaurants to watch the world float by |
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| Front door |
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| The small Bridge of Sighs connecting Doge Palace and Justice Palace |
17 and 18 April 2012, Venice, the Beautiful
It's as if sinking into a sweet dream when approaching Venice from the Adriatic Sea. Imagine, early morning when the city is bathed in soft pastels, campaniles (bell towers) and domes shimmering and - rarest of all - the far away Dolomite Alps paining a snow-covered serrated backdrop to the north, a phenomena so rare that hardly anybody has ever experienced it.
So we are gliding gently into the Guidecca Canal, about 400 meters wide, which separates Venice proper from Guidecca Island, as well as the famous Lido (Mann's book: Death in Venice), Murano (Murano Glass) and Burano. A short grass landing strip lays to port, and a black and white channel marker to starboard.
And then Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic, displays her splendour to starboard. Basilica di San Marco's, Palazzo Ducale, the Campanile, Basilica de Santa Maria della Salute...all the icons which the world recognizes glided by. A maze of canals, not all of the 177 actually visible, separates about 120 'artificial' islands, which are connected by almost 400 bridges. All is tightly covered with more or less grand palaces and buildings in styles ranging from Venetian Byzantine to Renaissance and Baroque. Flotillas of Vaporettos (floating buses), ferries, water taxis, gondolas and supply barges transport people, goods, garbage, police, construction cranes around a town without streets open to vehicles. Imagine, every house, that may need a plumber (one of 20 licensed ones in the entire city), a telephone connection, an ambulance, garbage collection or a fridge i.e., has to have it delivered by water. All stores and restaurants are stocked via barge, every building within Venice's watery canal system is built, re-furbished, fixed via building crews and supplies on barges. To make things even more interesting, about 35 times a year (until 1970 it happened about 9 times annually) the water level of the surrounding Adriatic or run off from the River Po rise high enough to flood San Marco Square as well as many other city squares and bottom steps of every houses (all with steps serving as landing spots for boats) connecting homes to the water side of each house.
As soon as the ship was docked (Maritime Terminal east of Venice) I was off towards the 'People Mover', which provides transport from Venice's Trans Med Ferry Terminal, Commercial Harbour and Cruise Ship terminal to the main railway station to the main 'end station' of the popular Vaporettos. These flat enclosed passenger boats are the bus equivalent of Venice. A 28 hour pass allows unlimited rides anywhere along the extensive network throughout the entire city, and is both a cheap and a most scenic way to experience the main canals of Venice.
And then one walks and walks, along canals lined with sumptuous mansions, across low stone bridges, into plazas surrounded by palaces and cathedrals, past Gondola hire stations, under long elegant archways lined with exclusive stores, and through winding alleys lines with souvenir shops. All along trying not to get lost in this watery labyrinth, and not to follow the considerable stream of tourists hailing from every corner of the Globe.
I managed to visit Basilica de San Marco during a relatively 'quiet time', ascended the gallery and admired the famous team of four bronze horses which grace the imposing facade of the church. There are actually eight horses, four original ones slightly damaged by air pollution, and four replica ones who proudly strut their stuff overlooking the 91 meter high bell tower (Campanile), and two column topped with the statues of a golden winged San Marco Lion, and of Saint Theodore of Studium standing on a crocodile.
The Doge's Palace, pink and white marble, stands next door. A palace worthy of every superlative. One enters through the grand and ornate Porta della Carta into a spacious interior courts - fountains, double loggias, golden grand staircases, halls with frescos and murals by Tintoretto and Veronese, multi coloured marble statues and spires...all reminiscent of Venice's grandeur and power during her glory as a maritime power.
A small bridge connects the sumptuous Doge palace with the palace of justice. It is aptly called Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs), as it often allowed prisoner their last glimpse of daylight before either facing execution or lifelong imprisonment in a dank and dark cell.
A ride along the Grand Canal is a visual delight, hundreds of marble palaces built between the 12th and 18th century line the edge, which earned it the description of being 'the finest street with the world's finest houses'. Painters have eternalized it, literary and musical giants like Richard Wagner and Thomas Mann were inspired here, Lord Byron created poems, and family Anelli of Fiat fame turned one palace into an Art museum. So did Peggy Guggenheim, who also filled the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni with a valuable modern art collection. As a matter of fact, a love of art it evident around every canal corner - museums, galleries, theatres, concerts halls, as well as artisans crafting Venetian Carnival masks, paintings, carvings, leather works. Murano's glass jewellery and artistic creations are sold to tastes ranging from out of sight to cheap trinkets.
I was seduced into buying a carnival mask, one of the thousands of Venetian masks on sale in almost every store, some uniquely one-off elaborate designs, some mass produced by flocks of unseen Venetians behind 'palace' walls.
A never ending surprise, a bottomless treasure chest, Venice is magical, romantic, sumptuous. Despite the hordes of tourists clogging narrow alleys, outrageously expensive gondolas, outrageously expensive - but very picturesque - cafes and restaurants, graffiti on the Rialto Bridge, somewhat less than sparkling canal waters, it remains one of the most delightful, magical and wondrous cities in the world.
Two days roaming by land and water just affords a small taste, and one wants to linger and savour and look and listen...and wishes that global warming does not cause this jewel to disappear like an Adriatic Atlantis below the Mediterranean Sea.
