Take a naturally protected lagoon averaging approximately 6 feet in depth, pound sturdy posts in concentric circles 30 or so feet into the sand bar, pile upon it large stones for a solid foundation, then construct a beautiful ornate building. Do this thousands of times linking everything together with countless bridges to walk between them. Then dominate Europe for 400 years or so, accumulating the wealth you have “borrowed” in order to decorate your city built on sand, and what do you get………Venice!
Yes, it’s sinking; yes, it’s expensive; yes, it’s overcrowded with tourists; yes, it’s old and decaying and past it’s prime…..so what?!? The magic, beauty and uniqueness trumps all of the reasons not to go.
Before we relinquished our good friend, Francois, (our rented Renault), we thought….why not. Italy wasn’t originally on our itinerary, due to it being very expensive, but we got creative and figured out a way how not to spend our remaining budget in 4 nights We made our way to Venice!
We’ve visited many picturesque places on our trip and Venice was no exception. Our shutter didn’t get any rest. We snapped picture after picture as every turn of our strolls through the city revealed another…”That’s so cool” moment.
We water taxied and walked our way through the city for 4 days loving every minute of it. We saw the touristy stuff, but we also got off that beaten path and headed into the sections of town where real Venetians go to the market, the kids go to school and, most importantly, tourists don’t go – yes people actually still live there.
Las Vegas and The Venetian Hotel, with it’s artificial canals and San Marcos Square look-alike, can’t capture the finely aged ambience of one of the great cities in Europe.
Go to Venice if you have a chance and get lost in its streets and charm. It may not be with us forever.
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Great photos!
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