The Floating City

After a stressful trip and a lesson in assuming you can get a train ticket to where you want to go…when you want to go…we arrive in Venice….to grey skies and rain. But Karen has replaced her suitcase when her previous one died a natural death by cobblestone…so all is well in our world anyway.

I remember many years ago when I spent a couple of months in Italy as a 17 year old, I had wanted to visit Venice but it was badly flooded at the time so it wasn’t possible. It was many years later that this dream finally came true…and it was love at first sight. But who wouldn’t fall in love with a city whose streets are made of water, whose buses are boats and where the songs of gondaliers linger in the air. Arriving in Venice is like stepping into a surreal never-never land….there’s really nowhere else in the world like it.

Venice is magical and mysterious and floods the mind with an atmosphere of creative wonder. It’s a city of incredible architecture built solely on water where cars are replaced with teak boats and gondolas.

A labyrinth of colourful canals weaves its way through islands joined by romantic little bridges and open squares play classical music that echoes between Gothic palaces. Each twist and turn leads you to another great photo opportunity; faded pastel coloured palazzi rise from the waters like pillars of another era…cobblestone paths, church domes, a winding labyrinth of waterways, gondolas and bridges. This city has my heart.

Our apartment is in an amazing position, right on a little canal smack bang between Piazza San Marco and the Rialto bridge. We are constantly serenaded by the passing gondolas.

I once again rise early to take pictures before the city is inundated with the crush of tourists. Venice is a photographer’s paradise…with its magical and spectacular scenery…even in the rain- and I literally find something interesting to point the camera at wherever I walk.

I photograph everything from exotic doorknobs which recall the vast, global trade mecca that Venice once was…to black lacquered gondolas and brightly striped poles…bridges and crumbling buildings draped in flowers… colourful cottages with balconies full of flowers…windows and doors and winged lions and chichetti bars and dead-end streets which end in canals. And gorgeous streetlights…which I have become obsessed with photographing.

I am captivated and enchanted at every turn.

Mostly we just wander the quaint little streets, tiny piazzas and narrow footbridges… in the rain….not ideal but all of my three visits here have been the same. And there is still so much colour amidst the greyness… and the skies do clear eventually.

Exploring the little cobbled alleyways by foot is an essential part of visiting Venice and we are all excited as we pass from crowded alleyways to deserted squares. We get lost and seem to walk in circles and we laugh at the insanely nonsensical signs to the Rialto and St Marco which abound on every corner…we do eventually find our way…all part of the fun passing gorgeous little boutiques, cafes, gelato bars and so many shops selling masks to attract tourists…many mass-produced but some are still made here in the traditional way and the stores are an Alladin’s cave of theatricality… I am obsessed with them.

Easily the most renowned and famous building in Venice, St. Mark’s Basilica is a sublime piece of architecture and again I am in awe. I do just love big cathedrals!!!

It is one of the best-known surviving examples of Italian Byzantine architecture…. bringing a bit of the East over to the West at a time when Venice was a major port and therefore a crossroads between the two worlds. As if to emphasize the city’s position as an important stop on the trade routes, the front of the Basilica is decorated with mis-matched columns which were all stolen from elsewhere and brought back to Venice as trophies…just gorgeous!

Every aspect of this church is fantastic… from the ornate detail, sculptures, reliefs, mosaics and artwork of the front facade, to the beautifully painted frescos and Byzantine works of art on the inside of the domed ceiling.

Known for its opulent design and gilded mosaics it is fondly called “Chiesa d’Oro” which translates to “Church of Gold” as the 8000 square metres of mosaics that cover pretty much everything and took over 8 centuries were done mostly in gold. The result is astonishing!

We cross the Bridge of Sighs and I explain to the girls that its name does not come from inspiring gasps of admiration from tourists. The bridge was the traditional route for prisoners making their way from Doges Palace into Venice’s old jail, or even to execution in St Marks square and legend has it that the sighs of the prisoners could be heard as they passed over the bridge, catching their last glimpse of Venice’s beauty and freedom. So, its whole significance is the views it gives out over Venice, not the other way around. Tourists are looking the wrong way!

We visit the small island of San Giorgio…

…to climb the bell tower of San Giorgio Maggiore (actually it’s a lift…although I wish it wasn’t…need to get those steps up!) for sensational panoramic views of the whole of Venice island including the campanile.

Obsessed with views and high places I book a time at T Fondaco…an exclusive shopping centre right at the Rialto bridge….to visit their rooftop terrace with a stunning view of the Canale Grande. So amazing and I can’t help wonder why this magnificent city with its spectacular vistas and golden sunsets, has no rooftop bars.

As the sunset covers the enchanting floating city in a golden veil, Venice continues to cast its captivating spell. as I obsessively take photos of the magnificent sunset….

…the girls wait for me in a lovely little bar/restaurant that we discovered, with amazing food, wine and service and return to for the second night in a row. I have the most delicious gnocchi I have ever eaten.

So sad to think that beautiful Venice is sinking; its delicate foundations being destroyed by the passage of cruise ships, by rising tides and climate change and human damage.