Venice in Pieces

Venice (in summer) is hot, humid, and crowded with hordes of tourists. Some of the are Italian, many of them are foreign and all of them are crowded into the alleyways, plazas, museums and simply everywhere in the ancient city. The main - and even minorly - tourist areas of the city cant help feel like a tourist trap. It was slightly claustrophobic, and very hot, especially compared to the Canary Islands and even to Barcelona.

But those were all the bad things. Besides that, Venice is extraordinary. Its a cliche, but its true. It lives up to the reputation through the simple fact that it is built unlike anywhere else in the world, and was one of the main seats of power in Europe for centuries, a power that still contains allure. The sights are stunning; the grand palazzos up and down the grand canal and scattered throughout, the heavy churches, canals and cobbled lanes. We saw a number of the main draws; San Marco Square, St. Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace, the Correr Museum, the bridges, the canals. We also spent a huge amount of time walking; to the Square, around it, through it, to the market, to the water, just wandering. It allowed us to escape the tourist crowds; another benefit to staying in an apartment centrally located but off the main streets, as we did. Famous for good reason.
And Venice IS just beautiful, in every way; its elegance speaks of the dedication to beauty in all its aesthetic forms of those who lived, and still live, there. Yet I also felt that theres something sad about Venice, the once-powerful and now tourist-filled city living through its past, selling its beauty, unable to expand on its islands, slowly sinking into the lagoon and flooded every year in the winter. There was something of not quite decay, but maybe stagnation. Then again, the ruin is part of the charm.
The Doge's Palace was fascinating for its look into the government of Venice and the power of the Doge. St Marks Basilica was a fantastic combination of Byzantium and Medieval Italian architecture, with stunning tile and mosaicwork and amazing detailing on an epic scale (and throngs of visitors, unfortunately). San Marco square is ringed by fantastical building, including the ones above. But in many ways my favorite part of Venice was when we took the water buses outside the city proper, onto surrounding islands. Although we didnt make it to the Armenian monastery on an island in the middle of hte lagoon - only open to a single water bus each day - we did make it to Lido, the fishbone shaped island with a beach on the Adriatic. We went swimming in water that felt like a swimming pool or at times, a bath, but it was still refreshing. We also visited Burano, the lace citadel of Venice, full of short and incredibly, extremely and almost eye-wateringly bright houses. Fuschia. Orange. Turquoise. Violet. The colors were almost unbelieveable, and the island had a sleepy, neighborly feel that almost made you feel like Venice was in another world, or rather, the world you had so easily entered was not quite real (Kim referred to it as 'Wonderland'). The views from the water buses were superb.

Some other things warmed my heart about Venice that weren't sights but rather small experiences. There was the fruit and vegetable seller who moved slowly and handled each vegetable and fruit like it had feelings, and who gave us extra mushrooms in our bag. The Italian woman our first day during lunch spoke Italian to us emphatically and cheerily assumed that we would understand (we managed to order delicious food, so it all worked out). My favorite thing about Venice, though, was the small touches. Walking down a narrow alley and glancing up to see an unknowably old stone carving adorning the lintel of an archway, or an intricately wrought ironwork balcony. Ancient Venice has left traces of herself everywhere in the city, breathing through the cracks, cobblestones and centuries into corners and crannies of her current incarnation.

Now we're riding through a serene and lovely countryside, on the way to Florence. It actually looks like you could breathe outside, out among the vibrant green fields, grapevines and quite roads studded with lemon, orane, apple and peach-colored houses with tiled terracotta roofs. Its a relief to be out of Venice; hopefully Florence is at least somewhat calmer.