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Venice
Everything is different in Venice. After arrival at the airport and being carried across to the terminal building in a stand-up bus about as wide as a building, and after passing through the control points, a short walk takes you to where you get your boat linking with St. Mark`s Square. This is quite a long water trip, an eye-opener in itself between many islands, and gradually your impression of Venice as the floating city builds up. Looking across the very wide Grande Canal from St. Mark`s Sq
Everything is different in Venice. After arrival at the airport and being carried across to the terminal building in a stand-up bus about as wide as a building, and after passing through the control points, a short walk takes you to where you get your boat linking with St. Mark`s Square. This is quite a long water trip, an eye-opener in itself between many islands, and gradually your impression of Venice as the floating city builds up. Looking across the very wide Grande Canal from St. Mark`s Square, it is as if the far buildings really are floating on the shimmering water - especially at night.
St. Mark`s Square is sometimes known as "the most beautiful drawing room in Europe", and here you can sit and slowly drink some of the most expensive cups of coffee in Europe, while listening to sedate music. Or you can buy a snack from one of many nearby cafés and enjoy the architecture for free.
The square - really an `L`-shaped area - gets flooded quite frequently, and there are permanent wooden walkways at hand to get round this problem. As soon as you stray away from this central location, one of the few large open spaces, you are into a warren of streets/alleyways, a virtual maze intersected by frequent narrow canals, some alleys with bridges across the canals and some without.
By the way, use the water busses for cheap transport - or the gondolas - if you`re really sure you`re not a cheapskate! (This will test it out!) A trip down the Grande Canal from St. Mark`s Square to the Rialto Bridge is something not to be missed. Here is where to find the heart of the shopping district and the noisy market. In the fish market you may well discover sea creatures that you`ve never encountered before - and possibly will never want to encounter again! Whatever you do, make sure that you wander down some of smaller streets in Venice and experience some of the smaller canals and their tiny bridges. Walking these streets is truly walking a maze. Such streets give you a more accurate impression of what the city is really like, and you will not fail to be impressed/depressed about the state of disrepair to be found in some areas. With luck you might see some maintenance going on - from boats! Then consider the difficulty in doing any job when a building is standing in water, and remember the water is ever rising - actually the buildings are ever sinking (possibly both with global warming taken into consideration) - and you can see why some owners don`t always care too much!
Sunset across the Grande Canal is a memorable sight - especially as the sun sinks behind a gleaming dome. But the return trip across the water to the airport in the dark is just a little hair-raising! There are all these substantial looking poles sticking up out of the water known as Channel markers but they have no lights on them. One impression that everybody carries is that Venice is a very safe place. Even at night there are no louts, no intimidating gangs. All the Italians dressed in style, even the young set, and it is a privilege to walk amongst them in such a beautiful place. Infact anyone scruffy is a tourist. One thing to be careful about is straying too far and getting lost!
By the way, use the water busses for cheap transport - or the gondolas - if you`re really sure you`re not a cheapskate! (This will test it out!) A trip down the Grande Canal from St. Mark`s Square to the Rialto Bridge is something not to be missed. Here is where to find the heart of the shopping district and the noisy market. In the fish market you may well discover sea creatures that you`ve never encountered before - and possibly will never want to encounter again! Whatever you do, make sure that you wander down some of smaller streets in Venice and experience some of the smaller canals and their tiny bridges. Walking these streets is truly walking a maze. Such streets give you a more accurate impression of what the city is really like, and you will not fail to be impressed/depressed about the state of disrepair to be found in some areas. With luck you might see some maintenance going on - from boats! Then consider the difficulty in doing any job when a building is standing in water, and remember the water is ever rising - actually the buildings are ever sinking (possibly both with global warming taken into consideration) - and you can see why some owners don`t always care too much!
Sunset across the Grande Canal is a memorable sight - especially as the sun sinks behind a gleaming dome. But the return trip across the water to the airport in the dark is just a little hair-raising! There are all these substantial looking poles sticking up out of the water known as Channel markers but they have no lights on them. One impression that everybody carries is that Venice is a very safe place. Even at night there are no louts, no intimidating gangs. All the Italians dressed in style, even the young set, and it is a privilege to walk amongst them in such a beautiful place. Infact anyone scruffy is a tourist. One thing to be careful about is straying too far and getting lost!