Cruising the Canals

  Venice, Italy
Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Venice is one of those rare places that actually lives up to your expectations, and we are both totally smitten with this beautiful, ancient, sinking city. We had been warned by other backpackers that Venice was crowded, smelly, touristy and overpriced, which it was (well, not smelly when we were there, but I imagine it is in the middle of summer), but despite that, it is just so gorgeous that it is hard not to enjoy yourself. From the pedestrian-friendly car-free streets, to the incredible architecture, the glittering shop windows filled with Carnevale masks and glass jewellery in all the colours of the rainbow, and the men in striped shirts deftly steering decorated gondolas along narrow canals, Venice is a traveller's dream.

Beautiful Bridge

On our first day, we took advantage of the nice weather to wander the streets for a while and inevitably get lost in the maze of narrow, unmarked streets which more often than not dead-end at one of the many canals criss-crossing this city in the middle of a lagoon. Gabrielle got distracted regularly by the beautiful displays of Venetian glass jewellry, so it was a slow expedition, but we found our way to the main bridge across the Grand Canal, and through a busy market selling everything from bouquets of chilli peppers to glass wine bottle stoppers and approximately two hundred flavours of gelato. Several flavours later, we found our way back to the train station and our hostel opposite a beautiful cathedral, and ate our dinner of sandwiches beside a bridge watching the sun set over the canal.

Sunset Over the Canal

The next morning we set out for the famous Piazza San Marco, home to the Basilica of the same name, which is said to house the remains of St Mark, one of the apostles and the patron saint of Venice. After getting lost several more times on the way there, we finally arrived to discover that the lines to actually get inside the basilica were MASSIVE, so we decided just to enjoy it from the outside. The basilica itself was gorgeous, elaborately decorated with spires, mosaics and carvings everywhere, and the square was lined with beautiful ancient buildings, any one of which would have been the pride of any other city. The square is also famous for its voracious flocks of pigeons which mob unsuspecting tourists who think it might be cute to feed them with the grain sold by local vendors at little stalls, with the resulting scene of panic, flapping, and occasionally screaming creating something similar to a scene from a Hitchcock movie. Funny stuff!

Basilica San Marco

We walked for a while along the waterfront through the crowds of vendors selling pashminas, jewellery, postcards, paintings, decorated Carnevale masks and raunchy aprons with famous sculpture genitalia on them, and admired the rows of gondolas lined up picturesquely against the steepled skyline, waiting for people wanting rides. Starting at around 75 Euros ($150 New Zealand) for a half hour ride, they were a little out of our backpacker price range! However, we had a tip from other backpackers that turned out to be very handy - after we found our way across to the beautiful cathedral opposite the Piazza, we managed to catch a gondola taxi back across the Grand Canal, complete with stripy-shirted gondolier, but minus the plush seats and accordion-playing, for 50 euro cents each, so we can now officially say that we have taken a gondola in Venice without spending our life savings in the process!

View Down the Canal

We spent the afternoon trying to avoid the sudden rain showers, wandering the streets and window-shopping at the brilliant displays of elaborately decorated Carnevale masks and costumes and the fiery glass pendants, then taking a stroll along the Grand Canal as a full moon rose over the city.

Carnevale Mask

We woke up on our last morning to torrential rain and a spectacular thunder and lightning storm. By the time we were packed and ready to head to the train station, the square in front of the cathedral opposite us was more than ankle-deep in water, and we decided we had better get moving before the whole place sank. After the city flooded 99 times last year, Venetians seem to be used to the prospect of mopping up on a regular basis (and have even developed stylish rubber gumboots, in true European fashion!), but we sloshed our way to the station in the bucketing rain and tried to keep as dry as possible before settling in for a somewhat soggy train trip.

Gondolas Ready to Go

All our best from Italy,

Dan and Gabrielle