Venezia, the City of Water

Yes, Venice is an island. No, I don't think that I can recite for you the incredible history of this most incredible and unique place. Here's the Wikipedia link to save you one minute of your time: Venice. Don't make fun of me if I use references from Wikipedia to make myself and my blog look better. It's a golden resource, one of the best on the internet, and I hope people are beyond thinking that the content is a bunch of opinions and not facts. Give it a read. You'll find more valid history than probably most textbooks.

So, there is a big bridge in Venice connecting landlocked Venice and the island of Venice. This bridge is quite large, as there is room for railroad tracks carrying high speed Italian trains (very nice btw) and also a regular contingent of buses. I don't figure too many cars go there though, since you can't drive around Venice. I wouldn't even recommend a bike there!

You get out of the train station, and you see the Grand Canal, the big snake river canal that swerves through the heart of the island city. There are water buses in Venice. Crowded, expensive, however, if you don't really know where you're going they are quite necessary. They're also fun. We get in, we get off at one of the most recognizable landmarks in the city. Rialto Bridge.

This is the south side view from on top of Rialto Bridge. I have pictures of the bridge coming up later. We found a nice hostel a few blocks from the bridge (also the biggest bridge in Venice, crossing over the Grand Canal). The area was also very cool. Lots of markets, restaurants, cafes, shops, artists, and tourists.

Here is our hostel. Doesn't look like a hostel, huh? That's because a lot of hostels are actually people's homes converted into renters. I'd like to think that the style if typical Venetian (Venetian blinds maybe?), but I neglected to ask the owner where she was from. Easily one of the classiest bedrooms we stayed in during our trip.

Uh huh. The most famous spot in Venice is Piazza San Marcos. San Marcos, Saint Mark, and Piazza is Plaza is Square. Though Italian looks like Spanish, it sounds only a little like Spanish, and yes, we spoke English everywhere, sin problemas.

Amazing square. Full of pidgins. No kidding. I can't describe the amounts of pidgins who live in this square off the swarms of tourists who relish in feeding them cheap seed and coercing them into crawling all over places dirty birds should not be crawling. It's incredibly entertaining.

In the square, there is a great tall bell tower, a number of museums, walkways, restaurants, a famous palace, and a 13th century basilica. It's known as the Basilica di San Marco, though we couldn't take pictures inside, I can assure you that it was very beautiful, and there was a lot of gold. Check the pictures on Wikipedia if interested.

Here's the fabulous Palace of the Doge, the Doge being the ancient leader of the city, or duke. I really like the style of the windows, common throughout Venice.

We did not ride a gondola while we were there, though we saw hundreds of them. There are literally agencies, fleets, armadas of gondolas. I don't know how they all stay in business; what, with all the Water Taxis and Water Buses and scuttle boats floating through the maze of canals. I never heard any of the gondola men sing; and I never saw a gondola woman...

The EuroCup was going on while we were touring Europe. The EuroCup is the championship of European soccer, when national teams play national teams. Yes, perhaps you heard right, Spain won it all. But at this point, it was early round play, and I think that Italy was playing here. Big screens and medium screens and small screens alike were tuned in everywhere to the game. Sometimes they were placed outside so big groups of people could sit around and watch. Watching these people might have been even more entertaining than the game.

Some of the most wonderful parts about Venice are its mysterious side streets and canals. The buildings, churches, and bridges, though old, are really beautiful when placed together in the environment of Venice. This is a place with a distinct history and culture that sets it apart from everywhere else in the world. Easily the most unique place I've ever visited.

Once again, the Basilica of St. Mark and its splendid pillars.

Here's that view again from on top of the Rialto Bridge. There are so many different moods to Venice. It can be foggy and mystifying, rainy and wet (even flooded, often I've heard), sunny and spectacular, crowded and touristy, uninhabited and ultra romantic. It's a place for everyone, that's for sure.

Here's the Rialto Bridge at night. It's the biggest most important bridge in Venice. There are many shops on the bridge also, and people crowd there day and night to catch great views of the Grand Canal from its northern and southern sides.

Here Ab and I are standing on the Rialto Bridge, and we've found someone to take our picture.

The sign said 'no picnic', so whataya think we did?

A fun thing we found to do was enter these little wine shops that have fresh stuff in kegs. This is real Italian wine, real fresh, real good, real cheap. The idea is that you can bring in your own liter bottles and they will just pour the wine right in. If you don't have a bottle, they'll give ya one. How cool is that?

Again, the Rialto Bridge. St. Mark's Square is the real old center of the city, though there are other famous squares and areas that are just as influential. The city is large, and there are many different shopping districts, since shopping is absolutely a must-do with all the items and cool stuff they have.

On our way out, this is a shot from the top of the bridge leading to the train station.

Good-bye Venice, until we meet again.