Venice
is the most pleasant of the Italian cities we have been to. A small
amount of research would have explained a lot – Italy is split in two; the rich
northern Italy, and the struggling southern Italy. The further north you go, the more pleasant it
is. But I appreciate seeing both. Life isn’t all candy after all.
The
historical centre of Venice has basically been built on a several platforms
that are sitting on big concrete pillars that have been sunk into the ocean and
mud beneath. Because the pillars are
sitting on mud, naturally, they are sinking.
So one day Venice will probably disappear just like the fabled city of
Atlantis, but not in our lifetime. You
can see buildings tilting as they sink at a faster rate than their neighbours.
Much
of the whole historic centre of the city exists purely for tourists with
nothing but souvenir shops selling masquerade masks, glass blown figurines and ‘I
love Venezia’ t-shirts as far as the eye can see. Venture just a little further out and the
streets/ally’s get wider and the feel is a little more authentic and relaxed. We went for a walk to the University and
stumbled upon an old church running an exhibition of Da Vinci’s machines. We went in (obviously) and loved it. The man was pure genius.
Putting
aside the millions of souvenir shops and the hundreds of Africans selling ‘real’
Louis Vuitton bags on the streets (on bed sheets so they can pick them up and
run at first word of the cops – there were heaps of these guys in Naples too) ,
the city is beautiful and the sights are wonderful.
Today
we visited St Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace which were both historically
fascinating. These buildings make a
point of saying ‘Hey world, I’m Venezia and I’m stinking rich’, which was the
point back when they were established (they covered everything in gold,
literally).
Gondola rides are about 80
euros (approx. $155 AUD), and as the narrow water ways are, at times, choked
with them, they don't appear to offer that famed slice of Venetian romance. Besides, I can’t think of anything worse than
sitting next to your lover for 40 minutes with some dude standing behind you,
peering over your shoulder, interrupting you all the time and making you feel
incredibly not alone. So we are happily
passing on that cookie-cutter, straight-out-of-the-box, one-size-fits-all ‘romantic’
experience.
On the advice of many friends and
family, we have invested lots of time in just walking around the city and
getting lost, which has been great. It has allowed us to see all the
various shops, both touristy and not so touristy, the rare grocery shop, and a
fair amount of residential areas (wiki tells me about 60,000 people live on the
sinking city). There have been a few times where we have genuinely been
lost, but when there are gelato vendors everywhere you can only adopt a certain
amount of concern at the situation.
Our hostel is pretty cool & in the centre of things. It's amazing to step outside our front door
and be 3 meters from the water’s edge, with a view of St Mark's Square.
Just so relaxing and wonderful. I had a peaceful breakfast this
morning at a little cafe on the water's edge just up from our hostel...what a
spectacular thing to wake up to in the morning, I just sat there feeling so
lucky. Also (mainly because I don't know how to ask for milk in Italian)
I had my first strong black coffee shot served out of what looks like a dolls
tea set cup, which seems to be what you get when you ask for a coffee around
here. People just shot them at the counter and continue on their way.
It was strong, but not entirely un-enjoyable. There isn't an ounce
of concern over leaving everything in Australia anymore, not one thought left.
This is brilliant.
