Discovering Venice

This is a picture of my grandad looking up at the Doge's Palace from St. Mark's Square in Venice, taken in 1992.

And this is a picture of me looking up at the Doge's Palace twenty years later!  Not a bad match eh?

We all know Venice, through pictures in travel magazines and on television, but it is still something of an awesome experience to come upon the city in person.  We flew into Marco Polo airport, the city appearing into view on our descent, a mesmerising and captivating collection of canals and campaniles which grew out of one of the least hospitable situations of any world city - a marshy lagoon.

An hour and a half later and we have found our hotel, located in the lovely Campo San Maurizio, half way between the city's two best-known sites, Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge.  Rested, showered and refreshed, we head out into the early evening streets to take our first glimpse of the city.  It is odd that the lack of traffic comes as something of a surprise, but to one used to dodging cars and buses, it is an almost unreal experience.  There are, quite literally, no cars on the island of Venice, no traffic lights, no roads.  The result is a soporific and quite splendid feeling of pleasure, a go-slow pace unheard of in any other world city.

Being tourists, we make our first stop the Piazza San Marco, famous the world over for its Doge's Palace, Saint Mark's Basilica, and campanile.  There's a definite air of class about the place, each structure exuding historical significance; indeed I find the sense of history particularly pungent in the evening air, where the tourist levels are more manageable, and you can hear the gentle lap of the lagoon up against the jetties.  You can also hear the orchestras of the opulent restaurants in the square - in particular the Caffe Florian - where should you wish to enjoy the privilege of an evening drink to their beautiful music, you can expect an extra six euros to be charged to your bill.  For those of us on a budget, the music can be enjoyed for free by watching the orchestra from the piazza.  Some suave individuals even take to dancing to the tunes, which range from Vivaldi to Mozart, Verdi to Puccini, each piece applauded by a crowd of appreciative onlookers and coffee drinkers.  It makes for a marvellous and atmospheric introduction to the city.

The next morning, and time to see what these packed-out water buses are all about.  To the locals, these are the vaporettos, the main means of getting anywhere in the Venetian lagoon.  It all makes for rather a confusing time, as each route map appears to differ from reality, each ticket booth is the wrong one.  It also becomes apparent that we may be the only people in all of Venice who actually bought tickets in any event, as we are neither checked on or off the boat, but the ticket price quickly becomes worth it, if only to see the lovely city skyline from the water. 

Our first destination is just across the water from San Marco, the glorious church of San Giorgio Maggiore, built in the Sixteenth century in the classical renaissance style.  The church is bright and airy, cool and peaceful, a good place to take refuge from the already punishing Sun.  Towards the back, the church's campanile is equipped with a lift, which for a small fee will take you to the top of the tower, where the views of the city are unsurpassed, stretching from the Italian mainland, to the Adriatic.  Everybody wants a view, and the little campanile quickly becomes overcrowded, as the lift delivers more and more people to the top.  As we descend, it is surprising to see how long the queue has got - after all, we had walked straight in only half an hour before - and we leave the church with the satisfaction that we have beaten the rush- a hard thing to do in Venice.

 

The day gets even hotter as we take the vaporetto back San Marco, and eventually find a shady spot beneath the trees of La Biennale di Venezia, a great park in which to eat a sandwich and escape from the crowds. As in most places in Italy, a gelateria is just around the corner, and so we feast on scoops of mint and chocolate ice cream whilst strolling to the Arsenale, a naval base that was once the military powerhouse of the Venetian republic.  Nowadays, the Arsenale flies the flag of the Italian republic, and although it remains a restricted military base, the twin-towered gates of the site are more beautiful than imposing.  There isn't much else to do at the Arsenale other than admire the fine brickwork, and so we wander the backstreets, finding along our way a glass workshop where the customer can watch the glass being made.  By now, the heat of the sun is too much for me (Lizzie, meanwhile, is coping much better), and so we retire to the hotel for a shower and a lie down.  For me, this is one of the untold joys of travel - a cool shower after a hot day's exploration completely reinvigorates my flagging energy levels.

 
The intensity of the sun vanishes in the late afternoon, as do the tour groups and queues, and we are able to walk straight into the Doge's Palace.  The Doge was the title of the leader of the Venetian republic, elected for life by the aristocracy of the city-state, in a system that continued for a thousand years, until the invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797.  His palace, however, remained intact, drawing the modern-day crowds despite its strict non-photo policy,  something I hate when I go to see interesting places.  They are serious about it though, and I fancy there are more guards employed to stop you snapping than the Doge ever had to defend the site.  The palace is certainly impressive, though, and full of classical paintings and sculptures, everything that Napoleon hated when he invaded the city-state.  Beyond the palatial quarters, however, lies the darker side of the Doges - across the infamous Bridge of Sighs is the palace's extensive prison, where numerous tiny cells hint at a life of cruelty and suffering.  The bridge provides the only way in or out of the complex, and is so called because of the sighs of the prisoners who were taken across it, many never to see the light of day again.  This whole part of the palace has a sickening atmosphere to it, and is not somewhere to linger for long.

Back outside, and enough of the evening remains to enjoy the illuminations of Piazza San Marco.  No gaudy neon here, the simplistic lighting around the square once again highlights the good taste of the city.  It's an easy twilight in which to fall in love a thousand times, as we stroll hand-in-hand across the square, fully adapted to Venetian pace, tired but elated, starry-eyed and excited, eager to taste more of the city after a quite scintillating first day.