Hi fellow Steemers,
I was lucky enough to visit Venice at the end of March in 2011 for a week. A city, that is literally flooded by tourists during the day and turns into a ghost town at night, since most of the locals can’t afford to live in the city itself anymore. Still, I found that Venice was one of the most memorable travels of my life. A journey into a city that is slowly fading away but whose beauty, elegance and charm are something out of this world.
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The Grand Canal
Where to look first?
Who would have guessed it, I got to Venice by boat! After landing at Venice Airport, I took one of the many boats that drive from the dock of the airport, through the Venetian Lagoon and to the city itself. My Hotel was situated directly at the Grand Canal, which is the lifeline of the city. As you enter the Venice, you are automatically traveling back in time. Palazzos, some of them dating back to the 13th century, stand on both sides of the canal and are an impressive testimony of the wealth that some Venetian families accumulated.
While quiet at night, at day, the grand canal resembles a highway during rush hour. Dozens of water buses, taxis and gondolas are getting people from A to B and delivery boats keep the city alive.
The traffic of the canals in Venice, is resembled only by the many tourists that visit the city every day. Daily, more than 60,000 tourists walk through the streets of a city that has approximately 55,000 inhabitants. That is also the reason why I chose to stay longer. I didn’t want to sprint from one place to the other and staying in Venice for a couple of days, gave me enough time to discover some corners of the city that lie off the usual tourist paths.
Taking a well deserved break
Does Venice smell?
This is actually a question I got asked a couple of times. Because Venice is build on water, some people seem to believe that especially during the summer months Venice smells bad. Although I was there during March, I can tell you, Venice smells just fine! I asked a local where this rumour came from and he told me that it had to do with the ancient sewage system, which basically consisted of dumping everything into the canals. This problem was fixed years ago and now you can walk the streets of Venice taking a deep breath whenever you like ;-)
I hope you enjoyed this first part of my travel blog about Venice. In the next posts I will share further impressions I got while walking through the city!