Venice...Call it the "Queen of Adriatic" or "floating city" or "city of canals", it has carved a niche among great cities for its sheer loveliness,Carnivale,Music and Masks.
there shall be a cry of nations o'er thy sunken halls,
a loud lament along the sweeping sea !
If I. a northern wanderer, weep for thee
Lord Byron's verse from "Ode on Venice," captures the sentiment felt by many who have walked the streets and seen the fabled canals of Venice.
We made the trip in 4 hrs instead of 2 as there was a minor train accident on the way and the Italian bureaucracy swallowed 2 Hrs in sorting out 
We left Mestre,mainland Venice,and entered the lagoon in the Adriatic sea, and via the causeway arrived at the historic city of Venice in the archipelago...15 minutes.
Venice is made up of a collection of 118 islands!
Carrying our luggage we walked to the bridge over the Grand Canal,crossed over and reached our hotel nearby. We took off quickly to explore some part of Venice in the remaining daylight.
Observe the pic from left to right....wooden stakes to moor Gondolas are seen in many locations.Gondola with a passenger.Public water bus that travels all along the grand canal at a good frequency.Next,many small private water taxis and you can see Vaporetti (water bus/taxi) stops on the far right and back.
 |
| In front of Scalzi bridge |
Idle walking...following the tourist trail with a map in hand from which you notice the incredible maze of large and small canals.main streets,lanes,Campi ( squares) and churches.
Every 100 meters one finds a church,,,there are more than 200 churches,150 canals and 400 pedestrian foot bridges spanning the canals.There are no roads and cars and there is no limit to drinking...ha..ha
The sides of the arterial roads are lined with traditional shops Bars,Restaurants,Pizzerias etc catering to tourists,while the middle,if the strada is broad enough,is taken by Bangladeshi and African expat vendors selling fruits,curios,bags,shoes et al on carts and makeshift stalls.
This picture taken from a canal over-bridge shows that the building walls are scarred heavily by action of water called Acqua Alta locally.This is what Byron was referring to.More on this follows.
Now,how is Venice built?
All the buildings and structures are standing on wooden platforms which have for foundation wooden stakes (piling)driven into the sandy ground of the lagoon.Why?The land area was not found strong enough.Also as the stakes are submerged under water they are not exposed to oxygen which will attract microorganisms to cause decay.Constant flow of salt water around and through the wood petrifies the wood over time,turning it into a hardened stone-like structure.
Acqua alta is a natural phenomenon that has occurred for centuries when high tides caused by the moon along with a strong warm wind blowing across the Mediterranean forces water from the Adriatic into the Venetian lagoon.This happens from about the middle of October to the beginning of December.
Those who love Venice are,of course,concerned with the damaging effects of this periodic flooding of buildings and monuments.Flooding is especially harmful;if water reaches the porous brick,it rises by capillary action to the higher levels causing erosion of the walls and marble
We continue our walk and reach campo Santi Apostoli,where there is a famous church and space to relax and have a coffee if you wish.
Here we turn right,cross another bridge and soon are in the proximity of Realto bridge..
For some reason the crowd has increased in density which we soon realise is because we are on the way leading to the famous San Marco Piazza where the Basilica is located.
It is estimated that 75,000 tourists visit Venice in a day!Area of Venice is just 415 Sq.Km (Area of Mumbai controlled by the Municipal Corp is 450 Sq.Km). Population of Venice in 2009 census was 60,000 a great decline over the years.Residents are leaving town and going to mainland,to escape escalating property prices and high maintenance costs.Also small businesses face stiff competition from large Corps.Expats create nuisance by taking tourist trade away from established shops with their cheap,spurious goods.There is a fear that V will become a theme park, read Disneyland,in about 15 years,without any local residents.
Rialto Bridge built 1591is probably
the most visited and most photographed bridge in Venice. For nearly three hundred years,it was the only way to cross the Grand Canal on foot.
It is getting dark at 07:15 PM and we are also hungry.Going back,and before we take the bridge, we see this lovely Gondola up close.
A tradition dating back many centuries,stories of gondolas,romanticism and song are legion.Gondolas are one of the strongest symbols of Venice.and their history is as beautiful as Venice.Being sole medium of transport they were guardians of the secrets of the ladies and Casanovas...in the good old days!
Venice awards only 425 gondolier licences and there are years of apprenticeship and a major exam to pass before a Gondolier is born.Once a way of life in Venice, only 350 gondolas ply today purely for the benefit of tourism.
We decide on eating the traditional meal of pasta and pizza and a glass of wine at a small place near the Scalzi bridge and go back
_______________________________________________
Day 2 Venice
Walking tour of Venice starts at 08:45.we have to walk first to the meeting point 30 min away.So we are up and ready early,07:30 breakfast and then off we go.Sky is overcast portending rain.
We walk briskly and noticed that the city was just getting ready for the tourist onslaught.Shops were opening,hawkers were arranging their wares,loaders were pushing carts and then we chanced upon this novelty...garbage clearance via the canal
Soon,we were at the "meeting point" for our "off the beaten path" walking tour of Venice.A very petite lady addressed our group of 10-12 and said that we should be prepared not to see the main attractions,but experience Venice as a Venetian would.We were all agog with excitement.
On this tour which lasted 21/2 Hrs,we were walked around churches,canals and old bridges,and places which were not invaded by tourists.She kept us engaged with history and culture of Venice..She answered our many questions and gave us a free map of Venice,which was very informative.What follows is a picture tour..
This lion,a symbol of Venice is everywhere,gazing down from buildings and monuments and on its own pedestal at large Piazzas.
Campo of the Abbey is a truly beautiful square which is relatively unfrequented by Venetian standards.The square maintains its original brick paving and has the Church of the Abbey flanked by the old school of mercy on the right
Two beautiful old style pedestrian bridges that we saw in the interior of Venice.Here again there were no tourists to distract us from enjoying the setting.
Statue of the Venetian merchant Sior Antonio Rioba graces the corner of Ponte dei Mori.The story is that he and his two brothers were cursed and turned to stone as a punishment for their greed. It is possible the statues are from the 13th century,but Rioba’s metal nose was fixed in the 1800s.This statue is a darling of the locals and it is considered good luck to touch its nose.
A couple of enchanting church facades fell our way.
Finally,the Jewish Ghetto...an area were Jews lived,money lenders and traders to the Venetian society at large between 16-18th century. Segregation and safety came from the heavy gates that were installed and manned and no access was allowed at nights.Because of lack of space 7 storey buildings were constructed and the top story was a Synagogue.Made famous by Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice,it is a pleasant and quiet neighborhood.At this point our tour was declared over.
We slowly inched our way towards San Marco square in the swelling crowd and drops of rain under an overcast sky.The Square was large and the Basilica was magnificent in an architectural flurry of many styles indicative of the wealth of Venice in the centuries gone by.
We lolled about the square,taking pictures of buildings around us and in the distance,across the water,,the church San Giorgio Maggiore...beautiful!
The afternoon's itinerary gave very little time to enjoy a regular lunch.It was coffee and pastry at a Cafe near San Marco and as we went looking for the meeting point we saw the "bridge of Sighs", a small bridge located between the Doge's Palace and the Prison. Prisoners when escorted from the Palace to their gallows would be given a last chance to look at their city through the window and SIGH!Excursion to the islands Murano,Burano and Torcello follows;
We set off at the lagoon for our excursion.As the boat sped...on the open deck the head winds cut into us and we wrapped ourselves and held on to our caps ..we passed the island of San Giorgio Maggiore and sailed along the beach resort of Lido till we reached Murano known the world over for its exquisite glass.We were taken to a workshop and saw the artisan turning out a glass horse in 15 minutes from raw stock.We browsed through the souvenir shop and saw amazing workmanship on glass
Burano is the next island on the tour and is only a short distance away.It is known for its traditional lace making and the colourful fishermen houses.
Founded in the 5th century,Torcello is even older than Venice and was a very important island in ancient times,having a population possibly around 20,000.Today it has only 17 residents.People visit Torcello to see the Byzantine mosaics in the 7th century cathedral.That was not a part of our itinerary. We had to make do with the church next to it.
An open air museum houses medieval artifacts,mostly from the island,and archaeological finds from the paleolithic to Roman period found in the area of Venice.Interesting!
 |
| Cathedral mosaic |
We returned from the trip,had a grand dinner with Vino and made it back to the hotel drenched in the heavy rain that suddenly poured.
Note:
Venice was the center of the musical universe during Carnivale, the congregation of masked people. Composers, musicians and mask makers would prepare all year for the orgy of productions that came to Venice during this time.Masks were permitted to be worn in public,European Princes and dignitaries arrived from everywhere to enjoy the wild festivities,and Venice was THE PLACE to be.Imagine Louis XIV getting up on stage to prance while the orchestra freaks out.Nobility mixed with commoners under the guise of the mask and all was fair and square during the Carnivale which went on from end Dec to the beginning of Lent.Opera was an Italian invention for combining Greek tragedies with music, theater and spectacle.It broke out of private royal courts and became a public event in early 1600's.
We now move on to Milan
________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment