Venedig, Venezia, Venice

After a two hour flight delay on friday due to the Blizzard that hit Germany, I finally arrived in Venice. I have to say, Venice is every bit as incredible as people say it is. It is absolutely unique in so many ways. The first thing that struck me was the lack of cars and the usual traffic noise normally associated with a big city. The only transportation is boats, and, for the most part, except for the Grand Canal area, they aren’t motorized. It’s probably the closest thing to what it was like in a medieval city. You walk along some winding alley and one moment your in a big square with lots of people and suddenly you turn a corner and you’re all alone and it’s eerily quiet. Often you can hear footsteps echoing down an alleyway but you don’t see anyone. Sometimes all you hear is the flapping of birds. But then you turn another corner and you find yourself back on a main street full of people. And Venice is a maze. On my first day I decided to set out on foot... “I have a map; how hard can it be” I thought. Well it didn’t take me long to get completely lost somewhere between the Santa Groce district and the San Polo district. the area is full of narrow alleyways that sometimes go nowhere and you’re constantly running into canals where you have to climb a small bridge. Here’s a few pictures from there.



After wandering about for quite some time I managed to get to the famous Ponte di Rialto at the heart of the city. Here’s a few pictures from there.



And from on top of it:


From there I explored the San Marco district and headed towards the famous Piazza San Marco. Fortunately there were signs leading the way down the twisting alleyways. It is absolutely amazing... and absolutely full of pigeons. Here’s a few pictures.


And here is the Basilica di San Marco:



Here’s the Campanile (f.y.i. the original actually collapsed in 1902 and had to be rebuilt):


And here is the Piazzetta San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale. Off in the distance you can see the Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore on a nearby island.


Here’s a few more as it started getting dark:




After walking practically the whole day, I was ready to hop on a water bus back to my hotel near the train station in the western edge of the Cannaregio district (northwest Venice). Needless to say, I woke up this morning a bit sore. I decided to take a water bus back to the Piazza San Marco and head further east into the city. Here’s a picture from the water bus:

Unfortunately the weather was not as good today. It was windy and there was a light rain almost the whole day but I pressed on. Here’s the Santa Maria della Salute and a few other pictures from the southern coastline near the Piazzetta San Marco:



From there I wandered off into the Castello district (eastern) of Venice and managed to do a better job of following my map. Here’s a few pictures along the way:




As it started getting dark, the wind really picked up and it continued to rain. I was really starting to get cold and wet so I headed back to the San Marco area and caught a water bus back to my hotel. Tomorrow I plan on tackling the Cannaregio district (northern) of Venice and I will definitely post some more pictures.