Exploring the alleys of Venezia

21 - 24 August

Two urban buses took us across the Italian border to Trieste, from where we caught a train to Mestre, an industrial town on the Italian mainland adjacent to Venezia (Venice). Venezia itself is actually scattered over several islands in the Venezia lagoon, and unsurprisingly Mestre, a 20-minute bus ride away, was much cheaper to stay.

With the afternoon spare we took the opportunity to have a first explore around the famous canal city. All buses, trains and cars can only get as far as the edge of the first island - there's a long bridge out to the mainland - from where the only method of transport is walking or boats. We only walked, for several reasons - it's cheaper, and that the main attraction of Venezia (to me anyway) is getting lost in the alleyways, which come in two sizes - small or tiny.

And straight away, there were iconic canals everywhere...

Welcome to Venezia, huh?

Jagged canals & tiny alleyways like this literally cover the whole city

The central island is where the majority of the attractions (and tourists) are, and is split in two by the large Grand Canal. This is crossed by just three bridges along it's length, and each of these makes for a pedestrian bottleneck. However they're also good spots for iconic "I'm in Venezia" photos.

The Venezia Grand Canal

Venezia isn't really the sort of place where there's lots of things to do... More, it's about the sights, the neat little streets, the tiny canals, the pizza stands... (Forget about the over-priced tourist restaurants & their touts, or the slight stink of stagnant sea water in back canals...)

So for the three days we were there, Lindsay and I got lost, found where we were, got lost again, and explored the quieter back street as well as those on the main route between two main bridges or sights. It's quite incredible how you can turn down a side street and instantly be out of the crowds, and everything goes quiet - it's just you, the ancient apartments crowding on either side, the windowsill flowerpots, and the local's washing hanging on the lines criss-crossing over the street above you.

Iconic small flowerpots like this are found all over the city

And without backyards, this is how the washing is dried

Even if we were walking around, there are of course a lot of boats everywhere, from the larger public transport barges to the small taxis and gondolas. Those gondolas cost some 60-70 euros for a half hour trip, and there's a lot of heritage and tradition surrounding the gondoliers.

Boats moored up in the Grand Canal

Gondolier

Gondolas passing down a narrow canal

There are, of course, some major sights to see. Piazza San Marco (St Mark's Square) is home to the Basilica di San Marco (St Mark's Basilica), an impressive, super-ancient astronomical clock, and a huge tower - and the Step-Sitting Police. You're not allowed to sit down on any of the steps around the whole square, and "Heritage Monitors" make sure you don't either!

Piazza San Marco & the Campanile di San Marco tower

Astronomical Tower on Piazza San Marco

Intricate designs on the Basilica di San Marco (all tiled mosaics)

Building decorations on Piazza San Marco

Venezia also is built very close to sea level, such that at high tide, several drains in and around St Mark's Square in particular flood out into the street a little. The city actually has warning systems for extra high tides, which can flood whole alleys. In the photo with the Campanile above you can see a couple of high-tide puddles in the background on the left.

This was the sort of thing we saw in a couple of other places:

High tide on the canals

I did fall a bit in love with narrow alleyways:

An actual "street"

More neat canals

Having a look down a canal at the end of an alleyway - just before I almost slipped in...

And some more miscellaneous photos:

One of the typical bridges down a small side canal

Lindsay & I by the Grand Canal

Bridge of Sighs (apparently so named because it was where condemned prisoners would sigh as they saw their last view of the free world before being locked up)

View out across the Venezia lagoon

Arsenale

Lunch (pizza, of course) down a side canal

One last interesting point - Venezia is where the term "ghetto" first came into use. It is believed to refer to the Venetian word for "slag", since the island where Jews were confined to in 1514 was also used for slag storage from a foundry. The term has now developed to mean an area inhabited by a minority group, and of course ghettos throughout Europe were set up for Jews during World War II.

Venezia really is a maze of fascinating alleys and canals that are a real treat to walk around and explore. It's a must on the European tourist route for a good reason! But after three good days exploring there, it was off first thing the next morning for Florence.