Meira’s world

For almost 5 days, between Friday 25th and Wednesday 30th of May, I was in Venice. (One of those days was spent in Treviso meeting some long-lost cousins.) I have mixed feelings towards Venice. At the time I wasn’t blown away by the city. Maybe this was due to the masses of tourists, or because I was on my own (and missing Tal), could have been the weather, or the fact that a city so obviously full of money doesn’t bother to keep the place looking nice. Yes, the city wasn’t dirty per se, but the buildings generally looked shabby – a lot of faded peeling paint. I know there’s a certain charm to that, but overall it jars with the over-pricedness of the city. And it is a VERY touristy city – the gondolas, for example, are so commercialised. And there aren’t that many wide open piazzas with places to sit. Or that much greenery.

Now, though, looking at the photos I’ve taken, Venice looks really nice . Click here to check out my Venice photo album. The easiest way to view the pics is to click on “Slideshow”. Here are some of the highlights:

Above is my first view of Venice as I came out the train station on Friday afternoon. The weather was sunny, very hot and humid. It was the continuation of the heat wave I had been experiencing in Rome for a few days. I had a shower at 5:30pm, and after walking around Venice for 2 hours I had to have another shower! From Saturday the weather cooled down and then on Sunday it became more overcast and rainy. This continued until Tuesday when the sun made a reappearance.

Taken on the Ponte Rialto (Rialto Bridge).

Venetian machismo . There was a lot more machismo in southern Italy – Naples and Sicily.

Gondolas…

The Lion of St Mark on top of a column in Piazzetta San Marco. The winged lion is the symbol of Venice.

High tide in Venice.

Flooding of pavements bordering the Grand Canal.

I was taking photos of buildings when the guy on the right asked me to take a picture of him and his fellow worker.

Groovy grannies!

Finally I found some locals . Walking through Venice along the main thoroughfares and piazzas, you can be forgiven for thinking that no locals live here. Venice is chock-a-block full of tourists. And there doesn’t seem to be much place to sit down. But once you wander off the main paths, you find little spots where locals hang out, like below:

On my last day in Venice, I took the ferry from the train station to Piazza San Marco, a journey which lasted half an hour and cost R60 (6 euros). Even if you only take the ferry one stop, you pay the same amount. Everything is SOOOO expensive in Venice! For example, to use an internet cafe in Rome costs between 1-3 euros (R10-R30) per hour, while in Venice it costs 8 euros (R80)!!! Internet cafe usage is my yardstick for measuring prices across cities . Below is a view from the ferry travelling down the Grand Canal:

Ca’ Pesaro – one of the many palaces along the Grand Canal.

When I got to Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s Square), high tide seemed to be the order of the day. There are drains all over the square to allow rising water to bubble through:

I waited at least 45 minutes to go up to the top of the Campanile (bell tower) in St Mark’s Square. It was well worth the 6 euros (R60) fee, giving magnificent 360-degree views over Venice:

Piazza San Marco is in the foreground. The dark green bits are the flooded parts. By the time I got back down to the bottom, the Piazza was almost completely flooded:

That’s me having fun splish-splashing! If you wanted to cross the Piazza, you had no choice but to take off your socks and shoes and wade through ankle-high water. It was actually so cool! Especially when the sun came out. Since most of the Piazza was flooded, many cafes were effectively closed. This lead to some sun-bathing time for the waiters… Love the galoshes!!!

Shops along the Piazza are prepared for the flooding with special doors and seals:

Well, that should give you a taste of Venice. This has taken me quite a while to do. Rome, where I spent almost 2 weeks, is going to be one major project! So I figure I’ll work on the smaller places first… And with the weather in London forecasted to be rainy, rain, rainy (oh, don’t you just love the English summer!), I think I have my days cut out for me…