Venice: Impressions

Imitation is the best form of flattery and it's arguable that the greatest testimonies to Venice's awe-inspiring and unique beauty are the flattering sobriquets given to places like Malacca and Suzhou (just two among many described as 'the Venice of the East'), as well as northern counterparts St. Petersburg and Stockholm. Many writers from other parts of the world like Hemingway, James and Goethe lived in Venice and have written in glowing terms about her appeal.

A not-too-uncommon feedback I've received from friends who have visited the lagoon-city run along the lines that Venice is criminally expensive and grossly overrated. However, having studied the former medieval republic's past when I took university modules on the early Renaissance and the Crusades, I was eager to gain a firsthand experience of the place. Sadly, we were not afforded the luxury of time and visiting Italy as autumn was giving way to winter meant that daylight hours were relatively scarce, every minute more precious with each passing day.

The famous Grand Canal has sidekicks in about 150 other lesser ones which form the arteries of the city on the lagoon. In the past, horses were prohibited and people had to rely on boats to carry their wares and themselves from one point to another. Today, cars, like horses in the past, are not allowed and it was a pleasant change not hearing as frequently the familiar rumbling of motor engines for two whole days. In Venice, the canals are the streets and the Grand Canal, according to French writer Philip Commines, 'the finest street in the world, with the finest houses'. The object most frequently associated with Venice is the gondola, the ubiquitous boat, slender for ease of maneuver along the narrow canals. A gondola ride costs a hefty 80 euros, and we could not afford to answer the calls of gondoliers eager for passengers during the off-peak season. The best we could do was to take a vaporetto, Venice's public bus, down the Grand Canal. At a relatively steep 7.50 euros for a one-way ticket, we had to consciously savour every second as we travelled east from Canareggio to San Marco.

St Mark's Square, where one can find St Mark's Basilica and the Ducal Palace, is probably Venice's most famous area of interest and was swarming with tourists when we arrived in the morning. So much for visiting during an off-peak season! One shudders at the thought of being in the area when tourism reaches its height during the warm summer months.

St Mark's Square

Personally, the greatest attraction of Venice lies not in her famed piazza but in the fact that her many canals and narrow cobbled lanes, lined by old conjoined buildings, a significant number dating back to the early modern period, make Venice one of the most picturesque cities I've visited. There seems to be a photo opportunity at every turn and navigating the medieval labyrinth is like finding one's way in a Renaissance masterpiece.

I've always wanted to make Venice, as predictable as this may be, my honeymoon destination but I found myself visiting her quite prematurely. After all, the water level has been consistently rising about four to five inches every century and who knows how long it would take to find one's true love? It was simply a risk I couldn't take. Unfortunately, it was a crying shame to have to leave this alluring beauty so soon, without being able to be truly free from the suffocating inhibitions of time and be entranced by the Venetian spell.