A quaint city built on water interspersed with canals.

 

My pre-impression of Venice was derived from the novel version of Merchant of Venice - a compulsory read for Literature in secondary school.

 

More than a decade later, I set foot on the city, witnessing its raw beauty and serenity unadulterated by modernisation.

 

Upon docking, we walked along the promenade (Riva Degli Schiavoni) towards St Mark's Square, indulged in the many painting-worthy sights.

 

The stone path is flanked by the waterfront and a stretch of hotels and shophouses dabbed with a warm palette.

 

 

The island of San Giorgio Maggiore formed the backdrop across the waters, where a bell tower with its copper green roof peers over the gleaming white church.

 

 

Platforms which can be used to construct elevated paths during floods (Acqua Alta) were neatly stacked at regular stretches.

 

 

Along the way, we crossed three bridges that reach over narrow canals. These canals punctuate the continuous stretch of houses, offering a peak into the inner landscape of the town. Gondolas glide gracefully along the waters under the skilled rowing of the boatmen.

 

 

We passed the La Pietà, the church in which Vivaldi composed and performed in, and another bronze monument of Vittorio Emmanuele II (the first one we saw was at Piazza Di Duomo in Milan).

 

 

On the bridge leading to Doge's Palace, we saw the Bridge of Sighs. The shrouded bridge connected the old prison and interrogation rooms in the Palace to the new prison across the channel. One version of how the name came about was that the bridge offered criminals a final glimpse of the outside world before being locked away.

 

 

The Doge’s Palace housed the Venetian government from the 12th to 16th century, which explains the presence of prisons. It has a unique three-layered design characterised by repeating patterns of the loggias at the bottom and middle levels, and herringbone arrangements of bricks at the top.

 

 

We turned into Piazzetta San Marco where St. Mark’s Basilica and the soaring Campanile bell tower came into view.

 

 

We walked further down to the Piazza San Marco, a vast square paved with regular patterns surrounded with buildings characterised by repeating units. The patterns on the ground also serve as markings for the setting up of stalls.

 

 

There was a certain aesthetic appeal associated with the perfect symmetry and the 'orderedness' of the place. Boy, the architect(s) must have OCD.

 

We had lunch at a restaurant recommended by our guide. He raved about their seafood spaghetti which turned out to be average.

 

Following lunch, we visited a glass factory where we watched a demonstration of glass blowing. Starting with a luminous blob of glass collected on a long hollow pipe, the glassblower puffed it into a bubble (called parison) and with a few tugs and twirls shaped it into a elegant wine decanter.

 

 

After the visit, we walked around aimlessly and strolled back to the ferry point in the late afternoon. The dusk cast a different allure to the city, watching the structures and carvings against the rose tinted skies.

 

 

We stopped by the street stores as they were closing to buy the exquisite mask souvenirs only to find much cheaper versions being hawked at the night market near the ferry terminal across from Venice.

 

 

Travel Tips

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[Mask Souvenirs] Prices of the mask souvenirs are inflated on the island. They are sold much cheaper at the bazaars outside the ferry terminal.