Ah, Venice! That mysterious city that defies logic as much as it testifies to human ingenuity. The term “six feet under” comes to mind, both because the city is actually built on petrified wooden stilts sunk into the ground underwater, and also because you might find yourself having to invest in thigh high rain boots to “wade” through the city during high tide in certain seasons.
You are probably asking yourself, in our modern day world of convenience, why the heck do so many people end up spending time in Venice? The answer, I think, is exactly because it is so very different.
Imagine your family car as a boat that you just “park” in your basement which is filled with water. Or as your loved one gets ready to zip off to work each morning, imagine yelling, “Row safely!” I wonder what they write on their invites – “free docking, but not for you iPhone”? Or imagine having to take a ten minute walk to the nearest bridge just to get to your next door neighbor whose kitchen window faces yours. I mean, how can you picture it without having to see it for yourself at least once in your life?!
The elegant colonnaded Piazza San Marco and the beautiful lace-like marble facing of the Doge’s Palace. The elegant arches of the Rialto bridge, and the fresh smells and tastes of its adjacent open-air produce market. The striking diagonals and dramatic lighting of the Venetian old-school master painters, such as Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and others, waiting for you to discover them at the Accademia. The many architectural jewels and the works of art the city boasts, such as the Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Friari, Santa Maria della Salute, and the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Or the modern hub of artistic creativity at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and, if your timing is right, the latest international artists at the fun-filled Biennale. And, perhaps most famously, the Marzocco, winged symbol of Saint Mark, patron saint of Venice, and the stunning mosaic interior of St. Marks Basilica, whose ripples of worn floor tiles will remind you of the centuries of feet and waters that have traced their paths here, and whose shimmering ceiling mosaics almost outshine the reflecting ripples of water that embrace the city.
Venice is one of those cities that will get you out of your comfort zone, an exhilaration that is the secret of its romantic appeal. The idea that you must “get lost” at least once. That those “wrong turns” that you will inevitably take because you mix up the streets and the canals YET again is the perfect excuse for discovering the city’s little secrets: a beautiful quiet palazzo bedecked with hanging flowers, a pair of masked street performers in startling costume, a hidden restaurant.
Which reminds me: the food! There is nowhere I enjoy more ordering seafood than in Venice. My favorite meal that I ever had in a restaurant in Italy was in Venice, on my first trip to Italy, and I will forever kick myself for not having jotted down the name of the place or the back canal it stood on. What did I know – I was too awestruck assimilating the wonders of this new culture that I couldn’t fathom the idea that I might be able to return again. But one of these days I will recreate it for you… a mound of black squid ink linguini cascading out of the bright red crabshell from which the sauce had been made, a dish that could only be described as an opera d’arte! Linguini tinged in Nero di Seppie is only one of the many Venetian culinary specialties that you can savor on your trip, as you check out some of the gluten-free places by selecting our Gluten-free Venice Page.
And those gondola rides that everyone goes crazy for… the sound of lapping water and violin music echoing as you pass between the beautiful houses and marvel at the little footbridges that dot the narrow canals. The city that forces you to take some down time and, at times, even roll – or row – with the punches.
No wonder it all feels like a dream, so much so that if there weren’t other people to say “Oh Venice, yes, I’ve been there too!” you might doubt you’d actually been to the “floating” city built for those whose hearts belong to the sea.