Venice

So many things surprised us about Venice. To begin with, trains to Venice travel directly into the city. We thought we would have to take a ferry into the city. Also, not knowing what to expect from a city that doesn’t have cars, we contacted our hotel about transportation options since we weren’t sure we wanted to drag our luggage up and down countless bridges to reach the hotel. The kind employee I spoke to said he would take care of it for us and sent this water taxi to meet us at the station. It was such a wonderful treat to get off the train and not have to worry about navigatng our way through a new city.

It was cold but sunny and clear when we arrived (cue the ominous music) and then the cold front/snow and rain blew in overnight. This picture (below) was the last clear sunny day we had until the day we left. But honestly, in our opinion, Venice is absolutely magical no matter the weather.

Venice is an ancient city. Most accounts list the city as beginning in 421 A.D. – about 1,600 years ago! (Just a wee bit longer than the 250 years we’re celebrating here in the US this year) “Although no surviving historical records deal directly with the founding or building of Venice, tradition and the available evidence have led several historians to agree that the original population of Venice consisted of refugees – from nearby Roman cities, as well as from the undefended countryside – who were fleeing successive waves of Germanic and Hun invasions.” – Wikipedia

If you read that and thought, The Huns? As in Attila the Hun?, you’d be absolutely right! “In the 5th and 6th centuries, refugees from the mainland sought safety from Attila the Hun and other invaders in the marshy Venetian Lagoon.” – Wikipedia

We took a walking tour of the city our first day here. Our tour guide, Valentina, is a local who grew up in Venice. She pointed out so many things that we would have walked by and never noticed.

Here are some of the interesting (to us) things Valentina pointed out.

• Part of what makes Venice such a unique city is that it is built on a group of 126 islands, with portions of the city linked by 472 bridges.

• Water in the channels is saltwater, not fresh water.

• Venice is built on a dense, underwater forest of millions of wooden piles (logs) driven deep into the soft mud, clay, and sand of the Venetian Lagoon. These wooden poles are submerged in the oxygen-poor saltwater, which prevents rot and causes them to petrify, turning into a rock-like material that supports the city’s stone structures.

• Buildings throughout Venice are “tied together” with structural arches to keep them from leaning or swaying.

• Valentina told us that because the water in the channels is salt water, gutters and cisterns were built throughout the city to capture fresh water.

• She also said that historically, wine was added to the water to purify it. Purifying water with wine? Could this be true? We hadn’t heard of this before. It turns out it is true. According to my in-depth google research, “historical practices involved mixing wine with drinking water to improve safety and taste, a common custom in the region.” Also, “Ancient Greeks and Romans often mixed wine with water (sometimes in ratios as low as 3:1 or 4:1) to purify and improve the taste of the water.” Who knew?!

• All buildings have two entrances. One from the street/alleyway, and another from the water.

• Valentina took us down alleyways that we didn’t even see until we were at the entrance. Surprisingly, we discovered that Google Maps works really well throughout the city. It will give you directions to turn down “streets” that you would be afraid to walk down in most large cities but Valentina pointed out that the alleyways are labeled with street signs. We wouldn’t have even know to look for them.

• In Venice, boats generally travel on the right side of the waterways. And they follow traffic rules similar to driving a car on land. In fact, the canals even have traffic lights. And, there are strict, enforced speed limits for boats to prevent wake damage to building foundations. 

You may have heard that Venice is sinking and it has a flooding problem. We saw signs of this throughout the city, especially in the older section by St. Mark’s Square.

“In the last century, Venice has sunk by about nine inches. Meanwhile, the waters around Venice are rising, a phenomenon that’s especially apparent in winter.” – RickSteves.com

“In November 1966 a huge storm (the same one that famously flooded Florence) raised Venice’s water level to more than six feet above the norm.” – RickSteves.com

When we first walked into St Marks Square and saw the elevated platforms we thought that there must be a concert or something. Then we were told that they are actually platforms for people to stand on when the tide rises. Used while people wait in line to enter St. Mark’s Basilica and the Doge Palace, just like in the historical picture above.

• Gondola rides are more expensive than we expected. A gondola ride in Venice officially costs 
  €90 for 30 minutes during the day (before 7 PM) and €110 for 35 minutes in the evening (after 7 PM). Prices are per boat, not per person, and can accommodate up to 5 people. Prices are set by the city, but you should confirm the price and duration before boarding. Also, before boarding, check if your gondola driver takes credit cards. Ours only took cash.

• We found amazing museum-quality art in the most surprising places. San Pantalon, a small 17th century Roman Catholic church, is particularly well known for its immense ceiling painting, depicting The Martyrdom and Apotheosis of St Pantalon. It is the 2nd largest oil painting in the world.

• The Martyrdom and Apotheosis of St Pantalon was painted on 44 canvases that cover the ceiling (25×50 m/ 82×164 ft) by Gian Antonio Fumiani between 1680 and 1704, when he fell to his death from the scaffolding, although some sources date his death to six years after he stopped work on the San Pantalon ceiling.

Here are some other sights from our time in Venice.