Venice
Posted by Martin Orr on Thursday, 03 August 2006 at 14:50
The most obvious thing about Venice is of course that it is built on a collection of islands. Every block or two you come to a bridge over a canal. All transport is on foot or by boat: the streets are just too narrow for wheeled vehicles (I saw one child on a bicycle). They are also impossible to navigate, twisting in unexpected directions. And to make it harder to find anywhere, the buildings are numbered from a single sequence in each district (my hostel was number 5170 Castello).
Most of it is also pretty run-down. Once you lift your eyes above the shops on the ground floor, most buildings are lacking in paint and the bricks are crumbling. Apparently the non-tourist population of the island city is falling rapidly. The exception is the churches and museums maintained for tourists. The Doge's Palace is grand and well-presented but I didn't like St Mark's Basilica: it was more like a tourist attraction that a church. I suppose I'm being a bit hypocritical going there as a tourist myself and complaining, and with the number of tourists who want to see it perhaps there's not much else can be done.
Now in: Ravenna
-- Martin