Venice – Four Visits, Three Hotels

“To build a city where it is impossible to build a city is madness in itself, but to build there one of the most elegant and grandest of cities is the madness of genius.” – Alexander Herzen

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

Venice – A City of Reflections

The name is derived from the ancient tribe of Veneti that inhabited the region in Roman times. The city historically was the capital of a powerful and successful sea-born independent city-state. Venice has been known as the “La Dominante”, “Serenissima”, “Queen of the Adriatic”, “City of Water”, “City of Masks”, “City of Bridges”, “The Floating City” and “City of Canals”.  It stretches across one hundred and seventeen small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea and the salt water lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers.

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Venice, San Marco, Tourists, Reflections, Floods and Pigeons

“Though there are some disagreeable things in Venice there is nothing so disagreeable as the visitors.”
Henry James

From the Rialto we took as direct a path as we could determine in the direction of St Mark’s Square, a route which took us through more twisting alleyways and distracting shopping streets that were become incrementally more expensive as we got closer to the famous piazza and then suddenly we were out of the tangled web of alleys and joined thousands of others in admiration of the unmistakable square.

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Venice, Three Visits, Three Hotels

“To build a city where it is impossible to build a city is madness in itself, but to build there one of the most elegant and grandest of cities is the madness of genius.”                                                                                                                                 Alexander Herzen

I first visited Venice in April 2002 and stayed at the Albergo San Marco near Saint Marks Square. There was perfect spring weather and I was captivated by the sights and sounds of the city which seemed to belong more correctly to a theme park than a thriving industrial sea port city. We did the sights of course, the Cathedral, Doge’s Palace, Rialto Bridge and the labyrinth of canals lined with palaces and museums. Wrapped up in the atmosphere of the place we paid £30 for a drink and a sandwich in St Mark’s Square and £80 for a ride in a gondola.  

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