Venice: First impressions

Back when I was a kid in school and our lessons revolved around subjects like the French Revolution, or World Wars I and II or an apple falling on Isaac Newton’s head or Napoleon conquering, well, everything, or Coco Chanel inventing the concept of the little black dress, or Christopher Columbus appealing to the aid of King Fernando and Queen Isabel to go off and discover America… no matter what the lesson was, no matter what century we were talking about… I always pictured Europe in the same exact way: dark little crooked alleys; old, crumbling houses made of heavy dark wood and gray big stones or sometimes plaster; magnificent palaces with high pointy stained-glass-windows and beautiful balconies, little curved bridges crossing over sparkling canals of water, clotheslines being strung from one window across the street to another with clean clothes put out to dry in the sun, taverns and inns instead of restaurants and hotels, no vehicles other than the occasional carriage or boat…

I am ashamed to say that this image was still kind of what I was expecting when I arrived in Paris in February of the year 2002 (hey, don’t judge me, I’ve had people actually ask me if the burro is still a means of transportation in Mexico!). Following my first few hours in Paris spent on the rue moufftard which somewhat briefly confirmed this image, I was almost immediately hit with the reality that the “Old Continent” is actually just as new and modern as the “New Continent” in more ways that I was actually ready for.

Yes people, I pouted for a while there after this realization.

Ever since, every time I travel in Europe I always ask myself if this time I am finally going to arrive in a city that will hold up to my romanticized version of what Europe should really look like. Most of the times I will get a glimpse of that image, especially when walking in the “vielle ville" (old part of town) which most cities on this continent seem to have. But even then, it’s hard to grasp at it when you know that the “old part of town” was probably renovated not long ago when tourism really started bringing in the bucks.

And then I got to Venice.

I don’t think I can explain Venice in the right words to do it complete justice. Don’t get me wrong, I am not speechless because of its beauty or a new found love for the place that makes me want to up and move there tomorrow… it’s not really about falling in love with the place. It’s just that Venice is… that Europe I always dreamed of setting foot on.

First of all, it is an Island… (duh!)… but not just any island…. An island that man built 800 years ago! So it’s an ancient island that hasn’t been altered in geographical size in over 9 centuries… it has been altered in other ways though… more specifically, downwards.

It’s a sinking, ancient island. And when I say sinking, I really mean water-in-your-doorstep, arcade-columns-slanting, ground-wobbling, kind of sinking. Though the effect is really awesome, I can’t really tell you if I’d like having to condemn my entire first floor because water keeps creeping in each time the tide is high.

But then again, I don’t think they had much of a choice in the medieval times… and see that’s how Venice feels: Medieval.

At night, the lights from the street lamps are so dim you actually are tricked into thinking you're walking under the glow of actual candle lights.

Obviously, no cars are allowed in the city and even if someone actually had the dumb idea to try and get one on the island it wouldn’t be able to move an inch: the streets are so narrow, most of the times barely two people standing one next to the other fit!

Then there is the fact that it’s a freaking labyrinth. Let that pinkie loose it’s place on the map and you’ll suddenly find yourself lost in a mind-blowing maze surrounded by hundreds of twisting, dead-end and not so dead-end (as in you have to go all the way to the end of the street to actually make sure it’s a dead end) streets, back alleys that turn into main alleys that turn into dead end alleys that lead you right into the Grand Canal, making you have to turn around and retrace your steps all over again… streets that go up over bridges, down under arcades, around canal shores. Little plazzas and campos and campiellos that all resemble each other and yet are all different in a way, shape, form or place.

Literally… hundreds of chiesas (churches) sprinkled all over town, making you actually feel the dark ages when the Church was master in command…

And yet, it wasn't..... Venice gained a reputation for being somewhat of a "rebel" catholic city. It seems all those venetian merchants were Capitalists first, and Catholics later. ;)

So what do you get when you combine all of the above? You get an awesome city, semi-submerged in water, semi-submerged in majestic falling-apart palaces adorned with countless Madonna and Bambini's, each more sublime than the previous.



So what are my first impressions on Venice?

Venice restored my fantasy of Europe.

Fned.
P.S. All pics in this post were taken by a very talented photographer who also goes by the name of Hubby. You can check out the rest of his pics from our trip at Got Light - Trip Venice