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When I went to Venice - my dream became my address - Marcel
Proust, 1906
Venice, La Serenissima, the
Serene Republic, is one of the world's most romantic cities. It embraces lovers,
young and old, in its timeless, narrow streets and on its calm
waterways. It is serenely quiet in the first light of day. It is
enticing and breathtakingly beautiful as dusk settles. It can be
radiantly bright or shrouded in mysterious mists. A one-time world
power controlling the trade of the Mediterranean, and even the world,
Venice is, like Florence,
a repository of an almost untold amount of important architecture, art
and history.
 The
entire ancient city is accessible on foot--with an occasional trip in a vaporetto
(Venetian water bus) or a water taxi. No cars, trucks or
motorcycles are allowed in the city. Early morning walks along the Grand
Canal reveal, bakers and grocers delivering trays of freshly baked
loaves and boxes of fruits and vegetables to the hotels and restaurants
from their boats in an almost unreal quiet. Missing, yet not
missed, are the clouds of auto-exhaust and omnipresent buzz of motor scooters
found in other European cities. The network of canals and narrow streets
branching off the Grand Canal provide easy access to the many
neighborhoods and treasures of this fascinating city.
Tips
for getting to Venice.
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