Getting Our Feet Wet in Venice

Getting our feet wet in Venice

Sarah on the Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal

Venice, often said to be one of the prettiest cities in the world, is composed of more than 100 islands in a lagoon. Only one of the islands has cars, which come in by ferry. Boats provide transportation of people and goods through a network of more than 100 narrow canals. Although there are about 400 bridges spanning the canals, only four bridges span the Grand Canal.

To see a street and canal map of Venice showing where we spent most of our time, click here.

To see photos of Venice, click here.

There are fireboats, ambulance boats, garbage boats, police boats, taxi boats, etc. A gondola ride is the Venetian equivalent of a horse and carriage ride through Manhattan's Central Park.

Running about every ten minutes during the day and every half-hour at night, vaporettos are Venice's extensive and inexpensive (except for tourists) public transit system. [An annual unlimited-ride pass costs less than one euro per day for residents. The tourist rate is 6.50 euros for one hour of riding, 16 euros for 12 hours; multiple day and weekly rates are available at slightly better rates.]

A vaporetto on the Grand Canal passes under the famous Rialto Bridge

Some canals are too narrow for these delivery boats, but here on the Grand Canal they are triple parked.

The delivery of goods is labor intensive. The merchandise has to be off-loaded from the boat and loaded onto a hand-cart for delivery somewhere on an island. Not all of the canals are wide enough for the delivery boats, so one sees many hand-carts plying the streets. The increased cost of delivery makes Venice more expensive than most Italian cities.

The canals are not the only place where there is water in Venice. Many of the streets flooded daily starting in November. The wind-driven tides which flood the streets usually end in March, they told us. The water rises more than a meter with each high tide and being low-lying, and still sinking, the islands flood. According to the TV news, this year's flooding (Acqua Alta) is the worst in 20 years.

Popular Piazza San Marco is the lowest spot in town and floods first and worst.

Tourists keep their feet dry by using disposable boots

I told Sarah that I didn't want to portage our suitcases while visiting Venice and wanted a hotel near the train station. Sarah chose well and we were only one bridge away from the Santa Lucia Ferroviaria (train station), and that bridge has a handicap ramp for our several wheelies.

Sarah shares a "table" with some pigeons in Piazza San Marco

When we first got to Venice and saw the empty tables along the streets, we thought that we had missed the early-day vendors. It was when we couldn't get down our street due to flooding that we discovered that the "tables" were the temporary walkways.

Sarah uses a temporary walkway in Piazza San Marco
(same spot as the above photo)

The temporary walkways are only on major streets, vaporetto landings and Piazza San Marco [St. Mark's Square], the major tourist destination. There is flooding on some secondary streets, but no walkways. Venetians wear galoshes and/or know what streets stay dry(er).

One morning we got out late and found that the small plaza where our hotel was located was under water. We had to stay in our room for an extra hour until the waters subsided.

We didn't visit too many museums or churches in Venice because the city itself was the attraction. We enjoyed wandering the streets and narrow alleyways.

One evening we were lost in a warren of narrow streets for about two hours. Streets often end in walls, gates or canals. (Real men don't ask for directions, but my woman gave up and asked.)

Venice is a pedestrian paradise: A car-free city which is best explored by foot.

Piazza San Marco as seen from the bell tower of San Giorgio Maggiore

Church of San Giorgio Maggiore as seen across Baie San Marco











We did, of course, visit Piazza San Marco and went into Basilica San Marco and took the Doge's Palace "Secret Itineraries Tour." The guided tour goes through rooms not included in the general admission. We were taken to the judges' chambers, torture rooms, secret passages and cells for political prisoners. [Limited to 25 people at a time, our tour had only three people in addition to us.] [Great photos in the Doge's Palace link above, check it out.]


We rode vaporettos completely around the major islands, up and down the Grand Canal (by day and by night) and visited the islands of Murano (glass factories) and Burano (lace-making). We got our money's worth on our 36 hour transit pass. The rest of our week in Venice we walked; distances are small and you can only see the waterfront from the boats.




The island of Burano is known for its colorful homes and its hand-made lace.

The view the next post in this series, click here.