in words. It is partly what makes it fascinating and unique; nowhere else does a
city impress you the way Venice does, be it positively or not. The sinking city
does not leave anyone indifferent.
If you have never been to Venice, let me try to paint a picture of what Venice is
like. Firstly, make sure you have read the above paragraph. Be warned. Venice
cannot be captured in words; its magic evaporates like the alcohol from an
oriental perfume. I will give it a try for those who have never been there, and I
will try too for those who have been there and are looking for a confirmation of
the impossible; a description of Venice.
Imagine a city with no cars. This may sound strange, but it is one of the very
few cities left in the world that does not have traffic in the regular sense of the
word. There are no cars in Venice. No buses, no trucks. No mopeds and not
even bikes. Venice can only be conquered in two ways; on foot and by boat. It
is a city in a lagoon, consisting of a group of several small islands interlinked by
bridges large and small. Almost all bridges are medieval still; large stately
flights of light marble steps or small earthen-coloured steps of bricks.
This is the city were world-famous explorer Marco Polo was born. The islands
are small but Venice grew ever richer and more powerful; at one point she was
the mistress of the entire Eastern part of the Mediterranean even beyond
Istanbul. Riches from all parts of her empire poured into the city and the
number of inhabitants prospered and grew until there was no other direction
left but to build skywards. Enormous houses were erected alongside the
waterways that were used for transportation and pedestrians had to make do
with small winding streets alongside the cannels, under arched passages and
in between the Venetian Gothic and Renaissance high-rise buildings.
‘This is the city of mazes’ Jeanette Winterson wrote. If you are on foot there is
nothing more true. All the important homes had their principal entrance on the
water-front since all goods and many people were transported this way, with the
small alleys and stone paths reserved only for the poor, who could not afford to
travel by boat or gondola, or those who had to be able to escape fast and
remain unseen, such as the Venetian heart-throb Casanova.
This is part one in a series; part two will be published soon.
