Venice

I’m typing this on my final evening here in Venice (Sunday). Venice is definitely a change of pace, something I definitely themed with this trip as I have gone along. I wanted something different along the way and I think I have succeeded.

Venice is beautiful with its canals, palaces, lagoon and St. Mark’s Square. I’ve spent most of three days here now. I’ve avoided the expensive transportation by water and struck out mainly by foot. The city is massive. It was once the largest and wealthiest in Europe. It’s like a giant maze...a maze with canals and buildings that make sign-reading and a map a necessity. It’s fun to get lost also and then try to guess where you’re actually at. St. Mark’s Square is the centerpiece. You’ve seen pictures of it before with its tall belltower made of tan-colored brick and the Doge’s Palace and basilica in the background.

Venice is also very pricy. I’ve found it to easily be the priciest on this trip. But a lot of the charms of Venice are free, so it’s also easy to keep your costs down. My hostel alone for three nights was $60/night...and that’s with a shared room of six.

Of course, this comes with a long history lesson. Venice is too important not to. It was the preeminent power in Europe for over 700 years (mid 800's - 1571). Venice was founded around 500 AD as the Roman Empire in the West crumbled to its end. Residents of the area fled to the coastal swamps and lagoon in NE Italy in hopes of staying safe from the invading hordes of “barbarians” from the North. Over the next three centuries, Venice grew in size and prosperity as the swamp was drained and built upon. It became a naval power because of its huge fleet of merchant ships. It was also geographically blessed as it fell right in the middle of the East-West trade routes and as Venice built ties with the Eastern Roman Empire (or Byzantium Empire in Constantinople...now Istanbul). Venice grew in religious prominence in the 9th Century when the remains of St. Mark (the Gospel writer in the Bible) were rescued from Egypt from the invading Muslims. His remains are still housed here today in St. Mark’s Basilica.

Venice was a key in financing and making the Crusades logistically possible (by providing the transport and ships to carry the Crusades to the Holy Land). Venice continued to prosper until the 1500's. But the discovery of the New World, new trade routes around Africa by sea and the collapse of its trade partner in the Byzantium Empire (by the Islamic Ottoman Turks) led to the slow demise of Venice as a world power. Two hundred years later, the final nail came when Napoleon conquered Venice in 1797.

I got to visit the basilica...real amazing since it has elements of the Orthodox religion of Byzantium blended in (something you usually only see in Turkey). The Doge’s Palace was impressive also. The doge was the ruler of the Venice. I’m planning to end my stay tonight with a cruise down the Grand Canal that cuts through the center of the city.