MAN MADE HEAVEN ON EARTH : VENICE

by PRATHAMESH DIXIT (India)

A leap into the unknown Italy

Those were days of VCR players & CD players in India when I saw this city for the first time on screen. “The Italian Job” was the movie which made me completely fall in for this place in my school days. It was beyond my imagination to think of human life in city filled with water, complemented with such amazing views all around. It just triggered not so achievable dream inside the Indian kid who wanted to visit this beautiful man made creation on earth once in his life ! Floating city, City of Canals, City of Bridges, City of Masks are only few names that this city continues to carry over generations. However since it came from my childhood dreams, its always heaven for me. While the complete Europe itself is a dream travel, Venice is one such place which should be on top in the list of must visit destinations in Europe. PRATHAMESH, WHAT ARE AMAZING THINGS ABOUT VENICE ? NO BIKES IN THE CITY I have not seen a single bike in city. This was so surprising to me. But it's just not possible to have a bike in Venice. In fact later I learnt that bikes are banned in central Venice. The city is a big maze of water canals & allies with over 400 bridges. Be prepared to walk & explore on feet ! VENICE HAS WATER BUSES & WATER TAXIS Unlike public transport system of buses, taxis on roads & underground trains in most cities across world, Venice has water buses and water taxis. That sounds cool right? Well, its not actual bus but a public transport boat called as Vaporetto. You have a swiping machine to punch your tickets before taking the ride & you have dedicated bus stop at every station. You can hope on these water buses & take a leisure ride across grand canal. If you are little rich & have an overflowing pockets, hire private water taxis & get down at the entrance of any building in Venice. That is freaking Royal, isn’t it ! LAUNDRIES OUTSIDE WINDOWS Indians are used to seeing laundries outside houses. However, I was certainly not expecting this in Venice. I got so excited to see it. Every window of the city was artistically painted with beautiful hanging cloths. Amazing view ! I have a picture for you at the end of the blog. Do check it out. MASKS EVERYWHERE Venice is city of masks. And the name did not come out just with touristy attractions but it has history associated to it. You can read more about them at : Carnival of Venice. Turns out to be century old tradition but banned later. However, these masks still attracts tourist in every souvenir shops. Its a strong identity of the city which will continue for years ahead along with Gondolas for sure. Carnival of Venice is amazing time to see the hustle of people with these masks in the city. I couldn’t resist to grab few of them for my house. VENICE IS REALLY SINKING It’s true that Venice does gets flooded sometimes in a year & often during high tides, water enters St. Mark’s Square near Piazza San Marco. Worth doing little research before planning the visit. It’s also true that this city is sinking slowly underwater. This has many reasons - some being natural & most of other being man made. It just broke my heart when I realised that one day, this beautiful man made creation will disappear forever & upcoming generation will be living with just photographs of this heaven. There is no doubt that Venice is absolute beauty & there are places like these which are perfect tourist destinations. However, every travel to such places reminds me of the fact that these places have survived through ages & these are not just part of our presence but history too. We want them to survive in future as well. The sense of understanding that Venice is going to sink soon, sulks me inside. I found different connection to this place all together at the end of the tour. I have realised more that world is amazing creation of nature & man in harmony. I just pray that these shaken arts survive for ages to come & the twilight survives for generations to inspire !