A while ago, I decided that I wanted the kids to see Venice. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I have this sinking feeling that it might not be around forever. Or maybe I thought they would enjoy seeing an old city surrounded by twisting waterways that lead to buildings that can only be accessed by boat. Or maybe…selfishly…I wanted to go back and see it again.
Venice is a tough one for me. As I said in my last post about Verona, we try to keep off Europe’s most well-beaten paths as much as possible, and Venice has quite literally been beaten with a tourist sledgehammer over the years. I imagine all the tourists’ feet battering it down like a stampede, causing it to sink and disintegrate. But the blame should not fall on tourists alone – increased flooding in recent years is causing much of the decay as well.
The Support
Maybe you’ve seen the “Support”, a magnificent sculpture of hands holding up the façade of a building. This amazing piece of artwork was created to raise awareness to the realities of climate change, and serves as a poignant message that only man can fix what we have destroyed.
Looking past the crowds and crumble, Venice is beautifully unique and romantic, and quite possibly one of Italy’s most iconic places. Not to mention, it’s incredibly picturesque.
We made it there by late morning (because trains are notoriously late in Italy). It was sunny and cold and our plans were to stroll, take in the atmosphere, find some Italian food, gelato, cappuccinos, Aperol spritz, or whatever the day brought our way. Our friend Amber, who knows the city well, had a few special places to show us, too.
Aqua Alta
One of the places Amber took us to, was to a very special book shop called Alta Aqua, meaning high water. Due to constant flooding, they keep all the books piled high to the ceiling and stored in bathtubs boats and other waterproof basins. They also had lots of friendly resident cats. 
Eye candy in more ways than one
One thing we’ve been lucky enough to do since living in Europe for the past few years, is visit places in the off-season. It was far from a ghost town because there were school holidays in parts of Europe, but Venice in February was pleasantly less crowded than it would have been in warmer months. We walked through Piazza San Marco as the sun was setting and rode a water taxi back to the train station at dusk.
Our girls are crazy about the tacky gift shops all over Europe. (It’s not just our kids, right?) Although I will admit, Venice has some pretty great trinkets. From lace, to mascaraed masks to Venetian glass, there is dazzling eye candy around every corner.
As I suspected, the girls found all the canals and boats fascinating, and when Google maps failed us, and we got pathetically lost through the narrow alleys, I think the kids were having more fun than ever.
Off-the-beaten-path
We almost didn’t make it to Venice because we were afraid we wouldn’t be left with any time to see the adorable town of Longare, where our friends live. It was so charming, that it was tempting to swap our day of gondolas and canals for the tranquillity of exploring Longare and the surrounding area. We managed to fit in a morning walk and were able to see the beautiful view that our friends are lucky enough to enjoy each day.
Ciao Italia! Until next time!
