Venezia

What can I say about Venice? A beautiful city. A great power in the late middle ages through the Renaissance and thereafter. Lots of canals. Arguably the 1st banking center.
There is some evidence that the founders of Venice may have been refugees from Rome or escaping onslaughts from other areas. That kinda makes sense. People trying to escape or hide often go to swamps or islands, and Venice is built on what were marshy islands in the middle of a lagoon.
For more than 1,000 years, Venice was a republic, up until Napoleon showed up at the end of the 17th century. The republic's focus was commerce, even to the point that they saw war as commerce by another route.
There is no way I can capture this city in a few photos. Let these whet your appetite to visit.
The 1st picture looks across St. Mark's Square, the large piazza in Venice that is the center of all things Venetian. That's the famous Basilica of St. Mark in the distance. To the right of the bell tower you can see a bit of the Doge's Palace. The 2nd picture is the balcony of the Doge's Palace overlooking the Square. The 3rd picture is the back of the Doge's Palace, or more accurately, that's the Bridge of Sighs (the higher one) where convicted prisoners were transfered from the court in the palace to the prisons in the buildings to the left.
The 5th picture is the famous Grand Canal, and, by way of contrast, the 6th picture is one of the narrow side canals. If you envision Venice's large canals as avenues, this is an alley.
The 7th picture catches a small local square, a small canal, gondolas and a bell tower. I don't not recall the name of the square. Likewise in the 8th picture. This is one of the larger churches built of typical brick, but I don't recall the name. The 9th picture is a church whose name I've forgotten, but I do recall that this is said to be the only completely marble church in Venice: that's inside and out.
"What news on the Rialto?" I confess that I didn't once hear that question in all of the time I spent on and about that famous bridge in the last picture.Read more