Venice for the first time

Venice is a magical place. There’s something about this aquatic city that instantly captivates every first-time visitor. It's like walking into a fairy tale. Elegant Byzantine marble facades greet you at every turn. Picturesque cobblestone pavements and gracefully arched bridges tempt you down shaded lanes and along water-side paths. As for its iconic canals, they churn with vessels of all descriptions in constant motion. Venice is simultaneously static, timeless and alive.

I visited this former mercantile city-state for the first time while backpacking through Europe in 1990. At the time, I was travelling with Dean Keiller, a Victorian sheep farmer, on a Eurail Youth pass. We arrived in Venice in the late afternoon on 7 September after travelling from Munich via the Brenner Pass.

For five days, we stayed at a campground in Fusina, a coastal town on the edge of the Venetian Lagoon. It was by far the cheapest option, with a nearby ferry wharf providing quick and easy access to Venice. Every morning, we took the ferry to Zattere, where we disembarked onto Rio Terà Foscarini, a street leading directly to Ponte dell'Accademia, one of three bridges crossing the Grand Canal.

The image opening this post was our first sighting of a canal in Venice. We literally walked around a corner from Calle Larga Nani, a side street off Rio Terà Foscarini, and stumbled upon this truly iconic view of the Cannaregio Canal. This is exactly what Venice is like. Around every corner lies something unexpected that either inspires or delights. The photo above shows the Grand Canal at sunset. Just another of the numerous Instagram moments we experienced.

According to the guidebooks, Venice comprises 116 islands, 177 canals, and 423 bridges. Dean and I filled our time exploring as many as we could, walking from one end of the city to the other. Along the way, we took in all manner of traditional tourist highlights, including the elegant white marble arch of the Rialto Bridge and the majestic Piazza San Marco, also known as St Mark's Square. Like all good tourists, we visited St. Mark's Basilica, the city’s famous 12th-century cathedral, admired its pilfered bronze Byzantine horses and ventured up its landmark red brick bell tower.

Getting into the bell tower required some planning. Our first attempt was thwarted by a queue stretching out the door and through the plaza. We decided to beat the crowd and returned first thing the following morning to purchase a midday tour ticket. As you can see above, the view was well worth the effort. The red-tiled roofs were breathtaking, as was the unobstructed view of Basilica Santa Maria della Salute with its stunning white marble dome.

We both loved Basilica Santa Maria della Salute. It’s a baroque-style church with a unique octagonal design decorated with 12 works by Titian. You’re also treated to a spectacular view of the Grand Canal, St Mark's Square and the island of San Giorgio Maggiore from Fondamenta Salute, a promenade that marks the start of the Grand Canal.

As penny-pinching backpackers, we decided against taking one of the gondola rides relentlessly touted to passing tourists. Instead, we spent our days catching the city’s vaporetti, or public ferry boats, which traverse its canals like buses on a city street. A Vaporetto literally took you anywhere you wanted to go. As a result, we visited Arsenale di Venezia, the city’s Byzantine shipyard; Murano, the island of glass-blowing artisans; and Lido, the barrier island that protects the lagoon.

Venice was a surprisingly expensive location. We discovered this very early on after retracing our steps one afternoon to grab lunch at a quaint restaurant we’d spotted earlier in the day. It was a tiny, hole-in-the-wall venue with concertina doors opening onto a cantilevered canal-side balcony. However, waterside dining does not come cheap. We took one look at the menu posted outside and decided a local pizzeria would do just fine.

The experience of retracing our steps was eye-opening. Dean and I had spotted this restaurant mid-morning while wandering its lanes and canal-side paths. An hour or so later, we decided it would be the perfect lunch venue. I then retraced our steps, lane by lane, from memory until we reached the spot where we’d originally seen the restaurant.

Dean was flabbergasted that I could recall every twist and turn of our walking route. Until that moment, I’d never appreciated that this was a unique skill. I naturally assumed anyone could do what I had just done. Sadly, my short-term memory is no longer as sharp, and so this navigational talent now eludes me. What is it that they say about youth being wasted on the young?

As a once-powerful city-state, Venice is filled with all manner of ornate and imposing churches. Dean and I visited plenty of them, marvelling at their decadence and ostentatious excess. However, every so often, a venue would surprise us. San Giorgio Maggiore Church was one of them. Its grand white marble façade hints at decorative overkill inside. 

However, the interior, while grand and imposing, is relatively minimalist in nature. I loved it. The photos above were taken when Garry and I visited the church with Garry’s parents in April 2007. Every other image posted here comes from my Kodak-era photo album.

After five days of pounding the pavement in Venice, Dean and I packed up our pup tent and headed west. We caught a local train to Florence on 12 September, ready to kick off our next backpacking adventure, which included an impromptu gig as a fake Contiki Tour inspector. I'll reveal all in a future post.