To really love Venice you must allow yourself to get lost in Venice?

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This morning we went on a two hour walk with Katerina, our local guide, who was extremely knowledgeable of Venetian history. We saw laundry boats and all kinds of deliveries being made, making it easy to see why it’s expensive to live here. We paused under the window of an elderly woman who is not usually kind to tour groups which stop under her windows. She waters her plants on them or has been known to sprinkle breadcrumbs on them. Katerina explained that Venice’s population has been shrinking since the 1500’s when there were 200,000 people living here to 53,000 today. Two thirds are between the ages of 75 and 100. They are losing population at the rate of about 1000 per year. Many people are using homes as air b’n b’s or if they are for sale, purchasing them to rent to others. Employment for residents is hard to find. Most of the people in the tourist or hospitality industry are foreigners. Many of the tourists only come for the day. Venice gets 30 million tourists a year. Cruise ships, trains, a hydrofoil from Croatia, are all sources of day-trippers and the big boats are doing a huge amount of damage to the buildings. We walked through the narrow alleyways single/file, crossed bridge after bridge over canals, up one side and down the other. We saw a place where gondolas are made.
A mid-point was the Academia bridge across the Grand Canal which is the main entrance to the area of our hotel. Then another 30 min walk brings you to St.Mark’s square. It has not changed much in 50 years except for the public works to keep the flooding out of the buildings. There are stacks of planks which can be laid as walkways on critical paths throughout the city during flooding. They are place over metal frames about 2 1/2 ft off the ground. Bad floods occur several times year, minor ones more frequently. We had a brief tour of the Cathedral (formerly Basilica). Then checked out the clock tower and the Doge’s Palace. The Doges were elected by the Senate and only had relatively short terms. The Palace was the real seat of Government, especially justice, and the jails were there. Bridge of Sighs was last sight of beautiful Venice before going into the cells.
We had a boat ride up the Grand Canal to the Rialto bridge and then we just made our way on our own back to St.Mark’s square, picking up souvenirs along the way, stopping for a salad in a nIce sidewalk cafe.
We purchased a beautiful card for Igor who has been an outstanding tour director, attentive to every detail. Then we made our way back to the hotel pretty much without our maps getting little lost, but that was part of the plan. Cooled off at the hotel with an Aperol spritz—new favorite drink—with some of our new friends.
Dinner was the farewell held at a local taverna. I ordered the fish menu which included several delicious fish items, one of which was a scrumptious seafood risotto—
Walked back along the darkened and still canals, a little sad that tomorrow morning early we say “ arrivederci” and go by boat to the airport.

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