Venice

It’s hard to think of a place more iconic than Venice. From entertainment alone, even if you have never heard of Venice, you know what it looks like. This has turned it into one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. So I had to see for myself what all the hype was about. It seemed impossible that a place with so much attention surrounding it could live up to the expectation set by films and television. With such high expectations, I was almost certain that there would be some sort of disappointment. Fortunately, I was proved extremely wrong. I’ve never seen a place that felt almost unreal to me. I’ve been to places that seem foreign and different, but this wasn’t foreign… It felt like you were in a painting. The hype was clear as day and my words may not be able to do it justice. 

Bell Tower (St Mark’s Campanile)

One way to get a true scope of Venice is to ride the elevator to the top of St Mark’s Campanile. The view from the top allows you to truly visualize the intricacy of the waterways that act as roads around the city. It looks as if there is no specific pattern that the canals follow but the locals just simply know how to navigate. In the middle, there’s a giant “S” shaped by the main canal that runs through the city. On the other side, you can see how the canals branch out into the Adriatic Sea. When looking at this place from an aerial view, it’s truly impressive how the Venetians have turned these waterways into a transportation system. 

Sit in a square

One thing that truly resonated with me during my trip to Venice, was sitting in any square for a few hours. Venice walkways eventually branch out into a large open square that has restaurants and seating around the outside. It almost acts as a designated people watching area. If you’re lucky somebody will come around with a guitar and provide some free music to the entire square as well. This may be one of the best ways to get a true experience of what it’s like to live in Venice. Although you may see mostly tourists, you will catch a few locals going about their normal days in the city as well. In America, some restaurants will pressure you to leave as they begin to set up for the next table to arrive, but here I ended up spending over 3 hours sitting and enjoying the scenery. There are plenty of guide books and TV shows that will tell you all you need to know about Venice, but my advice is to sit back and immerse yourself in the environment as much as possible. 

Tourism Impact

It’s hard to talk about Venice and not talk about the way tourism has impacted the city. For a city with only about 250,000 permanent residents, the size seems like it has trouble supporting the massive influx of tourists. I went in February which is the off season for tourism and it still was clear that people taking pictures was an everyday inconvenience to locals. It was also rare that we ran into locals at all unless they were working in the service industry. I can only compare this experience as an adult Disney World of sorts. Millions of people want to come and see but few actually stay for any longer than a week. As a tourist myself, I realize it’s a little contradictory to point out the problem with tourists in this town but it was more apparent than anywhere I’d ever been. Over tourism is a unique issue in probably only a few places around the world and it forced me to think of the impact that my passion for travel has on the places I visit. In this place that looks like you pulled it straight out of a painting, how can you ask people not to visit?