Sep
21
Travel to Italy – Rome and Venice
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Where does one begin to start when discussing Italy. Well, if you intend to travel there, Rome and Venice are good places to start.
Rome
Perhaps you’ve heard of it? It goes without saying that Rome has a rather prominent past. Lets see, in Rome you will find…[deep breath]…the Vatican, Coliseum, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Church of Saint Agnese, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and a guy name Allassandro. Just making sure you’re paying attention. Indeed, Rome is filthy with historically significant attractions. It seems you can’t turn around without bumping into something an Emperor built, captured or destroyed. For those willing to risk potential wrath, there are also the new Divinci Code tours, which take you to the locations found in the book.
In all serious, Rome is a city you should visit at least once in your life. No article could ever do it justice, so I’ll just stop here.
Venice
I fondly refer to Venice as the floating city even though it is apparently sinking. If you’ve seen Venice is movies or televisions shows, the depictions are accurate. Piazza San Marco looks exactly the same, birds and all. The Grande Canal is, well, a grand canal with incredible houses lining it and boats putting up down this water way. Built on mudflats in a lagoon, the city doesn’t really have much room to grow. It just seems paralyzed in time.
Once you’ve conquered the tourist attractions, it will be time to get serious about Venice. The best way to do this is stand in front of your hotel or hostel, determine which direction the tourist attractions lie and start walking in the opposite direction. While you may feel like you’re driving the wrong way on a freeway for a few minutes, you’ll eventually start getting into real Venice.
An entirely different side of Venice will appear and you’ll love it. You’ll find little cafes with locals happy to talk to you [and non-tourist prices]. In fact, the Venetians will tend to hold you in high regard since you’re a tourist who is bypassing the tourist areas. This, of course, will logically lead to a whirl of introductions to this nephew, that son of a brother and so on. Next thing you know, you’ll be complaining about Italian politicians and how things used to be better in the past.
While Rome and Venice are excellent travel destinations, you can’t really go wrong in Italy. For the adventurous, set your itinerary with the old map on a wall and dart technique.
Sep
21
Venice - A City With A Sinking Feeling
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Travel to beautiful Venice this winter and chances are you may hear the screeching of the 16 city sirens that signal the return of the “acque alte”, or flood waters. Especially felt during the winter seasons between November and April these waters engulf several low-lying areas of the city including the magnificent St Mark’s Square, rise up over the canal borders and bubble up through the drains.
The city’s best defense for pedestrians thus far has been the erection of 1.
5 metre high elevated walkways which themselves offer little assistance in the event of a very serious flood.
Proper defensive action, it seems, is not far away. After a lengthy debate over the effectiveness of large mobile flood barriers at the lagoons entrance, plans to expedite them into place are at last under way. The first to benefit will be the main shipping entrance at the Malamocco lagoon mouth. It will have installed a semi-circular breakwater to knock back the high Adriatic seas from southerly winds and a ship’s lock to hold ships whilst the movable barriers are in place.
The other big issue is that the canal water is so filthy. Before the 1960s the natural flow of the Adriatic tidal current saw to it that the waste was flushed quickly out of these narrow canalways. However, after this time the canal was dredged as part of a large operation to allow tanker access resulted in a 14-m deep canal that effectively reversed the currents, trapping the waste of the city within the lagoons now very murky waters.
More problems abound as a result of the high level of salt in these waters which is constantly eroding the city from its foundations, and despite the public outcry of several prominent figures little is being done about this looming problem.
As a result of subsidience and rising sea levels worldwide Venice has sunk by 23cms since 1900. The most alarming aspect is that by 2100 sea levels are expected to rise by a whopping 60cms which would leave Venice almost completely submerged.
Unless more action is taken by the central government in Rome to combat all these problems, Venice could end up another lost Italian beauty of the likes of Pompeii.
Sep
21
Venice: The Floating City
Filed Under Europe, Thailand, Venice | Leave a Comment
For a millennium, Venice has provided inspiration for artists and writers. This coveted city is made up of 118 islands linked by 453 bridges. Each corner of town exhibits individual architectural magnificence, the city combining as one to form a spectacular theatrical stage set.
Beautiful churches adorn the banks of the Grand Canal as she snakes her way through the city. This main artery is at the centre of a myriad of canals running throughout the town.
The lifeblood of Venice is its tourism, a magnet for over 12 million visitors a year. Catering for this influx of visitors, the cities population of 70,000 people continue their daily lives, working the bars, cafes and restaurants.
Despite all this however, it seems that Venice is slowly sinking at the rate of approximately 2 inches every century. Terrible floods in 1966 caused much doom mongering and many people feared that Venice was about to be taken off the map.
The threat to remove funding for vital restoration projects gave serious cause for concern and prompted an urgent response to save the city. It was feared imminent flooding could completely destroy the city; preventative measures were high priority.
The efforts of the past two decades have had considerable success. Reduced pollution, shipping and the restoration of natural sandbanks have all contributed to the cause.
The first settlers of Venice were those fleeing the Barbarians around 400 AD. To create solid foundations for their buildings they drove timber into the mud and began creating a community for their people.
The city’s emblem, the winged lion, derived from Saint Mark the Evangelist. The first significant church of Venice was built in the ninth century to house the relics of Saint Mark, and his emblem was soon adopted.
Venice’s trade brought great wealth and prosperity to the city and for many centuries it continued to grow. The city thrived on its colonies and invested its riches wisely. Churches and palaces became commonplace, as were museums to house many newly acquired works of art.
For the past couple of centuries however, the obvious lack of development space meant the city found it difficult to advance further. Wars with Turkey were a drain on the resources and so Venice was content to consolidate.
Despite this, Venice does not rest on its laurels. Every visit offers something new, a fresh experience to take home. Each region of the city has an individual charm, giving the sense there is always something special around each corner.
