Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 6.1. Venice
Water defines Venice like no other city; it is its lifeblood. Robert Benchley, American
humorist on a newspaper assignment to Venice, famously cabled his editors, “City under
water. Please advise.” Every part of Venice can be reached via its narrow streets, lanes,
and bridges, but not as the pigeon flies. Detours around canals require intricate maps and
helpful advice. Goods, however, must be moved by boats and barges. People who wish to
travel in Venice with the fewest interruptions opt to move around by boat. Hotels transport
arriving and departing guests aboard sleek motor launches. Mass transit is accomplished by
waterbus, the vaporetto (which, despite its name, is no longer powered by steam.)
Simply put, Venice is water contained in canals. There is, of course, only one Venice,
but other water-bound cities with far different histories are pretenders to the name. Stock-
holm, for example, prides itself on being the Venice of the North. St. Petersburg is the
Venice of the Baltic. Bangkok advertises itself as the Venice of the East. And when the
Florentine Amerigo Vespucci arrived at the northwest coast of South America, he found
Indians along its shores, their houses on pilings in the water. Nothing would do but to name
the place Little Venice, or Venezuela. While these urban centers claim Venice-like status,
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