Storyline: Virtual Itinerary
We’ll have another post on Venice and our activities there in the spring of 2016. We visited about a year before anti-tourist protests would begin, when over-tourism would make the headlines and attempts to restrict crowds would be made and fail, and about four years before a tiny virus named covid-19 would empty its streets, ruining the tourist industry not only there but just about everywhere in the world.
And over 3 years before the worst flooding in decades that many would attribute to the blatantly oversized cruise-ships triggering erosion in the fragile lagoon ecosystem. At the time of our stay in Venice a multitude of humongous cruise ships towered over frail and often brittle ancient buildings in the lagoons of this renaissance city.
It was painful to watch the monstrosities dumping thousands of visitors, often referred as “hit and run” tourists (I’d say pseudo tourists) who would descend for the day without really contributing to the local economy, but willingly contributing to the water, air and noise pollution of the tiny city with limited capacity to handle the influx.
I wrote the rant below then.
Venetians must hate tourists. If not, they should! This small city is jam-packed with tourists. Every square centimeter is covered. The chances that you’ll run into your neighbour from Toronto are higher than the chances you’ll actually see a Venetian. If Google maps tells you that you’ll get from point A to point B in 20 min, most probably you’ll make it in 2 hours, provided you don’t get lost in the maze of canals and little alleys.
You are walking at the pace of the slowest person, usually an elderly one using walking canes. Or you are completely stopped because some idiot decided to stop and unpack his luggage right in the middle of a very narrow street, which most are, searching for his camera and blocking everyone. Or a group of 4 tries to walk side-by-side on a street that barely takes 2 next to each other.
Then there are the tour groups who congregate for a group photo – and everyone in the group has a turn to take their own picture…. For God’s sake people, give way to this elderly woman with grocery bags trying to get into the gate of her house. One really can’t see the city between 8am and 4pm, when all the day trippers and cruise-ship crowds disgorge into it.
The stories about romantic gondolas floating on the canals are from the past. They still exist as tourist traps, but motorboats, small and large, are the main transportation.
There are water taxis, water buses and private boats.
Then there are water ambulances, police boats, reefer boats,
garbage collection scows, cargo and work boats. The only powered transportation is by water. The rest is your feet.
We like the fact that there isn’t anything else – no bikes, no horses, and of course the best – no cars!!!
One can walk from the train/tram/bus station at the entrance to the islands, to everywhere (provided you are not in a hurry), which we did.
There is no need to take the vaporetto (water bus) or water taxi because no matter where you disembark, you’ll still have to walk to your destination, if you have one in mind, that is.
It’s very clear to us that we made the right decision to pack everything for our trip into carry-on size luggage. Watching hot, sweaty tourists try to manhandle their multiple, huge suitcases over the multitude of bridges (all 391 bridges have steps on their up and down slopes) confirmed that this is the way to go.
Every day we took the time to move away from the main tourist routes and observe the local life. It is fascinating. All main functions are done through the canals.
Today is garbage collection day. Here comes the old lady with her bags and drops them in the bins by the canal. And yes… here is the garbage boat. Then this is the work boat with all the maintenance tools.
There is the refrigerated products delivery boat,
then comes the luggage boat that delivers tourists’ luggage to some expensive hotel on a canal. You’d have to be really rich to be able to afford such, and even then you are missing out on the main charm of this city – walk and of course carry all your luggage, groceries and any other supplies.
Aside from boat transportation, all is manpower. Dollies of all kinds designed to handle the steps of the hundreds of bridges.
Everything here is a special design for the city. Here is the ambulance boat, lights flashing and siren wailing.
And there is the police boat parking in its garage. DHL (the courier company) has its own boats in appropriate livery.
Watch the activities around the hospital at the north end of the city.
There is a special arch designed for transporting the gurneys from the ambulance boat across the little street into the hospital.
Once a gurney is pulled out of the boat, two garage door-like roller blinds drop across to close the pedestrian quay, but only for a few seconds as the stretcher passes.
This way patient privacy is maintained from the sight of the curious, and the path is opened immediately after for pedestrians heading towards the main waterbus stop to the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello….
It is fascinating how Venetians coexist with all this tourist madness. Moving their dollies, be it full with supplies for a restaurant
(yes, your fish as well as your wine and kegs of beer are dollied to the restaurant where you have just sat to have dinner!), or ladders, brooms and paint boxes, or anything else you’d have in your home.
I am glad we stayed in Venice then, got lost many times in the maze, observed the local life off the beaten path and strolled on the quiet, somewhat empty streets at night. With the crowds gone, Venice was more beautiful at night.
If you are new to the “Virtual Itinerary” storyline: All the stories here are real, although from the past, some from a quite distant past. It covers travels to countries and places we had in our real Spring 2020 itinerary. If not for Covid-19 we’d be traveling right now.
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