During the last millennium’s infant years, the remnants of the Roman Empire were left to flee the barbarian hordes that ascended on this once unrivalled civilization.  In northern Italy along the shores of the Adriatic Sea, Roman citizens decided to take to the water in order to escape the barbarian armies.  These Roman refugees, along with local fishermen, found their sanctuary on 117 islands that were surrounded by a swampy lagoon protected from the Adriatic by a massive sandbank.  The hamlets these people created on wooden stilts were the bulbs that blossomed into the world’s most mesmerizing, metropolitan flower whose pedals absorb enchantment’s wondrous illumination — Venice.

Venice is a time capsule preserving and thus proudly displaying the very ancient roots that gave it life and still sustain its flourishing existence.  There is no street or waterway that does not resound the glorious days of this city’s political and military prowess, and architectural genius.  When Venice greets its visitors, it appears to be nothing less than a magnificent mirage hovering over the mint colored Adriatic; this city of fantasy supports towers and domes, steeples and bridges of an unparalleled design that defy the imagination.  It is no wonder that Venice has been dubbed the Queen of the Adriatic.

Venice’s illustrious nature reached its apex between the Medieval and Renaissance eras when it evolved into a water-bound empire that sucked into its realm a good chunk of Italy, and then some.  Its rulers forged this political and military expansion from the city’s one great asset, maritime trade.  By the 1200s, Venice had become the preeminent trading center throughout the Mediterranean. The Venetians set sail for all corners of the known world, reaching deep into Africa and the Orient.  Through progressive maritime trading and growth, Venice became immensely wealthy and decided to make the best of the ocean of money that circulated throughout this empire.  Besides strengthening their civic, military and social institutions, Venice began to build lavish palaces, places of business and homes whose architecture was borrowed from almost everywhere these skilled sailors weighed anchor.  What the Venetians ended up with was a Picasso-like city whose unorthodox pairing of colors and shapes were mixed in Gothic-Renaissance and Arab styles, making it one of the most unique cities in the world, an enviable title that still holds true to this day.  Unfortunately, as with many empires in old-world Europe, Venice was stung by the bitter bug of decline in the 19th Century, leaving the city virtually broke and destined for dilapidation.  But Venice prevailed through the one thing that keeps it afloat today, tourism, although its glorious architectural gems have lost some of their luster, but never their magical quality.

Today’s Venice still thrives on the water that unfortunately threatens to swallow the city whole — a repeat of the ill-fated Atlantis.  Sinking or not, I have found it impossible to only tour this city a single time. For some reason or other, I have found myself – with delight – meandering through Venice’s narrow alleys on several occasions.  I am now to the point where this twisted maze of fairytale lanes and alleyways makes somewhat sense to me, although I still get lost in them now and then.

Being an aquatic city built on these slender passageways designed for medieval foot and cart transport Venice naturally lacks an asphalt beltway or four-lane thoroughfare.  Venice even lacks the vehicles that so often congest these roadways in many of the world’s cities.  The only engines heard throughout Venice are those of boat taxis and waterbuses, and small cargo barges that wind their way through the hundreds of slender, tapering canals snaking through the city.  On land, the foot is the choice of transportation.  It is a Venetian way of life I am well acquainted with and enjoy thoroughly, especially when coupled with waterbus rides or speedboat taxi cruises.  The latter mode of transportation, though, is far more expensive; it is a luxury for the tourist trade, or someone needing to catch the last call for their flight out of Venice’s Marco Polo airport across the bay.

It was a cold February on my last jaunt to Venice.  The biting chill of the sea air surrounding Venice did not do much to dissipate the boat traffic and tourist trade that floods the city during the high-season tourist boom.  Much of the blame of this pre-season influx of visitors and restless natives could be pushed on Venice’s illustrious “Carnival di Venezia”, the city’s version of Mardi Gras.  It is traditionally a religious holiday taking place the week before the beginning of lent, but the Carnival gave the festive Venetians a supreme excuse to exercise their talent for putting on lavish parties.  And what parties they are! They rock the water-bound city with extravagant balls that cater to a host of socialites who attend by invitation only.  There is a ball, though, open to the public, the extraordinary candlelit Doges Ball held on the super water highway of Venice – Canal Grande.  However, its dazzle demands a ticket price tag far from many people’s expectations, a few hundred dollars per person.  The entrance fee does not include renting a historic costume complete with Venice’s hallmark masks, which is a necessity for this splendid festivity.

However, the Carnival isn’t all just parties and social balls, it is a celebration that spills out into the many piazzas, (squares) of Venice with open-air musical and cultural events that are just as entertaining as they are stunning.  Reggae, rock and jazz bands perform at any given moment; art galleries and museums break out special exhibits presented to the public.  The international fame of the Carnival has attracted another global market, corporate sponsorship and their wave of advertisements displayed in the city, which is one part of the event met with mixed feelings.

The grandeur of the Carnival di Venezia could not be more apparent to me than at my arrival in Venice’s cultural and architectural epicenter, San Marco’s Square.  I arrived early in the morning by waterbus whose able Helmsman weaved through an armada of classic wooden speedboats, and other lumbering waterbuses filled to the gunnels with chattering sightseers, and natives staring apathetically into Venice’s pink newspaper.  Soon the hallmark, streamlined hulls of gondolas appeared with their captains controlling their crafts in the wake we set off with a certain confident arrogance.  As the striped suits and straw hats of the gondoliers parted our bow’s speedy approach, our majestic destination of Piazza San Marco (San Marco’s Square) lay before us.

This lofty, broad square is ringed by many of Venice’s prized architecture — the sumptuous Doges Palace, the home of Venetian rulers for centuries; St. Mark’s Basilica (the centerpiece cathedral of Venice) and the Campanile (the square’s looming tower).  These structures were built on a foundation of splendor in the style solely Venetian.  When you stand in the center of the square, which is conquered by squadrons of fearless pigeons that quickly turn to bomber groups on a bad day, you are greeted by wonderful disparity.  It is as if the Venetians built their cathedral, palace and surrounding lengthy yet bulky halls with blueprints from the architects of London, Paris or Prague.  But they didn’t stop there. Like a child gone wild with a Lego city, they added on top of and on the structures’ sides arched windows, columns, and mosque-like domes and needle towers reminiscent of a far-eastern edifice.  Thus, Venice was granted its very own unconventional style when experienced does nothing less than leave one in disbelief that this city is anything but of this world.  The vibrant costumes of the Carnival goers strolling among the hordes of pedestrians within the square drove home this point.

These ornate costumes ranged in themes from outlandish bird figures to outfits hailing from the noble dress of the 17th and 18th Centuries.  And then there were those left to one’s wild imagination to figure out.  All the costumes were completed with an eerie mask that made the ordinary individual wearing it seem supernatural.  The costume clad individuals spilled out of San Marco’s Square and wandered along the walkway hugging Venice’s Adriatic basin past the ornate Bridge of Sighs (this bridge links the Doges Palace to the medieval prisons, and is so named because the sighs of condemned prisoners could be heard from the small bridge), lavish five-star hotels and along the moored gondolas bobbing in the wake of boat traffic.  In the distance music could be heard from various cafés, and from special theatrical performances dedicated to the Carnival, which gave the costume goers a certain slow spring to their long strides.  The music and many of the masked figures dissolved into the mesh of canals and passages that fan out from the waterfront walkway. Strolling through these narrow medieval streets of this unaltered city is what Venice is all about.  This is where you will experience the true nature of Venice, and the heart of its culture, hidden away from the throng of tourists that flood San Marco’s Square and the ornately decorated Rialto Bridge crossing the Canal Grande.

As the tide of tourists dissipates, a mystical silence dominates the sparsely populated squares and ghettos beyond the popular tourist destinations.  Through streets connected by hundreds of small stone bridges, apartments and antiquated storefronts are squeezed together whose foundations fight a slow deterioration from placid canals that caress their base.  On the upper tiers of these buildings, the bittersweet aroma of the culture’s cooking mingles with clotheslines swaying in the amiable Adriatic breeze that meanders through the canals and passageways.  The streets either come to a dead end or a small square.  If the latter contains a small café, I would suggest taking a break to enjoy a cup of espresso or glass of wine and the awesome atmosphere of real world Venice that will enshroud you in an aura of tranquility.

Many of the squares contain a small cathedral whose modest size and décor are humbled by Venice’s crowning houses of God towering over the stone shores of Venice’s larger isles.  These regal cathedrals can’t be missed with their broad domes and spherical bodies reaching above the city’s zenith.  Within the cathedrals, magnificent Gothic statues and sculptures line the walls, or in the case of the Basilica Di San Marco mosaics of biblical stories surrounded by a vast spread of glittering gold chips.

Entwined within the cathedrals, cafés and piazzas are some of the world’s most prestigious museums.  They contain a vast display of Italy’s history of art, religion, and political, exploration and military accomplishments.

One of the greatest highlights of a tourist’s exploration of Venice is a gondola ride through the city’s roundabout water byways and highways.  The gondoliers, dressed in their traditional garb of striped shirt and straw hats encircled by a red ribbon, deftly navigate their sleek, glossy black crafts through the intricate web of Venetian canals, often passing other boats millimeters from hull to hull in a canal no wider than 8 feet! Unnerved by this gauntlet before them, the gondoliers often sing or hum favorite Venetian tunes to their passengers, only breaking their performance to explain a house, piazza or cathedral of particular interest to tourists.  Often gondoliers recruit a musician to accompany the passengers to bolster their singing.  A night cruise is particularly enchanting as the canals are void of commercial traffic, and the soft glow emanating from buildings, piazzas and alleys lend Venice a magical air.  A Gondola ride is a romantic thing unique to the World, which is what guarantees a high price tag for the adventure, around $60 for half an hour, if not much more.  However, a gondolier is not above haggling, and you can often narrow your price down through the power of persuasion.

Dining in Venice is just as expensive as private transportation.  However, the deeper you venture into the city, the relatively cheaper the dining experience gets.  The restaurants and cafés around the major tourist areas carry phenomenal price tags on their wares.  In general, the Venetian food is a wonderfully palatable combination of Italian pastas and seafood selections, and sinfully delicious desserts and fine wines.

I parted Venice in the evening, as my chartered boat cut across a choppy Venetian basin kicked up by an agitated Adriatic wind. From the top deck, many others and I bid a silent farewell to the sea of lights spotlighting Doges Palace and San Marco’s Square beyond it.  Venice is the only city I know that has ever left me and countless others with the feeling of homesickness as her regal domes and spires, resplendent palaces and cathedrals disappeared into the silver light of the low moon’s halo breaking through the black of night.  A tour, however long, into the heart of Venice’s mystifying charm leaves no one to doubt that this city is a crown jewel of the world.