Venice is bathed in the blue-green waters of the Adriatic, and although one of the most contaminated of the world, Venice is still called the Lady of the Lagoon. Venice is femening from anywhere you look at it, be it from the round domes that emerge from the horizon as plump breasts, or the curvaceous loops of the Grand Canal running through the belly. But most probably it’s the white marble and stone which she is made of, like the elegant lace covering the face of a maiden. Venice is a woman, even though her face is that of a lion’s.
The cold in Venice seeps through your clothes and your skin down to the marrow of your bones, and every step you take is painful. They say getting lost in Venice is the best way to get to know the city but we ended up trying to stay out of the streets and out of the cold. We were impressed with the amount of people there, despite the bad weather conditions. Apparently Venice is a city that thrives on tourism no matter what time of the year.
The crowds got particularly bad as we were reaching Piazza San Marco, and although it was dark and hazy, we were left speechless as the first golden lunettes and the elegant spires of the Basilica di San Marco appeared before us from an opening in the low buildings. Saint Mark, patron saint of Venice is its muse and mystical celebrity. His evangelistic symbol is the lion, an icon which can be found in almost every church, cathedral, basilica, or chapel in the world. But here, in the Piazza San Marco, he stands on a great granite column looking out to sea, showing to all those who enter Venetian waters the power and might of the maritime city. The fact that it has never been torn down as a hated symbol of oppression speaks of the benign nature of the Venetian Republic. Next to it stands another large pillar with the image of Saint Theodore, Venice’s first patron saint before Saint Mark’s remains were smuggled here from Alexandria in the 9th century. Public executions took place between the two columns and even today, superstitious Venetians will not be seen walking between the two pillars. Continue read
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