Four nights in Venice

Venice is a group of islands in the centre of an extensive lagoon, that is accessed by trains and vehicles via a single causeway, or by boat. We arrived at the airport on the mainland, over heavily populated and industrialised land, then walked a surprisingly short distance from the airport to our boat taxi for the ride into Venice city. The boat trip in is a thrill, approaching the tile roofed city including many grand buildings especially churches, then turning into the Grand Canal itself, a substantial winding canal separating the two sides of the heart of the city and a parade of super substantial buildings. Other boat traffic chugged and zoomed around us while we craned our necks for views and photos. Then we swung into a narrow side canal and soon arrived at a minute landing, the boat access to our hotel, a Palazzio. Invited later to introduce the property to our small group, the modest owner said (in thickly accented English) 'there is nothing much to say, other than our family has been here for 600 years.' The other side of the building opened onto a narrow lane, which ran a short distance to a Piazza, a square, which was surely the centre of the community and housed a covered water well, a church, and several bars and eateries. That seemed to be the pattern, alternating narrow canals occasionally bridged, and narrow lanes, all leading at regular intervals to a piazza. Zero vehicles other than boats. Not even bicycles. The charm of the city is immediately apparent and you can see why it would be loved by anyone visiting it. Tile roofed buillings packed together interlaced by canals and narrow streets and walkable in any direction. Being a very old city it exudes its ancient past including a great number of unbelievably grand churches and other buildings. Even the typical piazza church has a cavernous, sombre interior and evidence of a deep history. About 55,000 people permanently reside in Venice city and add a great deal of interest to the place. They seemed most evident on the waterways, plying the canals in their boats, then in the piazzas as families gathered in the evening. They largely ignored the visitor traffic and got on with heir lives as best they could, in the midst of incredible numbers of people, at times and particularly in the popular central places such as the spacious Piazza San Marco, with its Venice defining San Marco Basilica, a marvel of history, architecture, grandeur and sheer beauty. At the basilica we saw one of our highlights, a set of life sized horse cast in copper, dating from late second century AD. They predate the basilica and were war bounty, from Constantinople. Brimming with drama and energy, stunning. We walked the streets, crossed the canals by bridge and the grand canal by boat, covering as much as we could and walking ourselves to a standstill. The heat did not help and a cold drink or two in the piazza was a welcome end to the day before crashing to bed. The mix of grandeur particularly lining the grand canal, and everyday living doesn't stop the city being very liveable, very human, maybe because everything there is the result of many centuries of human activity so the city very much has a soul and is comfortable and welcoming. We saw the principle central sights then boated to some of the other islands, especially to see the centre off the glass blowing and lace making industries, and to experience the boating that is such a feature of this maritime city. We watched a glass blower in action, turning out a vase and a 'ferrari' horse, then wandered the retail areas marvelling at the chandeliers and every conceivable glass item. Sadly back in the central city chinese copies are common but not in the districts where the glass is produced. Another very curious sight was Venices answer to the leaning tower of Pisa, a tall tower on precarious lean. No-one seemed bothered about it but we we incredulous that it stayed upright. Later on back in the central city we noticed another not quite straight tower and also signs of buildings subsiding, with their uneven roof lines and non vertical walls. Otherwise we were told that the city is quite stable as the floor o the lagoon has, fortuitously, a deep stable clay base that the original city set timber pillars into and provided a base for solid fill. Boating back from the islands on the sunday afternoon, the lagoon was a riot of boats of all sizes, from an elderly gent standing and rowing a battered dingy, to passenger ferries to sleek speed boats. We especially admired some of the polished teak speedboats, usually with a bare chested male of any age at the wheel and his bikini clad lady beside him or even lying on the back deck to soak up the sun. On all levels the boat was prominent and the centre of a truly maritime life style. Im sure every resident would have a craft of some sort and much of the additional sunday traffic was probably moored on the mainland, with those residents treating the lagoon as their watery playground. This was highlighted by one of our lunch spots, an island accessible only by boat and small craft at that. A narrow canal split the island which boast moored up on both sides, before the occupants ambled on to one of the very extensive restaurants, seated under expanses of umbrellas and sail cloths. On that same island we visited one of the oldest churches, founded in 639 ad on the arrival of the body of a saint, now lying in state under a gold death mask. The church was fascinating it had been built entirely from recycled roman remains, so had marble columns and mosaic floors in chips of colourful stone. An original gold leaf fresco was being restored otherwise the church showed its great age although the stonework is all there. city Back in Venice central, our four nights finally come to a finish and we boated back out, casting our last gazes over this unique and glorious place.

Dubai, 22 Sept 2019

The Dubai leg is over and we are sitting in the airport waiting for the flight to Venice. Dubai was going to be a 'stopover rest' but we gave it a good whack and were on the go most of the time. The city is impressive it sits like a city of the future in a post apocalyptic landscape: a narrow but longish strip hard up against the Arabian sea, and the other side a desert. The desert is more brown than white and a fine grey dust blows continually over the city. The city generates its electricity by oil fired generators and its water is desalinated from the gulf waters. They throw that water over everything including gulf courses, palm tree avenues and green parks, but with a bit of elevation you see where the water finishes and the desert waste begins. Any romantic notions you might have of the desert are dispelled by the searing heat wafting over the town and the flat dirty dustiness commencing at the cities edge. Dubai citizens comprise 20% of the population and the rest are on working or visitor visas. The citizens share in the wealth of the nation with first pick of professions, financial support into the chosen field of work, free housing, free medical care, free electricity, education and a raft of mega privileges. The men dress in pristine white gowns and arabic headgear, the women in shimmering black dress and burka. Their eyes are heavily made up and they lash through the narrow slit in their facial garb. The locals come across as insular, complacent, indifferent and did not interact with us versus the friendly 80% non citizens from every corner of the earth, there for the the high incomes and many with family back home. The proceeds of being an oil producing nation are lavishly and extravagantly thrown into infrastructure and buildings on the most grandiose scale they are capable of. Huge construction sites dot the city and all the talk is 'bigger and better'. A very sobering insight into the human race when you think it is mostly the product of being an accidental oil producer, perched mostly no more than a few metres above sea level but indifferent to potential sea level rise - they will sort it if it happens. We visited some of the grand sights such as 'largest mall in the world', tallest building in the world', wettest fountain in the world etc etc. and found it all very spectacular. Outside the heat, in the mid forties, was heavy going but the indoors are air-conditioned throughout so the outdoors were just a scamper zone between air conditoned spaces. At night there was more foot traffic as the city was lit up in fantastic high rise light and water shows, although the heat remained brutal. Taxis abounded, all sitting with motors idling all day, to run the aircon. Petrol is NZ$1 per litre. The malls were thrilling places to watch the procession of people, most exotic including much african especially arabic and moslem related. The same themes in the food which we loved; a high degree of vegetarian cooking and lots of exotic and spiced foods, often prepared in ways that you couldn't discern the original ingredients. Very fresh and healthy. Dubai appears to make nothing itself and buys everything in, and that means everything. Vegetables for example come shrink wrapped and labelling features their country of origin. As a result commodity prices are very high but locals probably don't give stuff as it is all irrelevant to their salaries. The car fleet reflects that with Mercs and Beamers being their toyotas, and bentleys, rolls, maseratis etc otherwise abound. We heard some of the sports versions in the wee hours of the morning, as the V12 maseratis etc were given a workout in the otherwise empty streets. Having said the there were zero police in evidence, my theory being that it is a very punitive culture and they harshly treat their miscreants, plus there are enormous financial incentives for the cooperating citizen, so that conformity is the norm and the risks af stepping outside the law are way too high. Thats my theory anyway, that conformity, peer pressure and self policing is standard. Funnily enough its not all bad, as they give a way some individualism but don't get some of the problems associated with wanton, destructive individualism. Wouldn't suit us though. One of our highlights was afternoon tea, an Arabic tradition, in the sky restaurant of the Burg al Arab hotel, a stunning futuristic building standing alone on the waters edge and Dubais only 7 star hotel. Two couples went each paying NZ$650 for the afternoon tea, which comprised of a glass of champagne, a cup of fine tea, and 7 courses of small bites such as the opener- caviar on a small bliny with a cauliflower cream and a sliver of gold leaf. We got a private car to drive us the 20km or so there (another $100 down the tube) but at least we got to briefly experience a life of gratuitous excess financed by the commodity (oil) that will probably bring the globe to its knees, in due course. The evening hour courtyard bars were interesting as people gathered to smoke hooka pipes, supplied at each table, although the substance being smoked smelt like the sort of stuff used in electronic cigarettes. Alcohol is not available in most places the exception seeming to be tourist locations, where our predilection for the stuff is tolerated usually with dam aweful wine list and a few spirits. So Dubai was a hyperactive yet placidly peopled city, a bubble in an unrelenting environment, insulated from that environment to the extent that the outdoors hardly mattered. The city could be on Mars and that's exactly what it looked like viewed from the top of the tallest building; aqua gulf waters on one side, then a soaring inner city of glassed towers, then the city outskirts a tangle of building sites and slowly waving cranes, then the desert with the far horizon not visible in the dusty haze.