The City that Sits in Water

CEBU, Philippines - In her book Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert describes Venice as the “city that sits in water”.

I haven’t been to any other place where, instead of a bus or train or taxi, we took the vaporetto or the water taxi to get to San Marco, our destination in Venice. There was a pier for every little island there. The vaporetto is their subway, only with motion sickness thrown in.

Our hostel was located five minutes away from St. Mark’s Square, within walking distance from the pier. I noticed there were no cars or buses running in the streets. My husband and I walked through narrow alleyways full of little shops such as Fendi, Prada, Bottega Veneta, Versace, Sisley, Gucci, Ferragamo, and Chanel, collectively known as shops banned from my shopping list. After a few missed turns, we found our hostel and it was Michelangelo, (I swear that’s his real name) the owner’s father, who greeted us. He was the most interesting person I met on this trip. I liked that he had the same name as my favorite Ninja turtle. He was bald, had a mustache, did not speak English, and was very goofy. He led us around the hostel, speaking rapidly in Italian, showing us our bedroom and the breakfast area. We managed to understand each other through hand gestures, facial expressions, and a few key words. “Toilet!” “Coffee!” “Where to eat?”

San Marco alludes to its main attraction, the Piazza San Marco or St. Mark’s Square, where we found the most magnificent church I have ever seen. When the human remains of St. Mark the Evangelist were brought to Venice from Alexandria, Egypt, the Basilica of St. Mark was built. He became the patron saint of Venice. This grand church is covered with marble, gold and mosaics on the floor. It holds a vast treasure from Italy’s royalty. They charged four euro to enter the church, another four euro to view the museum and the treasury, and still another three euro if you wanted to wander upstairs and see more treasures. It was worth going upstairs just for the view of St. Mark’s Square. One writer said, “The architecture of this church represents a harmonious synthesis of different styles such as the Byzantine, the Gothic, the Islamic and the Renaissance.” It had occurred to me that the domes of the church were noticeably Islamic in style.

The Doge’s Palace was located right beside St. Mark’s Basilica. Today it’s been turned into a museum and I decided not to go in because at that point I was sick of museums. We did see the Bridge of Sighs from outside, which joins the Doge’s Palace with the prisons. It is named as such for the prisoners that were taken from the jail to the Inquisitors in the palace, although they probably did more screaming than sighing during those days.

St. Mark’s Square was a very expensive spot. There, coffee costs 17 euro, around 26 US dollars. It was a good thing Michelangelo gave us a good tip on where to dine: the Al Vaporetto restaurant. My husband suspected one of the owners or waiters there must be Michelangelo’s relative, but we didn’t mind. All we cared about was the wonderful food, and the fair price.

On our second day in Venice, we bought tickets to the vaporetto that was valid for twelve hours to any island and for unlimited trips. It was the best vehicle to enjoy the Grand Canal. We left San Marco and went to Murano, hailed “A Glassmaker’s Paradise” for its centuries-old art form: glass making. As soon as we stepped into Murano, we and other clueless tourists were herded into a glass-blowing demonstration by a good-looking young man in tight white jeans. We sat entranced as the artist, or whom the Man in Tight Jeans called “Maestro”, skillfully shaped a hot orange ball of melted glass into an exquisite glass horse. It was so elaborate that you could see the waves of its mane and the lines of muscles on its body.

After visiting Murano, it was still early and so we decided to go to another island called Lido. Lido was known for its beach, and apparently the locals in San Marco spent their summers there to escape the horde of tourists. It was the first island in Venice where I saw some cars, trucks and buses. While San Marco’s streets were too narrow and the buildings were too close to one another to accommodate vehicles, Lido’s streets were wide enough for them. Lido also looked more modern than Murano and San Marco.

We had enjoyed Al Vaporetto restaurant so much that we went back there for dinner the next night, which was our last in Venice. In the middle of eating our pizza, Michelangelo sailed into the restaurant. We waved to him and he ambled over to our table. He took my hand and made like he was going to kiss it. He proclaimed cheerfully, “Filipina!” (FREEMAN)