The Grand Canal

May 11, 2013 10:00

Upon arriving in Venice we were taken on a private boat ride down the Grand Canal and into the heart of the city, Piazza San Marco. Although I had seen pictures of Venice prior to this trip, experiencing a city practically built on water is truly incredible. 

There really isn't any other way to get around than by boat. For public transportation, you take water taxis. Even on the larger islands (for example where Piazza San Marco is located), there are countless small bridges traversing narrow rivers. In fact, speaking of bridges, Venice has 350 bridges intricately connecting 118 islands. Venice is quite the city of bridges, but it certainly does not have the most. Good ol' Pittsburgh has 446.

Also, from what I understand, the "traffic control" of the water is pretty lenient – there isn't even a strict age limit to drive a boat. Water is just a part of life in Venice, and people who live there have no choice but to completely integrate it within their lives.

But with water, comes problems. The city is sinking about two-and-a-half inches every ten years. Apparently, they have been slowly replacing the wooden foundational supports under the buildings with a material that will not degrade. If this is in fact the case, Venice might be around for a while longer. Either way, it's incredible to think that a city was built with wooden pilings driven into the mud by solely manpower over 1,000 years ago.