Postcards from... Venice

No trip to Italy would be complete with a visit to one of Europe's best-known cities – Venice. Nonetheless, for years I had put off going, partly because I was more interested in visiting the (then) lesser-known places and partly because I was afraid that it wouldn't live up to expectations.

And in some ways I was right. I was disappointed. To be fair, I went there on the back of my Madrid trip. I had absolutely loved Madrid, so whatever came after was always going to have big shoes to fill. Matters were not helped by the fact that the city was overrun with tourists all jostling for position to get the perfect picture. Having been shoved out of the way quite roughly, I gave up trying to get more pictures in the Piazza San Marco area...

Basilica di San Marco

Basilica di San Marco

My favourite building in Piazza San Marco



The 98.6 m tall (323 ft) Campanile di San Marco (bell tower of St Mark's)

Gorgeous view from Palazzo Ducale

Of course there's far more to Venice than just Piazza San Marco, but the viciousness of some of the sharp-elbowed tourists I encountered there did rather put a dampener on my Venice trip. Even the famous Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge), the oldest of the four bridges spanning Grand Canal, failed to cheer me up.


The famous Rialto Bridge

Determined to enjoy something of the city, I decided to steer clear of the big draws and instead focus on the little things, the things that other tourists would more than likely miss. I wandered around the small, narrow streets and in doing so, came across little things that caught my eye.


A lovely old door

Copper fish hanging on a wall



German Spitz out for a walk

No idea what this was, but it caught my eye!

Charles Ray's controversial (and now removed) 8ft tall statue of a boy holding a squirming frog outside Punta della Dogana

While the rest of the world took a waterbus to Murano, in my continuing bid for maximum crowd-avoidance I opted for Lido do Venezia, an 11 km-long (7 mile) sandbar south of Venice. In September, it's the location for the Venice Film Festival, but at Easter I had the place almost to myself. With space to breathe I began to look more kindly on my trip to Venice.


A splash of colour



The simple life



One of the beaches on Lido di Venezia

As so often happens, looking back at these photos makes me think that I should give Venice another chance. Even though there will never be a time when there are no crowds, there is probably a better time than Easter. Perhaps, I should plan a return trip for early autumn...