Venice - Everything they said is True!

The Elegant Lady

What you will understand when you visit Venice is that true beauty never dies. From the wide sweeping drama of the Grand Canal where commerce thrives and the working barges transport goods back and forth from daylight to dusk, to the narrow back-street waterways where the four storey Venetian homes rise up from their footings beneath the waters of the canals, the drama of Venice goes on.

Today they say that Venetians can no longer afford to live in Venice. The houses have become rental accommodation for tourists. The minor palaces have become upmarket hotels. The major doges have become the domain of the mega-rich. This may well be a sad truth but at least we can be sure that as more and more of the GDP of the region depends on tourists flooding into Venice, the more the government will value the importance of this magnificent city, and the greater the certainty that this precarious historic masterpiece will be preserved.

The houses which line the canals shoulder to shoulder are a picture of the past like elderly ladies arm in arm, their make-up smudged, their clothes the finery of a previous decade, - yet proud and elegant still. A picture of faded grandeur they are still cared for and valued in the valiant fight to push back the harshness of the waters that eat away at their very foundations.


On the tiny islands between the canals, the small shops tucked into the ground floors of the houses bustle with shoppers drawn in magpie-like, by the rich colours of Venetian glass, by the masks, the puppetry, the trinkets, the clothes. The cafes buzz as the best looking waiters stand outside spruiking for diners.

Like a maze the lanes twist and turn leading from canal to historic square, to canal again. And then of course, there are the famous landmarks, - St Mark’s Basilica, the Piazza San Marco, the  Doge’s Palace, the Ponte di Rialto, the Bridge of Sighs … So much to see, so much to take in, so much to love.

www.unusualstays.com ( A New Zealand chronicle of unique and unusual places to stay)
contact me via pippy.mccurdy@gmail.com
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Venice - The Canals

Venice - The Waterways

From centuries of iconic tales and imagery there emerged an idealistic picture of Venice; a city of dreams, a city of lovers, a city of impossible beauty and romance. And then in reaction to these tales of perfection there was the rebuttal; the declaration that no - Venice is not a city of beauty. The water is dirty; the tourists are everywhere. The romance is dead … Well it is not. To go to Venice and not be moved by what you see would take a cold heart. Venice is everything the poets tried to capture and more.

You will never in the whole of this world, find another place like Venice. The streets are canals, and then between the canals is an intricate maze of lanes. Across every canal, not once but a thousand times are the arched bridges. Under these arched bridges pass the gondoliers ferrying their passengers through the weave of waterways. On the Grand Canal the gondolas share the waters with the barges, transporting the day’s supplies to the many, many cafes, bars and shops.











Find a narrow pathway along the edge of a secluded small canal and around the corner between the tall houses will come a single gondola transporting a couple through the quiet back streets of this astounding city. Stand on one of a multitude of small arched bridges. Watch and admire the skill of the gondoliers as they tilt their gondolas and duck to pass under the bridges, then make their way off into the distance along the canal, pushing off the tall walls on either side.










Who would have thought that everything they said about Venice was true. From a balcony a gentleman steps out and begins to sing. From a gondola a woman finds that she too must express the wonder of what she sees in the songs of Venice. La Golondrina, O Sole Mio ... the voices echo. This is not about being heard. This is about scenery so inspiring that only song can serve to capture the wonder of the surroundings.

www.unusualstays.com ( A New Zealand chronicle of unique and unusual places to stay)
contact me via pippy.mccurdy@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/Stay-Somewhere-Strange-273777766054597/