Everybody knows Venice, the Canal Grande, the San Marco, the
gondolas. That is the Venice most tourists know, and it is beautiful. I could talk
about that, but many have already done so. What struck me most in Venice were
other things, in fact the everyday life of the Venetians.
"my" vaporetto stop
I stayed in Venice for three weeks, taking courses in art
and architecture and the Italian language. Staying in a residential area, I
enjoyed seeing “normal” life.
A woman tending her plants
People live there, work there, children go to
school, young parents accompanying their children. It was a joy to be up early,
walk to the vaporetto stop, take a cafe standing at the bar while waiting for
the vaporetto, meeting the same people every morning and greeting them. The barman
had once worked in Amsterdam, he told me, and knew a few Dutch words, mainly
greetings.
A gathering of monks in the evening, so a bit unfocussed (the picture, not the monks!)
There was the Hungarian monk who took the same route I did as he also was
studying Italian, living in the same monastery, but of course in a different part, not in the wing where I stayed which served as a hostel.
The skies are very bright and clear in the morning, even on a dull day. For the
skies are wide over the laguna, the vistas amazing. After crossing the Giudecca Canal, walking through Dorsoduro
on my way to school I enjoyed seeing the frantic activity of each working day:
the hand pulled iron carts in which the rubbish was collected daily. These in
turn were emptied via an ingenious system into barges waiting along the canals.
Perhaps difficult to see, but a small cart with rubbish is lifted on this barge to be emaptied
In
my first week, the plastic bags with rubbish were hanging from nails in the
walls of the houses. Later that changed, as the gulls had found a way to swoop
towards the bags and rip them apart. To
prevent litter and rats, it was no longer allowed to hang the rubbish out. There
still was a collection every day, but I did not quite grasp how it worked.
A few pictures of this small floating market
Every morning I passed a barge with brightly coloured fruit
and vegetables, a floating greengrocer’s. Next to it a barge with cyclamen, apparently
the house plant of the season. Bakeries, shops selling hardware, every shop was
stocked from the water. And if they could not be reached that way, goods were
loaded on luggage trolleys and taken by porters to the various shops and
houses, across the numerous bridges which are really stairs. It all seemed very
efficiently done.
Above: The place where trucks and vans unload their goods to be further transported by boat through Venice
Early morning at Giudecca, unloading a boat on a cart for further transport.
The beautiful view of Zattere from Giudecca across the "Canale della Giudecca"
Everybody was on foot, if not in a boat on one of the
canals. Only the children used a means of transport as they often raced around on small
scooters. I pitied the many young mums who had to carry their buggies across
those bridges; I suppose one gets used to it.
Even a bride and her high heeled guests had to cross a few bridges to get from their hotel to the Church of Redentore
In the evening, after school and before the evening meal, children
played on the campos, the many squares, a very safe place to be, laughing and
running, chasing pigeons and seagulls. The slim young mothers would watch
them, gossiping or just exchanging news. By that time most tourists would have
disappeared and gone back to their hotels or the big cruise ships in port.
The busy canal in front of the house where I rented a room the third week of my stay, seen from the kitchen window. Often barges and gondolas too would cross this canal
Of course I was a tourist too, but for a short time taking
part in the everyday life of this amazing city, I felt one with the Venetians.
Work in progress, just taking a break!
Enjoying a quiet evening on the Fondamenta San Giacomo, Giudecca
Children playing on the campos, and mothers enjoying the late afternoon sun
