The Road to the Horizon: Venice

Showing posts with label Venice. Show all posts

Relief! Coca-Cola not taking over Venice

slight coca-cola branding in Venice?

"Coca-Cola is not buying Venice!", its city council stated this week, reacting to polemics over a planned million-dollar partnership between the soft drinks giant and the lagoon city.

An Italian daily had reported the city was "selling itself" to Coca-Cola in a 2.1 million-dollar deal involving "vending machines in every corner of the city", including St Mark's Square.

In a city where tourists are even forbidden from picnicking on urban decorum, the council's chief of staff said the 60 vending machines would not be placed on public soil, let alone near landmarks such as St Mark's.

"Fifteen distributors will be placed on the principal vaporetti landing stages [Ed: the floating docks for the water taxis and buses], the others will be inside council carparks. Where's the invasion?" the council said, stressing the vending machines would not even bear the Coca-Cola logo. (Full)

Tongue-in-cheek website Only In Italy adds: "Nothing like standing shin-deep in dirty lagoon water paying 5 euros (6.35 USD) for a can of carbonated water with some flavoring and sugar. Well, if one considers the legal fleecing that goes on every day in Venice, what are the alternatives?"

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Rumble: Venice, the conclusion of a weekend.

Just to conclude this series about Venice, here are the last photo impressions I wanted to share:

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Rumble: When you think of Venice: Food...

Many visitors to Italy will appreciate the food. Not the usual spaghetti or pizza, but the real Italian food: Italy excels in simple but real tasty food. I sell my soul for the sea food, prosciutto (raw ham), the cheeses,...

Visiting Venice last weekend, reminded me that this town has its own traditions. Some of it, is embraced into Italian traditions, like tiramisu (which was 'born' in this region). Some say "gelato", Italian ice cream is better in Venice than anywhere else in Italy:

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But the pastry shops, while not as abundant as those in Vienna, in the quality, taste and variety, are not to be found anywhere else in Italy:

View the slideshow of all my Venice pictures.
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Rumble: When you think of Venice: Glass art

One more think many people think of, when talking about Venice: Venetian glass..!

Venetian glass making tradition goes way back, but only got really known when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire and destruction to the city’s mostly wood buildings, ordered glass makers to move their foundries to the island of Murano, in the Venetian archipelago in 1291.

Murano's glass makers were soon the island’s most prominent citizens. By the 14th century, glass makers were allowed to wear swords, enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the Venetian state and found their daughters married into Venice’s most affluent families. The catch was that glass makers weren't allowed to leave the Republic.

Murano’s glass makers held a monopoly on quality glass making for centuries, developing or refining many technologies including crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass.

Today, the artisans of Murano are still employing these century-old techniques, crafting everything from contemporary art glass and glass jewelry to murano glass chandeliers and wine stoppers.

We visited a Murano glass makers shop. We were not allowed to make pictures, but I still managed to sneak in two photos, from two astonishing glass plates, standing about two meters tall:

View the slideshow of all my Venice pictures.
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Rumble: When you think of Venice: Carnival

What else do you think of when hearing "Venice"? Pumuckl commented in a previous post saying: "Carnival"!

And she is right! The carnival of Venice was first recorded in 1268, and has been a long tradition since then. Strolling through the alleys of Venice, we came across many shops where they sold the typical Venetian masks, made in leather or with the original papier-mâché technique. The original masks were rather simple in design and decoration. They often had a symbolic and practical function. Nowadays, most of them are made with the application of gesso and gold leaf and are all hand-painted using natural feathers and gems to decorate.

A photo impression:

View the slideshow of all my Venice pictures.
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Rumble: When you think of Venice: Architecture

Ok... water and gondola's, the romance,... what else do you think of when you hear the word "Venice"?
Mmmm.. how about the history and architecture...? A photo impression:

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Rumble: When you think of Venice: City of Romance

For many, Venice is a city of romance

Gondola's in the evening sun

Evening stroll with a gondola:

Evening impressions:

Couples everywhere...

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Rumble: When you think of Venice: Gondola's and water

Ok, unraveling of the secret: we were in Venice last weekend. ;-)

Matt, one of the readers of The Road, commented a while ago that my blog was listed in the "travel" category of one of the blog directories while it seems more like a political blog.

I agree that lately I have been posting more news flashes (often with a bit of political cynism, I admit). But in essence, this blog is neither one or the other... I write about things that happen around me. Sometimes I am in a critical mood, sometimes I am involved in my daily (aid) work environment, and sometimes I am travelling. So the contents of the posts change as my life changes. ;-) The next few posts will be about travelling. Promise!

So.. Venice... OK.. Here is a question for you. When hear "Venice", what do you think about? I bet the first thing would be "gondola's" and water. Rightfully so.
It is originally built on the mudflats, an archipelago of 118 islands formed by about 150 canals in a shallow lagoon. The islands are connected by about 400 bridges. In the old center, the canals serve the function of roads, and every form of transport is on water or on foot.

A photo impression:

Canal Grande: the city center's main waterway: