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Visiting the Venetian Lagoon
Island hopping while seeing one of the most beautiful cities in the world
In a previous article, I wrote about our journey from Innsbruck and our brief visit to Verona, where traffic cut our time short. After a long day, we arrived at our hotel in Padua with the plan to visit Venice the next day.
The day promises to be hot in early July. We were advised to keep hydrated (always a good idea) and dress comfortably. Perhaps it is because I am from the Southern US, but I found the heat pretty tolerable.
We stayed in Padua instead of Venice because there are no roads, so you can’t take a bus there. There are a few hotels in Venice, but they are expensive, and the only way to get there is by water taxi. Most visitors stay in a nearby city and then take a water taxi or water bus to the island.
Venice is built on several islands in a lagoon off the coast of Italy. The 126 islands are connected by bridges and canals, which allows people to get around the city either by walking or by boat.
We do not know the exact date of the city's founding, but it is estimated to have first been settled by refugees fleeing the Germanic and Hunic invasions of Italy. The island lagoon was protected from these forces, which did not have boats to pursue them. The official…
