Vivaldi’s Venice

Oh, Venice.

There’s so much to say about this city. Historically, it’s one of the most important cities in all of Europe. Until the discovery of the New World and the ocean bridge to Asia, it was the trading crossroads between Europe and the East, via Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) and the Silk Road. At its peak in the late 13th century, Venice was the richest city in Europe and operated over 3,000 merchant ships in the Mediterranean.

Certainly also one of the prettiest and most original cities in the world, built entirely on 118 islands in the Venetian Lagoon and interspersed with a myriad of canals. It is, for the first-time visitor, absolutely impossible not to get lost in Venice, even with a map. With curved, narrow streets, few right angles, dead-ends into canals, little bridges and arched alleyways, and an abundance of similar plazas with all sorts of paths leading out, getting from point A to point B often accidentally involves walking past point Z. But that’s all part of the fun.

And yes, Vivaldi is from Venice.