It's been 3 years since my last time with old Venice. It's time to go back.
Venice is like an aging prostitute. The kajal around her eyes is bleeding and her dress is tattered, but her sensuality and bohemian manner are intoxicating still. I am a slave to her hypnotic charms. Getting lost in Venezia's sage-green fog, winding calle alleys and mysterious secrets is exhilarating.
Venice is a reward for the senses. Her beauty is breathtaking, decadent and Byzantine. And then there is that smell. The smell of Venice is like no other place in the world. One needs to get used to it, then it becomes a drug. The best season in the most beautiful city made by man is winter. No crowds, no tourists, no noise. Just the sound of languid canal water lapping the sides of the gondola, the distant wailing horn that announces high tide and the mystique hidden inside the fascinating buildings lined in frayed rich damask brocades.
A brisk morning walk across the Accademia Bridge, a long glance from la Salute, taking in the lagoon and a few minutes spent watching a man repair a boat on the side of a hidden canal are enough to replete lost bliss. All I want is simply walk and walk, lose my direction and then relax with a couple of ombre (shot-sized stem glasses of chilled dry, white wine) in anticipation of one of the day’s multiple delicious meals. The most common feeling in Venice is that of a mild inebriation: a full scale city-induced Stendhal Syndrome. Too much beauty can do that.
Lola, this is wonderful writing!
ReplyDeleteMaryann - thank you so much! You have no idea how good that makes me feel. Writing is my drug, way more than chocolate (if that's fathomable). Getting positive feedback is always exhilarating and stimulating, GRAZIE!
ReplyDeleteThis is sexy, sensuous,feast for the eyes, the ears, the imagination. I'm writing a novella about Venice, a forty pages drama of loss, death, separation, and remembrances. It is a love poem from me to my homeland that I hope to finish and get published one day.
ReplyDeleteAre you familiar with an Italian book titled, Venice is a fish?
Lola,
ReplyDeleteI sent you a comment that has not appeared yet. I wonder why?
For your information, my blog roll lists a new post already, one about your vice... I see it, but I can't reach it yet. Maybe, this time warp we're all in is controlled by google calendar protocols. You can't possibly read something that got published after you read it......or something like that.
I wanted you to know that two other people have visited me thanks to your blog. So thank you.
Lola,
ReplyDeleteHelp! This is my third comment. I hope it appears soon.
Tell me, have you been to all those restaurants you have listed? If so, we need to talk, because I've been to many of the same.
Rosaria - I think what happened is I re-scheduled the vice post. I'm using this fun "prompt" thing called Plinky that suggests writing ideas. I have it hooked to my blog, but I prefer posting there once a day, so if I happen to respond to the Plinky prompt (and it sends the entry automatcally) on the same day I have published stuff on the blog already, I re-schedule the new stuff. Did I confuse you sufficiently? Being a pen-n-ink gal myself, I'm still trying to figure techie things out and the vice post may have slipped. It's coming though, it's there waiting to rear its head.
ReplyDeleteI have not read "Venice is a fish," but I've heard about it. Tell me more about your love poem... I think I have to thank you too for my growing number of followers! And yes I have been to all the resaturants, it's an expandable list and I'll soon be adding more names. Wow this was a long reply...ciao
Well I have never heard Venice described in such a magnificent way. Too many people whinge and moan about Venice, a beautiful city that I have been fortunate enough to visit, and shall be doing so again soon, with your writings in my mind.
ReplyDeleteMany Thanks.
Happy Travelling
Overland Wannabe
OverlandSi, thank you so much for your lovely comment! I love your blog, I'm so happy you could travel over and drop by for a visit. I am honored. And thank you for becoming a regular in my informal, little kitchen. Ciao!
ReplyDelete