Are there any particular islands in Venice that one should see? When you picture the islands, you should realize some of them might only be an acre big or three acres or ten acres. When you picture the islands,...
When you picture the islands, you should realize some of them might only be an acre big or three acres or ten acres. Picture a town square and that's an island. They are not huge like the Caribbean islands. They are small parcels of land that use waterways and bridges to connect them into one city.
St. Mark's Square is the most popular place to go. It is one of the largest open air places, it's where you see people feeding the pigeons in the movies. It's known as St. Mark's Square because it has St. Mark's Basilica there, which is where St. Mark was buried. Being Italian, being Roman Catholic, there is a great respect for the religion and many of the buildings have vast mosaics and paintings, which tell the story of the birth and life and death of Christ, for instance. Some of the paintings depict the history of a family and are displayed visually on the exterior of the buildings as well as on the interior. You cannot go to Italy, let alone Venice without being totally inspired. I think that's what captured my heart when I was there. You get a feeling of walking amongst the ancients. Picasso, for example, was from the Venice area. To stop and think about what their daily life routine was and visit a city where they lived and worked makes them a real person to you. One of the museums I would recommend is the Peggy Guggenheim.
