" AMAZING VENEZIA " a Venice Travel Page by Frisbeeace

Everywhere you look in Venice there is an incredible scene to watch or picture: a short bridge arching over a canal, a gondola gliding by, the colourful aging buildings. Its narrow streets are quiet and mysterious. Without any traffic noise you'll enjoy lots of different sounds.

Venezia is made up of more than 100 islands connected by bridges. Its main street -- the Grand Canal -- is crowded by rowboats, yachts, vaporettos and cargo vessels. First-time visitors find that getting around Venezia presents some unusual problems: the complexity of its layout, the bewildering unfamiliarity of waterborne transportation, the apparently illogical house numbering system and duplication of street names in its six districts (sestieri: San Marco, Cannaregio, Castello, Dorsoduro, Santa Croce, San Polo) and the necessity of walking whether you enjoy it or not.

Venezia is one of the most-visited cities on the planet. You'll cross by tourists from every corner in the world but you'll probably find more interesting watching venetians chatting with friends in the piazzas and doing their daily jobs in such unusual maze of corridors and canals.

The dark side of Venezia is that it is sinking and no one can agree on what should be done about it. Also parts of downtown are dirty and run down and rather smelly in summer heat.

Venezia receives as many as 200,000 visitors a day, but the resident population has declined to less than 70,000. Many young people have moved to the mainland, where rents and prices in general are lower.

It's essential to have a good map showing all street names and water bus routes; buy one at any newsstand. Signs on many corners point you to the nearest major landmark - San Marco, Rialto, Accademia, etc. - but don't count on finding such signs once you're deep into residential neighborhoods.