No, sadly I'm not back in one of my favorite places - Venice, Italy.
I've been looking at, and trying to organize, my thousands of photos
from places visited in the past years. Taking a virtual journey which
is full of fabulous memories is the only way to travel these days!
Now and then I may just add a post, such as this one, with a few
photos, some fond memories of a special place. . . . . . . just something
which will be a change from the garden and flowers posts which seem
to be prevalent during the COVID-19 lock down!
"The vaporetti/waterbus plied its way slowly across
the lagoon. The number of craft around us in the cool
morning air were many. Traffic lanes are well marked by
these wooden pilings, often punctuated by large seagulls...
...............some speedboats zoomed by, higher
priced private water taxis passed quickly, whereas
we enjoyed the slower, cheaper ride awed by the scenery
which appeared out of the mist as we got closer to our
hotel disembarkation point, the Madonna dell'Orto Pier."
~ October 2012 - Venice to Istanbul ~
Venetian life on the smaller canals.
The Grand Canal 2012 - before Social Distancing.
"Although there isn’t data to indicate that water quality
in Venice has improved significantly due to COVID-19, air pollution
is a different matter. Due to the temporary closures of factories in
northern Italy, and fewer water taxis and cruise ships emitting
exhaust and causing pollution, air quality in the region has
significantly improved—so much so that the European Space Agency
has been able to capture the vanishing pollution from satellites
monitoring Italy."
Will the world and its waters truly benefit from a changed
lifestyle?
Despite the great sadness the virus has brought, it would
be nice to think something good might come from it.
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Wonderful memories. It must be very quiet in Venice now with no tourists about.
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful memories your photos have brought back. I love Venice and hope to visit again one day.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos and memories. It's a wee bit of happy to see these. I visited Venice over 30 years ago and loved it. Nice to see your pics. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteVenice was one of my favorite places in Italy. Your pictures brought back some memories for me.
ReplyDeleteI love this look back at your travels, Mary. I've not visited Venice and it seems like such a beautiful romantic city. Yes it would be wonderful if pollution could be eliminated from our water and air. Have a good weekend. Hugs, Lorrie.
ReplyDeleteThe cost would be very steep, but I hope that there are other ways, besides social isolation and staying home, that can remedy the situation. Such beautiful pictures. I'll never see it in person so seeing it here is delightful.
ReplyDeleteI visited Venice years and years ago when you could actually walk around and enjoy it peacefully, so feel grateful to have known it at a time when it much less visited.
ReplyDeleteI too have been going through my photos and deleting many of them as lots are not very good and some are repeats. The only problem is that I think I may have given myself a touch of repetitive strain injury by doing the same action over and over again - I think that I have deleted at least 3,000.
I heard on the news last week that carbon emission are down by 20% all around the globe, something that was considered to be impossible only a few weeks ago.
I too hope that things in the future will change.
When computers became a household essential it was stated that people could now work from home, but alas it did not happen as everyone continued to commute. Now with lockdown it has proved to be a totally viable way of working, only necessitating maybe one day a week in the office.
Hi Mary...Sorry to bother..just picked up your Blog..
ReplyDeleteNice..! :).
You mention Venice to Istanbul..We have a very popular
chef over here called Rick Stein..He's a big favourite
of mine..And has traveled around the world, in his
culinary series..One series he did make was..'Venice to
Istanbul' l've put the link below to the first episode,
in Venice, if you Google..Venice to Istanbul..Rick Stein,
and click onto the top link, it will give you the links
to the following episodes..! They were made in 2015..!
Hope you enjoy it..!
God Bless! Take Care! Stay Safe! :o).
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x74j2pe
Yes Willie, I know of Rick Stein - he's grown a huge restaurant/hotel business over 40 years hasn't he - flagship restaurant being in Padstow I believe. Sadly I've never eaten there.
DeleteToday Bob and I will watch the Venice to Istanbul video - thanks for the heads up again!
Mary -
On the news tonight they were showing the water taxi run by women delivering food so they could stay in practice of paddling. I have also see stories of an alligator and dolphin swimming in the canals, but not sure that is true. The water has gotten better. I am wondering if we can really go back to exactly what life was like before.
ReplyDeleteVenice is one of my favourite places in the world!
ReplyDeleteWhat's not to love about it.... sadly the crowds of fellow travellers.
My one and only visit was in 1999, twenty years ago but I remember everything vividly.
I took masses of photos at the time on an old camera, sadly I can't find any now.
My hope is that they will stop the cruise ships entering Venice. I know it's a tourist economy but those huge ships are damaging their environment.
I've read where ships over 1000 tonnes will be excluded from entering Venice.
Thank goodness - I hope it's not a case of "too little, too late".
They "floating cities" can anchor in other harbours and bus passengers into Venice.
I have been on a short cruise on a small ship with 600+ passengers and that was a good number! Less is more on cruise ships for me!
Love your photos as always Mary!
Shane xxx
Dear Mary,
ReplyDeleteI would like to see more of your travel posts. This one in particular brings back beautiful memories.