What is there to do in Venice? Oh let me count the ways

My friend Shaleem asked/challenged me to write about 'the very best' that Venice has to offer, and I originally posted my response as a comment on Facebook. It figured that overly long post could use a little more fleshing out with proper visuals.

We found Venice to be a fairy-tale city, a magical kind of place. As a result, our list of the 'very best' is a very long list. Here is the short version of the long list.

Our flat was in the building to the left of the bridge.

1. Walk everywhere and discover as much as you possibly can in places where tourists don't normally venture.

This is right near the entrance to the Grand Canal by St. Mark's Square, so I imagine most people would end up here at some point. But do take the time to walk this stretch in the morning or evening when it's not so busy like above. A sunny day makes it even better.

John Cabot's house (for those of you who took a very English high school history class).

Castello, east of San Marco

Just keep walking, that won't ever steer you wrong.

It will be difficult, but do not miss seeing the details.

I repeat: Do not miss the details.

2. Go into as many churches as you can stand. Lots of great art that you've never seen before, and usually quite wonderful architecture as well. And every one that you do go into, be sure to look up. Many have the most amazing painted ceilings. Even if you don't like churches or get tired of them very quickly, you should probably see the best three or four...make that six or seven. St. Mark's of course; the Frari church; the Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Those are the Big Three, but do not miss the Church of San Pantalon. On any visit to Venice, see this church, and give yourself half an hour to stare at the ceiling. And then go see a couple more churches. At least.

Not that I want to take you away from my wonderful writing, but if you're really into churches, here's a good overview, organized by region. http://churchesofvenice.com/index.htm

3. Art museums - the Accademia (when it's not being renovated and half of it is closed...), the Guggenheim if you're into more contemporary stuff. But also go to a number of palaces as they tend to have lots of great art in their collections. No photo!!

4. Find all the bridges. Crossing over those suckers, all 400 of them, never gets boring.

5. Get a pass for the water bus - the vaporetto - because you're going to be here for a few days, right? It's way cheaper with the pass, and it is super fun to jump on and ride along the Grand Canal at every time of day. In the morning when the sun is coming up. In the afternoon when the sun is high in the sky and the action all over the city has really picked up. And especially do it in the evening after dark so you can see in some of the mansions/palaces along the way.

Being on the water takes you right into the heart of the action.

Just starting an evening Grand Canal water bus ride.

6. There's a mall in a large building, Fondaco dei Tedeschi, right beside the Rialto Bridge. It has a fabulous rooftop viewing deck where you can see right down the Grand Canal in both directions, as well as views over the entire city.

View south down the Grand Canal.

View west down the Grand Canal.

View south again, this time with the covered Rialto Bridge in the photo.

7. Speaking of views, take the water taxi over to San Giorgio and climb the church tower for a different but no less spectacular view. This is not a 'maybe' or 'if I have time.' This is a must.

Trust me, you'll want to spend a bit of time in the bell tower.

8. Take the water bus out to Burano, but do it early in the morning, around 8:30 or so. You'll be there as the island is waking up, and before the throngs arrive. Burano is charming, but less so when it's packed with spaghetti-strapped and muscle-shirted tourist. Even though it's 40 minutes away, this trip is still covered by your water bus pass. And if it's a sunny day, it's a beautiful trip. If you're up for it, carry on to Torcello to see the very old church with the very old frescoes, see where Venice began, and enjoy some peace and quiet if you need it. If you're not needing peace, stop in at Murano on the way back.

Church of San Michele on a small island very close to Venice, on our way to Burano. If I had turned 180 degrees, you'd be seeing Murano.

Okay, it seems crazy, but it really is this colourful. At least, that's what my memory tells me even if my camera lies.

On a day as bright as this, that reflected light explodes in the shadows, creating a fabulous rainbow. And if you get there early, it's just you and a couple of the island's early risers.

Just in case you missed my point that Burano is very colourful.

9. Do a day trip somewhere like Padua or Treviso. Ten euros by train, maybe half an hour away. 

Padua's clock tower

Super-awesome church in Padua. You have to go through a climate/humidity-controlled entry system to get in, feels very futurey. Important: Read your train ticket carefully otherwise you might mistake your departure time from Venice with your arrival time in Padua. This will result in some extreme Parkour activity to arrive in time to make your scheduled entry. Miss it, and you're out of luck.

10. Explore as many of Venice's campos, the small squares around their churches. They're sort of like the playground/parks for each neighbourhood. Grab a sandwich from a nearby cafe and have a seat on one of the many benches, and watch normal people do normal things.

I'm only now realizing that I don't have nearly enough campo photos. Most of the time we just took a seat and relaxed, and my camera just hung at my side. Which was nice, but I sort of wish I had more pics...

But if you keep walking, you'll find more and more of them.

11. Get a gelato at Nico's and walk along the Zattere, maybe at ten in the morning, or later in the afternoon (no, morning is not too early to have gelato in Italy). Be sure to do it at some point regardless, but morning and late afternoon light is magnificent along here.

This is early morning at the Eastern tip of Dorsoduro, St. Mark's bell tower across the canal. Walking west along here on the southern side will take you along what's called the Zattere.

12. Speaking of light, make several visits to the Accademia Bridge. Shortly after sunrise, mid-day, and early evening. It'll be busy at mid-day, but at the very least go morning and evening.

View from the Accademia Bridge probably around late morning.

13. Speaking of busy, St. Mark's Square will be crowded throughout the day, but early morning you will be there by yourself. If you can be there as the sun is rising, you will thank me with a not so small monetary donation.

St. Mark's Square (church on the right, Doge's Palace background right, San Giorgio across the canal in the distance) in the late afternoon, still super busy.

Nearly the same spot very early in the morning. 

If you want wedding photos, you'd better get here early.

Once again, early morning is the time to arrive.

14. Before you go to Venice, read Thomas Madden's 'Venice: A New History.' Memorize it if you can, so that when you are in Venice you can recall all the incredible things that happened 200 or 500 or 1000 years ago on this very spot. Also spend some time thinking about all the amazing things that likely happened where you're standing, but just never made it into the history books.

15. That's the short list, which doesn't include the Doge's Palace, the Correr Museum, and all those fancy places you're supposed to go to, but do those as well.

The Bridge of Sighs

16. My wife says I must mention that there are no cars in Venice. No traffic sounds, no smog or smell of exhaust. You can easily walk everywhere in Venice, and you should. Make it your goal to see as many bridges, canals, campos, gelato shops, and churches as you possibly can, because this city is pure magic.

Standing in the arch under Venice's clock tower. Magical, fairy tale, whatever you want to call it, it probably fits.

Most of these images are available as prints in multiple sizes. Contact us for more info.

More Italy.

More travel.

All Those Books

It has come to the attention of my agents and entourage that my many books and book titles are confusing people. While I enjoy a good practical joke every now and then, it was not my intention to have people buying more books than necessary.

So here is a primer on all the books available from 275Days.

We'll start with the most recent…actually, no, that's probably going to be more confusing and not very helpful. Let's start at the beginning, maybe that will clear things up. The real beginning, for me. For this story, at least.

A bunch of years ago now, we had a super cool opportunity, and out of that, we took some time off to travel around the world with our two kids for nine months. Before we left home, I was thinking about how to keep family and friends informed of what we were doing, and a blog was the best I could come up with. Nine months is pretty close to 275 days, so that's where the name of the blog came from. (Actually, if you subtract our departure day and our return day, we were gone for 275 days.) What I did know was that I would take lots of pictures in lots of cool places, and people would probably be interested in that. This was 2007, so youtubing while travelling was not really a big thing, and I didn't want to be spending the trip videoing everything and then being glued to a computer during all of our down time. 

I won't get into the details of the trip here, but the low down is this:

One month in Italy

Five weeks in Greece

Four weeks in Turkey

About two weeks each in 

Syria

Jordan

Egypt

Eleven weeks in India

And the final two months for a rush job of 

Thailand

Cambodia

Vietnam

and Laos

I started writing before we got to Rome, the first place on our itinerary, and did not let up until we left the airport in Incheon, Korea, on our way back home. 

I ended up with a couple hundred posts, with more than thousand pictures on the blog. That's just a guess. I never actually counted how many pictures I included, but it was a fraction of the twenty thousand I took. And those two hundred-plus posts clocked in at over 150,000 words. Yikes, what a mouthful.

I spent a couple years preparing for an art show in 2010, and then had more time to think about the value of all those words and photos. It seemed a shame to just have it sit on the computer in our house, only to be seen on anniversary dates of being here or there, or when we (I) were feeling particularly nostalgic. But as I reread the blog, two things were clear: there were a lot of great stories lingering in that mass of words, and; it deserved a far better fate than to simply disappear in an electronic recycling depot. A book seemed like the logical answer. After a bit of editing and a lot of designing, I came up with a book so massive that it required two volumes. The online printing service, Blurb, had a page limit and I was well over. At this point, two more things were clear: it would need considerably more editing, and: it was beautiful. This could work.

Venice Watercolours

 One really enjoyable thing to do in Venice is grab a sandwich and/or a drink, have a seat, and watch life unfold before your eyes. There's usually something to catch your eye, whether it's the delivery guy hauling something by on a dolly, kids playing soccer, or maybe just some older folks stopping to chat. And if you're in one of the campos, perhaps a busker playing some quiet guitar. No matter what your goals are when visiting Venice, be sure to take the time to soak it up. Don't just splash around from site to site, making a nuisance of yourself. Slow down, blend in, have a seat. You'll be richer for it.

Some watercolours from Venice.

A classic Venetian scene

More classic Venice: windows framed by stone decoration.

View of the Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Square from the water.

Another classic view: Maria della Salute from
the Accademia bridge.

View past the Doge's Palace, across the canal
to the Church of San Giorgio.

It doesn't get more classic than this.

Contact me for more info, size, and availability of these paintings.

Things Will Not Always Be As They Were

 One of the great joys of the big trip we did several years ago, was visiting Syria before the fighting broke out.

With the events of the past decade, I wonder what has become of the many children we met, who stepped forward to welcome us, to ask questions and pose for photos, kids who would now be in their late teens and early twenties.

Syria is rich in history, with a city like Damascus that has been continuously inhabited for four thousand years. Evidence at a nearby site, barely twenty kilometres away, suggests the existence of a small town from ten thousand years ago. Aleppo has been inhabited in some form or another for eight thousand years.

Apamea was a Greek and Roman city located about 100 kms southwest of Aleppo, with a population that exceeded 100,000 at the turn of the millenium (Year 0). Its most striking remaining feature is its main colonnade, nearly two kilometres long, still lined by dozens of pillars, still paved with original stones. The memory of walking that road still gives me chills.

It's a stunning site/sight that is only outdone by the extraordinary friendliness of the people of Syria. There are friendly people all over the world - we of course hail from Friendly Manitoba - but our experience in Syria is something we will carry with us to the end of our days. The occasional kiss, the firm handshakes, the effervescent smiles and enthusiastic welcomes from people of all ages made Syria a highlight of our travels.

Main Colonnade at Apamea

Wandering a bit around Apamea

Entry arch at Palmyra

Temple of Bel, Palmyra

A window at Azem Palace in Damascus. Note the cat.

One of Hama's many water wheels.

Window at Krak des Chevaliers

Looking out over the countryside from Krak des Chevaliers.

Windows of Kolkata

There was something about this particular Kolkata window that seemed absolutely transcendent to me. The exposed brick, open shutter, the sheet, the bars. Every element in the image added up to something I could not explain, but could feel connecting deep within me. Perhaps the ten weeks of travelling around India by that point had something to do with it, as well as the way were travelling around India. We were embedding ourselves into a society in a fundamental fashion, but also from a perspective that allowed us the freedom to exit at any point should things go awry. That freedom allowed me to examine society with a micro lens while forever keeping a distance between us. I'm struggling to explain the way that distance impacted my feelings about India, or perhaps whether that distance means that I could never have a true understanding of India.
Regardless, this window made me understand how India is so much more than the sum of its parts.

It Speaks to Me
Water soluble graphite on paper
Sold

Distance
Oil on board, 24 by 48"
Sold

Another Kolkata window -

Skin Deep
Water soluble graphite on paper, 17 by 22"
$700

A Day in Casablanca

We spent one day in Casablanca at the end of our Morocco trip, arriving Friday around noon and leaving at dawn on Saturday morning. With a number of the things we wanted to see being closed, we had a fair bit of extra time one our hands. Which is okay because we like to take the time to wander.

I had resisted all pleas from my wife to check out Rick’s Cafe, but given the current situation and our proximity to this “legendary” spot, I relented. It was kind of hard to find as we figured it would be noisy and packed with people. I think we actually walked past it a couple of times before google maps politely informed me that this quiet unassuming door was indeed the place we were looking for. Laura was thrilled. For months in advance I said there was no way I was going in this snakky little tourist trap. And now here we were, entering the fabled cafe that had set her mind to wonder since she first saw the movie. That magical little bar that has become an icon in the world of movie sets. That little place that has a sign on the front door saying, “Closed for private function.”

So we went and toured the medina instead. I think I enjoyed that much more.

Before checking out Rick's Cafe, we inspected the mosque as closely as we could without going inside.

The buildings above were very familiar to us, and after walking around and through them, we realized that they were used in the movie, A Hologram for the King. It was weird because everything was finished, but they were clearly unoccupied.

All things considered, Casablanca didn't have much to offer us, especially given that a number of things we wanted to see were closed. As it was a Friday, the mosque was also closed to us as non-Muslims. We knew that ahead of time, but it was the only way we could work our flights and squeeze in as much of the rest of Morocco that we wanted to see as well.

But for a two-week stay, I'd say we did all right. Asilah, Chefchaouen, Fes, Meknes, and Rabat.

For Canadian travellers, Morocco is very convenient what with direct flights from Montreal to Casablanca.

Here's a short video of some of our time in Morocco.

Find more travel content at 275days.com.

Chios Island, Greece

Chios is one of those places that you'd probably never think of when it comes to Greek Islands. And why would you? There's Santorini of course, which everyone has to go to because every book about Greek islands will probably begin with a chapter on Santorini.  Mykonos. Naxos. Paros. Crete. All beautiful islands to be sure.
One of the reasons we chose Chios was its proximity to Turkey. Another was its simplicity. And as budget backpackers, cost.
By the time we got to Chios we were in week nine of a forty week trip. We wanted a place to relax, restore, and hang out, without breaking the bank. And when we were done, it was a half hour ferry ride to Turkey. The house on Chios was one of the few things we booked before we left on our trip at the end of July. I'm not entirely sure why I was comfortable booking some other places in Italy and Greece while on the road, and not on a Greek Island. Probably because I knew we were going to be there for two weeks, so I'd better get it right.

In the water at Limnos

Limnos Beach

At any rate, we showed up in mid-September, which turned out to be perfect timing. Apparently no Greeks or any travellers are interested in going to the beach and dipping their toes in water that for a prairie Canadian was practically at tropical temperature.
The first thing we noticed about Chios was that it looked like it never rained here. Later, we found out that that was almost true. It had been a year. The next thing we noticed was that once the sun came up, Chios looked a lot like other Greek islands: no clouds in searing blue skies, and a lot of water nearby.
So what does Chios have to offer?
Chios Town, where the ferries dock, has pretty much everything you need, from car rentals to big grocery stores, and a decent beach down at Karfas, but we didn't really do much in the way of exploring around town. Our home was on the opposite (west) side of island, about an hour's drive away. Up one side of the mountain and down the next (with lots of ups and downs in between).

Our house in the bottom right, all of the Aegean at the top.

The house was just a couple kilometres outside of Volissos, a pretty small town with maybe four hundred in habitants. In town you can get most things you need at a basic little market, and a nearby baker that is about as basic as it gets but makes the most mouthwateringly good bread. Over the course of our eighteen days here, we probably walked to town ten times just to get bread in the morning. And I didn't take even one photo, of the bread or the bakery. What a shame.
There is a demolished fort above the town that has some attractive views of the surrounding area.

Views from the hill over Volissos

Chios is a big island with a some fascinating small towns, of which we visited Mesta, Pyrgi, and Olympi.

Friendly cat at a restaurant in Mesta.

Mesta is an extraordinary place that would be worth a visit no matter what island it was on. Known for its labyrinthine alleys and numerous arches, it was a centre of mastic production, important in the early days of gum production. As in chewing gum.

Emporios Beach at the south end of Chios, after visiting Olympi.

One place we didn't go to and I'm forever kicking myself over was Anavatos, a ghost town from medieval times. This isn't the best drone video ever, but it makes me think that if I am ever back on Chios, I will not miss this again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgitUCBWXc4
The main reason for coming to Chios was to relax, and we did plenty of that on Limnos Beach, just a couple hundred metres from our house. If we weren't eating, or walking to town for some more bread, we probably spent eighty percent of our free time on this beach or in this water. We saw one other family, only twice, on this beach the whole time we were on the island. It doesn't get much more relaxing than that.

These are all from Chios, except for the far left, and the pillars. Note the blue skies.

Breakfast on our patio.

Walking to Volissos, the town in the background.

Every evening looked like this.

A Day in the Life of an Artist

A fun look at what goes on around here some days.
Usually a lot more, but I can only spend so much time trying to document what I do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqBMeyW1b7I