Diane Snider Photos

A single Grand Canal photo can tell you so much. A daily delivery of food stuffs arrives, by boat of course, for the waterside market. That boat "parks" between pilings which throughout the city provide specific places for tying up - and remember those pilings came all the way from Scandinavia to form the bottom support for platforms which in turn hold the houses and palaces. Sadly, the viscious tidal waters through the centuries have forced abandonment of the first floors of many of these centuries-old structures and some are even totally empty because of rot.

Give serious thought in advance as to the type of vaporetto ticket you wish to buy - guide books will explain the differences among them. You may wish to hop on and off during your 2 1/2 mile ride on the Grand Canal for photos and/or shopping along the side streets. And if you're hungry for a snack, the local market is just the place to stop, especially for fresh fruit. If by chance, you hop off the vaporetto on the Canal side opposite the market, don't despair but look for one of the six traghetto stops along the Canal.

To understand the uniqueness of Grand Canal architecture, you must realize that these structures were built centuries ago on water-level platforms which, in turn, were constructed on top of 15 foot pilings driven into the marshy land below which was actually sediment that was washed out from the Italian mainland nearby. (And with no assistance from computer-aided design nor cell phone communication among the construction men!) Interestingly enough, much of the wood for pilings came all the way from Scandinavia - by ship of course.

Venice has canals instead of streets and its more fortunate citizens proudly own private boats instead of a family car. Imagine trying to find a parking space for your boat so that you can do a quick errand to a grocery store! A garage for your boat?

A world reknown structure, this church and its strategical position at the St. Mark's end of the Grand Canal of Venice, always prove to be of interest to everyone and gets camera buffs busy shooting its famous domes and towers.