Shanks Pony in Venice.

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One usually associates Venice as a place of canals which is true but the city is made up of many little islands that are connected by bridges alternatively you can catch a water taxi, gondola or waterbus. The best way to see Venice though is on foot or rather by shanks pony! Venice is made up of 118 islands with 170 canals and 417 bridges connecting each island and crossing the canals. There are over 400 Gondolas in the city but only 3-4 licences are issued each year. The main entrance to many houses and grand palaces are along the banks of canals hence there was no need for grand alleyways which meander around the backs of the big houses beside the canals. There are over 400 palaces in Venice. It is a postmans nightmare as the addresses are not in any uniformed manner but are divided amongst the 6 districts. The whole city is like a maze if you are on foot and you need a fairly good map to get yourself where you want to go. Most people head towards the direction of St Marks Square and around 50,000 people visit it each day. You can find almost deserted streets and piazzas well away from this area. Venice is not really disabled friendly as you would need to be able to walk up steps to cross the bridges. The rewards are amazing views some of which are jaw dropping and take your breath away! The photo shows how higgledy piggledy the houses are along the tiny canals. They were built quite high and the alleyways were narrow to help keep the sun out as mostly the paths are in the shade during the day!