Venetian Holidays: Twice in the Canal
Italy is a country that always amazes with its diversity. I have visited Rome, Venice, Naples, Milan, and Pisa, and each city feels like a separate character in a big family saga.
Pisa is like the eldest son: calm and confident, with historical grandeur beyond its famous Leaning Tower. Milan is the fashionable daughter, full of life, with well-kept parks at every turn. Naples is the mischievous younger brother, always seeking adventure. And Venice? It is undoubtedly the mother of the family — elegant, refined, creating an atmosphere of endless celebration around her.
How Deep Are the Venetian Canals?
Perhaps every tourist visiting Venice for the first time asks this question. My companion and I, enchanted by the city«s beauty and the sea air, spent two days discussing nothing but the canals. Is the water salty? How deep is it? Is the bottom sandy or rocky? By evening, our curiosity reached its peak, and we decided to sit on the steps by the water. Almost every embankment has such ledges — wide, but often slippery with moss and moisture.
My boyfriend went first, holding my hand. He confidently stepped onto the top step, slipped, and plunged into the water, pulling me along in this unexpected duet.
Spoiler for the curious: the canals of Venice are not very deep, about two meters (about 6.6 feet). The water is salty, and the bottom is covered with a soft carpet of algae, making it almost impossible to tell whether there are stones or sand underneath.
Second Swim
At first the water went over my head, but I quickly surfaced and saw dozens of hands reaching out from the shore. It was an unforgettable feeling — to be the center of attention of so many people ready to help. The witnesses pulled us out, along with our shoes, phones, and documents — everything, of course, soaked through. And then we all burst out laughing together: there was simply no other way to react to the situation!
The passersby, seeing that we were all right, dispersed with smiles, and we began to assess the damage. Then it turned out that my boyfriend had lost his glasses, without which he is nearly blind and cannot move around properly. So I heroically climbed into the canal for a second time. Standing on the layer of algae, I began to feel the bottom with my feet. I don«t know which Italian gods favored us, but I found the glasses and pulled them out!
When we, soaked to the bone, entered a nearby souvenir shop in search of dry clothes and told the seller about our adventure, he just shrugged: «I»ve been working here for many years, but I«ve never seen anything like this.»
As a memento of those days, we kept matching t-shirts with the word «Venice» and receipts from the service center where our phones were cleaned of salt. And the owner of the apartment where we stayed kindly provided us with a dryer for free.
Overall, this incident showed me how warm, friendly, and responsive people in Italy can be. Everyone we met tried to help as best they could. To feel that, I had to dive into the canal, but it was worth it.
To summarize, I«ll say: in Venice, it»s best to stay away from the edge of the canals. Otherwise, this city is incredibly cheerful and charming, especially if you turn towards the Castello district.
P.S.
In other cities of the «Italian family,» there are also their own rules for a pleasant pastime. In Rome, I advise looking into all courtyards and alleys, even the most inconspicuous — there you can stumble upon 16th-century sculptures or talented street musicians. In Naples, it«s worth going to a wild beach on the Tyrrhenian Sea, in Milan — sitting on the grass in one of the central parks and watching passersby, and in Pisa — fooling around at the Leaning Tower, then calmly having lunch at a local pizzeria.
