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| Venice, Italy |
The man I love takes me to Venezia - Venice, the city I have never visited for longer than 4 days, but I know much better than the city I was born in. I have been in Venice many times: in summers, in winters, with my brothers and alone, and lately with my husband. This is a third time we are going there as a couple…because my husband fell in love with this place. Venice is a city of Casanova, a famous lover, a man who knew everything about women, a city where the Carnival gets a completely different dimension.
If you plan a visit, come to Venice by train, in the evening, as the sun is setting over the water, you will not regret it. Like in a slow-motion movie you will change into an islander, and you will like it. As a matter of fact, you will stop being a person of the mainland, and get a pleasure of using gondolas and vaporettos as the main transport medium.
Venice is a city where a romance is in the air, but you have to be very careful with love. You can lose in Venice not only a lover but entire love you have for another person. This is, this water thing, a fluid, ambiguous environment everybody loves and nobody is sure of... That is why you have to chase your love in Venice, repossess it, reinvented it, and live it again. The man I love is so sure of our love that he is not afraid to romance me in Venice. He says, he is up to this challenge.
Most visitors amazed by the beauty of Venice don’t even realize that it is a very Greek place. The story and glory of the Venetian Republic started at Bosphorus when a small city on lagoons helped to fight Normans - Vikings who wanted to take Constantinople….
This is how the Venetian Republic established the monopoly to the most profitable sea route in the Mediterranean …the route to Levante - to the East. The trade with East had made Venice extremely wealthy and the Republic started to have colonies on the shores of Adriatic and Aegean seas. They owned a big chunk of Greek Peloponnese, Crete, Zakynthos Cephalonia, and Corfu. The naval and the commercial bases of Venice were very well known throughout the Mediterranean.
Venice - a city-state, became a thalassocracy, a Repubblica Marinara, a maritime superpower. And like Romans before, Venice put big taxes in the Greek colonies, and like Romans before, Venice was taking by force a youth from Laconia, it made up the Republic’s light cavalry – the best soldiers in the Venetian army.
When you finally reach a train station in Venice, descend the stairs to the Grand Canal. Instead of trying the shortest way to the hotel, take the vaporetto the long way around, by way of Giudecca and Dorsoduro, you will see the Venetians coming back home, you will smell the air and hear the water, and then disembark at San Zaccaria, on the Riva degli Schiavoni….You will have to find your way to the hotel….
For a skilled Greek eye, the signs of the Greek presence in the city are obvious. The most prominent are the horses of Saint Mark, which were at first placed on the façade of Saint Mark’s Basilica…Well… they were not Saint Mark’s originally, but belonged to the Hippodrome of Constantinople...and, and during one of the crusades were looted from Constantinople and brought to Venice by Venetian soldiers…Those soldiers were most probably Greeks…
In XV century a miracle had happened in the world… in Venice…. It was called
Le Renascimento - the Reborn. Most of us know the French name of it - Le Renaissance. It was one of the most amazing and beautiful cultural and social movements of humankind, and it started with the biggest disaster of the Christian world, a disaster of biblical proportions…
The Constantinople was taken by Turks – the barbarians. After the imperial demise of Byzantium, many Greeks rich and poor had found a refuge in Venice.
Those who did not have skills joined the Venetian army and formed a famous five thousand stratioti (from Greek – the soldiers - οι στρατιώτες), the most courageous fighters Venice ever had...
But there were a few people Venice will never forget. First - Anna Notara (Ἄννα Νοταρᾶ) a Byzantine aristocrat, a daughter of Lukas Notaras (Λουκᾶς Νοταρᾶς), the last Megas Doux (Lord High Admiral) of Byzantium. The roots of the family were in Greek Laconia, in Monemvasia ( H Μονεμβασία). At that time there were fairy tales how rich Notaras family was…. But Lukas Notaras was not only extremely rich, he was also extremely bright. He invested all family wealth in Europe, mainly in Venice. Anna Notara had moved to Venice with her two nieces, 10 years before the fall of Constantinople and avoided the massacre of her family.
She became a center of Greek immigration, a great inspiration, and financial support to Greek artists, writers, and scholars. With a help of a new invention - a Greek press, Greek books were printed in big quantities and the Greek language and learning were transmitted to West. This is how a humanist movement started in Italy. Not only Dante Alighieri and Petrarca knew Greek, but even Bocaccio could converse in our language. He was the one who wrote very naughty stories for adults >Decameron< – which means in Greek - Ten Days. A second well known Greek in Venice was Basilios Bessarion ( Βασίλειος Βησσαρίων ) a Greek Orthodox monk, who had tried to negotiate between East and West, between Catholic an Orthodox Christians. He ended up as a Catholic Cardinal and was regarded as an ideological traitor…. Bessarion donated to the Senate of the Venetian Republic 500 Greek manuscripts. Because of him, the biggest Greek Library in the West was created, and it was also the beginning of the first public library, a famous Libreria Marciana.
Most visitors amazed by the beauty of Venice don’t even realize that it is a very Greek place. The story and glory of the Venetian Republic started at Bosphorus when a small city on lagoons helped to fight Normans - Vikings who wanted to take Constantinople….
This is how the Venetian Republic established the monopoly to the most profitable sea route in the Mediterranean …the route to Levante - to the East. The trade with East had made Venice extremely wealthy and the Republic started to have colonies on the shores of Adriatic and Aegean seas. They owned a big chunk of Greek Peloponnese, Crete, Zakynthos Cephalonia, and Corfu. The naval and the commercial bases of Venice were very well known throughout the Mediterranean.
Venice - a city-state, became a thalassocracy, a Repubblica Marinara, a maritime superpower. And like Romans before, Venice put big taxes in the Greek colonies, and like Romans before, Venice was taking by force a youth from Laconia, it made up the Republic’s light cavalry – the best soldiers in the Venetian army.
When you finally reach a train station in Venice, descend the stairs to the Grand Canal. Instead of trying the shortest way to the hotel, take the vaporetto the long way around, by way of Giudecca and Dorsoduro, you will see the Venetians coming back home, you will smell the air and hear the water, and then disembark at San Zaccaria, on the Riva degli Schiavoni….You will have to find your way to the hotel….
For a skilled Greek eye, the signs of the Greek presence in the city are obvious. The most prominent are the horses of Saint Mark, which were at first placed on the façade of Saint Mark’s Basilica…Well… they were not Saint Mark’s originally, but belonged to the Hippodrome of Constantinople...and, and during one of the crusades were looted from Constantinople and brought to Venice by Venetian soldiers…Those soldiers were most probably Greeks…
In XV century a miracle had happened in the world… in Venice…. It was called
Le Renascimento - the Reborn. Most of us know the French name of it - Le Renaissance. It was one of the most amazing and beautiful cultural and social movements of humankind, and it started with the biggest disaster of the Christian world, a disaster of biblical proportions…
The Constantinople was taken by Turks – the barbarians. After the imperial demise of Byzantium, many Greeks rich and poor had found a refuge in Venice.
Those who did not have skills joined the Venetian army and formed a famous five thousand stratioti (from Greek – the soldiers - οι στρατιώτες), the most courageous fighters Venice ever had...
But there were a few people Venice will never forget. First - Anna Notara (Ἄννα Νοταρᾶ) a Byzantine aristocrat, a daughter of Lukas Notaras (Λουκᾶς Νοταρᾶς), the last Megas Doux (Lord High Admiral) of Byzantium. The roots of the family were in Greek Laconia, in Monemvasia ( H Μονεμβασία). At that time there were fairy tales how rich Notaras family was…. But Lukas Notaras was not only extremely rich, he was also extremely bright. He invested all family wealth in Europe, mainly in Venice. Anna Notara had moved to Venice with her two nieces, 10 years before the fall of Constantinople and avoided the massacre of her family.
She became a center of Greek immigration, a great inspiration, and financial support to Greek artists, writers, and scholars. With a help of a new invention - a Greek press, Greek books were printed in big quantities and the Greek language and learning were transmitted to West. This is how a humanist movement started in Italy. Not only Dante Alighieri and Petrarca knew Greek, but even Bocaccio could converse in our language. He was the one who wrote very naughty stories for adults >Decameron< – which means in Greek - Ten Days. A second well known Greek in Venice was Basilios Bessarion ( Βασίλειος Βησσαρίων ) a Greek Orthodox monk, who had tried to negotiate between East and West, between Catholic an Orthodox Christians. He ended up as a Catholic Cardinal and was regarded as an ideological traitor…. Bessarion donated to the Senate of the Venetian Republic 500 Greek manuscripts. Because of him, the biggest Greek Library in the West was created, and it was also the beginning of the first public library, a famous Libreria Marciana.
Finding your hotel at night, in Venice, can be difficult. The streets have no names the way we get used to… Well… they are not named at all…….
You have to assert your way through the maze of canals, and alleys and it is nearly impossible to find the right way. Then stop and see the shadows of old houses, hear the water. And when you are well and truly lost, just ask, someone will point you to your hotel…..It will turn out to be just around the corner. Open the window in your room and see the lights on the Canal. Unexpectedly, you will feel very hungry, so have a dinner at the restaurant near your hotel, and when maître will suggest a meal and the wine with it… say: YES, because it will be the best meal and wine you have ever tasted….
There were many Greek families known in Venice: The Samarianis from Zakynthos, The Courcumelis from Crete….and then they were brothers Papadopoulos from Corfu (Kerkyra): Nicolas and Angelo. Papadopoulos is the most common Greek last name…but there was nothing common about brothers Papadopoulos. Before Aristotle Onassis, they were the richest in the world…..so rich that the Venetians used to say that “they owned their own wave in the sea”..
In Venice, they became Papadopoli, got an aristocratic title, converted to Catholicism, and started to intermarry with the best Italian families. One of the most famous was a marriage into the Florentine family of Aldobrandini, a family of Cardinals and Popes. With time the Greek genius and good luck had dispersed in between ordinary, but aristocratic Italian genes. There is nothing left from the old Greek Papadopoulos glory...because a Greek soul needs only one thing to survive ...another Greek soul. The Palazzo Papadopoli at Grand Canal is still the best address in Venice, but it is now a luxury hotel. It has made lately newspapers' headlines because a Hollywood star George Clooney had his wedding party there.
Mornings are my most favorite in Venice. After you make love to the man you love, you can hear the increasing noise on the water, then it will stop….It is exactly like the musical intervals, you will wait for incoming sounds and try to recognize them.
Have a room service ….
And because you are a very serious visitor go through your list of “Must See!”
It can be the longest list ever.
Architecture with Gothic, Byzantine and Moorish influences: Doge’s Palace, Ca’d’Oro, Ca’ Pensaro. Which Palazzo is the most important on your list?
The painting on canvas was invented in Venice...
There is also a long list of the Renaissance painters: Da Messina, Tintoretto, Veronese and Titian….Who's work will you see and where?
Do you plan to see Tiepolo in Palazzo Papadopoli? Or, maybe a Peggy Guggenheim's home which is now a museum of modern art….
If you are an artist painter, you will discover in Venice one phenomenal thing: THE LIGHT
It changes very quickly and does not leave you to contemplate the moment, it is as fluid as water, and like water makes you doubt the shapes and colors…
Call for a water taxi and allow yourself to be taken to the canal known as Rio dei Greci (the river of Greeks), it is in the area called Castello. You will find there a church di San Giorgio dei Greci, Saint George of Greeks - OΆγιος Γεώργιος των Ελλήνων. Like nowhere else, you will feel there the spirits of Greeks who have lived and died in Venice.
Then return to the Piazza di San Marco and try to talk to the pigeons….
Have a small walk around, as you wait for a boat to San Giorgio Maggiore and its monastery.
Because, believe me, you haven’t really lived unless you have heard the monks sing….
You have to assert your way through the maze of canals, and alleys and it is nearly impossible to find the right way. Then stop and see the shadows of old houses, hear the water. And when you are well and truly lost, just ask, someone will point you to your hotel…..It will turn out to be just around the corner. Open the window in your room and see the lights on the Canal. Unexpectedly, you will feel very hungry, so have a dinner at the restaurant near your hotel, and when maître will suggest a meal and the wine with it… say: YES, because it will be the best meal and wine you have ever tasted….
There were many Greek families known in Venice: The Samarianis from Zakynthos, The Courcumelis from Crete….and then they were brothers Papadopoulos from Corfu (Kerkyra): Nicolas and Angelo. Papadopoulos is the most common Greek last name…but there was nothing common about brothers Papadopoulos. Before Aristotle Onassis, they were the richest in the world…..so rich that the Venetians used to say that “they owned their own wave in the sea”..
In Venice, they became Papadopoli, got an aristocratic title, converted to Catholicism, and started to intermarry with the best Italian families. One of the most famous was a marriage into the Florentine family of Aldobrandini, a family of Cardinals and Popes. With time the Greek genius and good luck had dispersed in between ordinary, but aristocratic Italian genes. There is nothing left from the old Greek Papadopoulos glory...because a Greek soul needs only one thing to survive ...another Greek soul. The Palazzo Papadopoli at Grand Canal is still the best address in Venice, but it is now a luxury hotel. It has made lately newspapers' headlines because a Hollywood star George Clooney had his wedding party there.
Mornings are my most favorite in Venice. After you make love to the man you love, you can hear the increasing noise on the water, then it will stop….It is exactly like the musical intervals, you will wait for incoming sounds and try to recognize them.
Have a room service ….
And because you are a very serious visitor go through your list of “Must See!”
It can be the longest list ever.
Architecture with Gothic, Byzantine and Moorish influences: Doge’s Palace, Ca’d’Oro, Ca’ Pensaro. Which Palazzo is the most important on your list?
The painting on canvas was invented in Venice...
There is also a long list of the Renaissance painters: Da Messina, Tintoretto, Veronese and Titian….Who's work will you see and where?
Do you plan to see Tiepolo in Palazzo Papadopoli? Or, maybe a Peggy Guggenheim's home which is now a museum of modern art….
If you are an artist painter, you will discover in Venice one phenomenal thing: THE LIGHT
It changes very quickly and does not leave you to contemplate the moment, it is as fluid as water, and like water makes you doubt the shapes and colors…
Call for a water taxi and allow yourself to be taken to the canal known as Rio dei Greci (the river of Greeks), it is in the area called Castello. You will find there a church di San Giorgio dei Greci, Saint George of Greeks - OΆγιος Γεώργιος των Ελλήνων. Like nowhere else, you will feel there the spirits of Greeks who have lived and died in Venice.
Then return to the Piazza di San Marco and try to talk to the pigeons….
Have a small walk around, as you wait for a boat to San Giorgio Maggiore and its monastery.
Because, believe me, you haven’t really lived unless you have heard the monks sing….
