VENICE – WITHOUT A CAMERA

 

It’s a curse that as a professional travel photographer I feel compelled to leave my camera gear behind when I’m on holiday so I can have a genuine break from my job. And it’s come as no surprise that the gods who peer down on me from Venice’s grand basilicas have been mocking me ever since I arrived having born eternal witness to the stupidity of the notion.

But, of all the places I have been, it’s likely that I would not have eaten, nor slept, nor read, nor stopped to talk to anyone if I was with camera in hand – such is the charm of Venice and the abundant photographic opportunities she provides.

Indeed, it is an absolute pleasure to just step out from behind my camera and simply take it all in without feeling a sense of urgency to capture the moment.

What a beguiling city.

 

……That said, I did manage to raise the iPhone to my eye and sneak in the occasional pic (below).

 

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Captions: I like the way the old biddie worked out how to get around paying the $10 surcharge to sit and listen to the music in Piazza San Marco, the gaggle of gondoliers spruiking for fares, the view from Hotel Daniele where I celebrated my birthday, and the lone gondolier heading – gladiator-like – towards the throng of tourists on the overhanging arch in the distance.

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I was inspired to write about Venice from the moment I got here but at the end of each starting sentence (and there has been many), I’d get distracted by something else that glittered and off I’d wander.

Few, however, could capture Venice as Jan Morris has in her book of the same title. It’s the best travel prose I’ve ever read and the most intimate and informative insight you’re likely to get into this most picturesque city.