Gray clouds hang like a huge blanket over the sky and a thick veil of fog pervades the entire lagoon. The air is cold and damp. It's so quiet that I feel like I'm wrapped in absorbent cotton. I only hear the soft gurgling of the waves lapping gently against the small quay wall at the edge of the property. No sound breaks through this atmosphere and there is not a soul to be seen. Grave silence. I am standing in the middle of a large green garden on a wood-paneled terrace. Lush shrubs and spreading trees are scattered across the grounds and partially obscure the view of the surrounding buildings. Crumbling plaster and red brick walls. Only a few stray cats and the flock of flamingos standing in a salt marsh around 150 meters away are evidence that there are other living creatures here. I am puzzled, because none of this feels anything like Venice.
Venice - the city on the water is actually a thriving tourist center, loud and crowded. People from all over the world try to squeeze through narrow alleyways and across narrow bridges spanning the countless canals at the same time. The lifelines of this unique city. Pushy gondoliers vie for the favor of those willing to pay. Chugging vaporetti and hissing water cabs churn up the murky water and create incessant waves that gnaw at the city's foundations. There is a restaurant or souvenir store, ice cream parlors and aperitif bars on every corner. Long queues in front of the Doge's Palace or one of the many museums. Fluttering pigeons. Cruise ships. The thriving life or perhaps already one step above the zenith, an overrun city on sale.
The island of the glassblowers
I take off my wet winter shoes at the door and quickly slip inside the bungalow, where I am greeted by cozy warmth. High windows, white marble floors and the narrowest spiral staircase I've ever seen. So this is our home for the next eight nights and until the first morning of the new year. Our apartment is on Murano, one of the most famous of the 180 or so islands that make up the city of Venice and around fifteen minutes by vaporetti from the old town - if you get on the right vaporetti. Spoiler: It took us an hour.
Murano is the island of glassblowers and is particularly popular as a day trip. In the mornings and evenings, when there are hardly any tourists in the narrow streets, the small island is pretty quiet. It is a small paradise that we have found here and just the right place for the time between the years. The hustle and bustle of the hectic city, which feels like it's bursting at the seams even more than usual from Christmas to the big New Year's Eve fireworks, is kept at bay. However, it was a real surprise that our apartment allowed for so much peace and seclusion and I would not have expected to find such a gem “in the middle” of Venice. A place where it is possible to relax, recharge your batteries and enjoy true tranquillity. The perfect counterpoint to our wanderings through the Centro Storico, the historic center of Venice.
Grey skies, colorful houses
Before we plunge into the tourist hustle and bustle the next day, we explore the alleyways of Murano on a short run before breakfast. Over numerous bridges, through many narrow alleyways and by running a few loops, we even manage just under six kilometers and end up passing the bakery. The fresh rolls for breakfast brighten our mood, unlike the sky, which is overcast with thick gray clouds. Despite the gloomy weather, we board one of the vaporetti in the late morning, wrapped up in thick jackets, and swing towards the old town. I hold on to the railing with cold fingers as we approach the imposing silhouette of Venice. The gentle breeze makes me shiver at just ten degrees above zero and I pull my hat even lower over my face. The damp fog will rarely leave us in the coming days and the edges of the lagoon will mostly remain hidden in a white haze.
The old-fashioned-looking water bus, the most important means of public transportation in the lagoon, rattles off one stop after the next, crashing into the floating pontoons that serve as bus stops. The yellow waiting shelters, which look like containers, can be found all over Venice's waterways and make it possible to get from A to B quickly. Our line makes a stop at the cemetery island of San Michele before we hop off the boat at Fondamente Nove on the north side of Venice and continue our discovery tour on foot.
Over the next few days, we criss-cross through the narrow streets of the lagoon city. Only every now and then does the sun manage to send its rays through the always gray sky and the thick fog and we enjoy every single minute of it, pausing wherever we are and using the faint golden light to take photos. Light and shadow accentuate the colorful house facades, the ornate balconies and the aging shutters - everything that makes up the charm of the city - in a very special way. Laundry hangs on ropes high above the narrow cobbled streets and flower pots with flowering or evergreen plants can be found everywhere, their leaves and blossoms contrasting with the colorful walls and red brick walls. Some balconies are so close together that the residents could easily toast each other and the sunlight has never reached them.
We let ourselves be enchanted by the maze of streets, canals and bridges, sometimes turning right, sometimes left without looking at the map. Sometimes we come to a dead end and have to turn back, and every day we wander through a different district until we sit exhausted on the vaporetto back to Murano in the late afternoon, looking forward to putting our feet up.
What is worth seeing?
Venice undoubtedly has a lot to offer when it comes to art and culture. Impressive churches, venerable palaces, ornate theaters and opera houses. Splendor and glory that still lingers today from times gone by. For us, however, these sights are of secondary importance and we are more interested in the inconspicuous things, the everyday scenes that are perhaps only rarely or not at all to be found in this city due to the many tourists. Nevertheless, we set off on our search. We agree that the quiet and little-noticed places appeal to us more and try to stay away from the biggest tourist hotspots.
Our forays lead us across small campi, places that seem so deserted as if we were all alone in this city, and through dark alleyways that admittedly could hardly be uglier. The further we move away from the popular sights, the more monotonous, but also more honest, the impressions we get. We encounter dirty street corners, unfinished building sites, the smell of modernity, but also charmingly decorated house entrances, idyllic green spaces and almost overgrown balconies. A few streets further on, we suddenly come across crowds of people that are so enormous that we find them unpleasant and almost overwhelming. The contrasts could not be greater.
Venice in a roundabout way
Every day we refine our tactics. Instead of strolling across St. Mark's Square and meandering past the crowds in front of the Doge's Palace, we prefer to view the scenery from a respectful distance from the Fondamente Salute opposite. We see the Rialto Bridge as we pass by on the vaporetto and we only pass the Basilica di Santa Maria by chance. We also skip the other countless churches, museums and exhibitions and prefer to follow our own plan.
Instead of trying to find our way through the masses of tourists that dominate the city even at this gloomy time of year, we walk around the outside for kilometer after kilometer. In the west, we wander through little-visited alleyways in Dorsoduro and Santa Croce, pass the University of Venice in the north and take a relaxed stroll through Cannaregio. I soon realize that I prefer walking along the water's edge to the narrow streets, which doesn't make the distances any shorter. In the south-east of Venice, we only met a few people in the outer areas of Castello and probably felt most at home in the Parco delle Rimembranze. The small green “islands” between all the narrow urban canyons were real oases.
Play of light and Christmas spirit
Pink, orange, purple - as gray as it has been in the last few days, the sky suddenly glows with color on this late afternoon. As the sun sets, it bathes everything in a magical light that can hardly be put into words. It's been a long day and our feet really need a rest, but we can't miss this overwhelming play of light and color. Fascinated by the unique atmosphere that is created before our eyes at this moment, the alleyways of Murano seem even more idyllic than they already are. Christmas lights glitter on every corner, holding back the slowly spreading darkness a little and the golden lights are reflected on the almost smooth surface of the water in the canals.
I would like to say that this is exactly how I imagined Venice at Christmas time, but that would be a lie. The atmosphere of light that we experience that evening exceeds all expectations and after days of fog, this sight is a truly magnificent farewell to the lagoon city. Unfortunately, we oversleep the New Year's Eve fireworks and the next morning we take the water cab back to the parking garage at the crack of dawn. But who needs fireworks when the colors of nature set off the sky in such a fantastic way.
Venice between the years
Spending the Raunächte in Venice was a very spontaneous idea and definitely an extraordinary experience. After these days in the lagoon city, we start the new year with many colorful (as well as gray) impressions and are glad that we were able to enjoy this special time of year here. However, a trip to Venice at the turn of the year will not become a ritual. We now have 350 days to think about where we want to end this year and start the new one.
