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Show Scene on the Qrand Canal, Venice. (Prepared br the National Qeoiraphto Society, Washington, D. C.) WITH the opening of the summer sum-mer travel season the paths of travelers in Europe lead again to Venice, which, with its unique streets of water, seems to exercise a lure more potent than cities wholly of the land. The traveler should not expect too much of Venice. It Is hardly fair. No great city can exist on narrow canals and be entirely a thing of beauty. One necessarily has had dreams of Venice and goes there with marked preconceptions. precon-ceptions. This follows reasonably enough, for so much has been written about this city of the sea, and of course the rosy, romantic aspect has been presented. If one does not set his mark inordinately high Venice will charm him. Novelty will "pinch hit" whenever beauty strikes out. By all means the visitor should arrange ar-range to arrive In Venice by night. Under soft moonlight or under the rays of the dim and infrequent "street lamps," Venice puts her very best foot forward and strives to make the most extravagant dreams come true. The deep shadows under its bridges and the palace arches, the mysterious narrow nar-row black canal entrances, the picturesque pic-turesque leaning posts, the gentle lapping lap-ping of the waves against the walls and steps, the swish of the paddles, the half brusque, half songllke calls of the gondoliers as they approach blind corners, perhaps the musical song of a gondolier In the distance all combine to give one an entrancing entrance into the City of Canals. He leans back on his cushions during the long boat ride to the hotel for of course traveler and luggage must go by boat quite contented with life. This is Venice, and it is quite as It should be. What the Day Reveals. A night arrival is a ruse but a successful suc-cessful one. It is as though one should contrive to meet a once beautiful lady, no longer young, at an evening garden party. Her wrinkles become soft lines. When they face you In the pitiless light of the morrow they will have a certain suggestion of familiarity and memory will make them less harsh. The first day in Venice discloses Indubitable signs of ugliness as well as of beauty. Picturesque gondolas pass on the Grand canal. So do the unplcturesque Venetian "street cars" squat steamboats, little, but all too large beside the gondolas their sawed-off stacks belching dirty black smoke. They raise choppy waves, as do the swifter little motorboats. The gondoliers glare at them and the traveler trav-eler joins them In spirit In the choice Italian curses that they must be uttering utter-ing under their breath. More gondolas pass and the trash boats of the municipality. In the waters wa-ters that seemed so fair last night floats every conceivable sort of rubbish. rub-bish. Yonder Is the beautiful facade of a fine old palace, and beside it a building from which the stucco has fallen In great patches disclosing ugly bricks beneath. Perhaps the stones are falling away, too, at the waterllne, letting the waves reach In for an Inevitably In-evitably greater destruction. Green slime covers the steps and the tilted wooden posts are rotting. Time Is not the only desecrater of Venetian walls. The hand of the advertiser has been busy, too. And some of the walls that Dandolo loved and that scores of poets have sung about now Inform the occupants of gondolas and "street cars" of products that can be purchased pur-chased to their supposed advantage. Rut thanks to a night arrival these things do not worry the visitor over much. He turns rather to the domes of Santa Maria delia Salute with a tangle of mnsts against the sky; to the arch of the history-encrusted old Ponte Itialto; to the Incomparable spires and domes of the Cathedral of Snn Marco. One finds that there is a surprising amount of dry land life In Venire. A veritable maze of alleys and call I (little (lit-tle streets) and fondnrnentl (canal side-walks) exist. The best one can hope to do In a short stay Is to gain a Riperncial acquaintance with the main way between San Marco and the Uinlto. Piazza San Marco. The ways, whether narrow alleys or somewhat wider calles, have no sidewalks, side-walks, of course. The entire space, such as It Is, Is for pedestrians. At Intervals the narrow ways open up Into "campl" as the little squares are ! called. The name, "Piazza," has been reserved for the great square of San Marco facing the cathedral the ultimate ulti-mate In dry spaciousness In Venice. If one has only a picture knowledge of Venice, as all the world has not been there has, the Piazza San Marco will prove a surprise. The little open space that holds the famous statue of the Lion of San Marco is not the real piazza but only the anteroom, the plazetta. Well behind the Hon column, col-umn, around the Campanile lies a square greater than many a city with an unlimited supply of terra flrma can boast No wheeled or four-footed traffic uses this great square. It is given over entirely to humans and pigeons. Thousands of the latter make the Piazza San Marco their home, and there is seldom a time during the day when one can cross the square without carefully picking his way to avoid stepping on them. When night falls again and cloaks the Inevitable tawdry spots of an old city built on plies, one forgets his criticisms of the day. Out on the lagoon la-goon at the mouth of the Grand canal, in a boat lighted by gaily colored lanterns, lan-terns, a company of musicians and singers begins a serenade. The gondolas gon-dolas of tourists Join the throng of slender black forms bobbing gracefully grace-fully up and down, each with a silent, statuesque figure standing at Its stern. Soft music and the gentle swish of: wavelets All the air. The lights of the Lidos gleam In the distance while nearer near-er at hand black masts and spires stand out against the sky, the soaring shaft of the Campanile topping theia all. The Three Lidos. Venice's playground is the Lidos, the chain of low sand Islands across the lagoon, which have ever guarded the city from the Adriatic. Without these Isles and the tide they control, Venice, or at least the Venice that Is so well known, would never have been born. On the Lidos were the original settlements set-tlements that led to the establishment of the city of Venice on the Islands of the lagoons. When Altlla and his Hon hordes swept down on Europe In 452 A. D. many of the Inhabitants of the regions farther Inland took refuge ref-uge on the Lidos. From 742 to 809 the seat of government of the region was at Malamocco, a few miles south ot the present Lido bathing resort on the same Island. The encroachments of the waves during the spring and autumn storms, and the vulnerability; to attacks from enemy navies, led, In 809, to a general exodus to the Islands on which the present city Is built. The Lidos today consist of three principal prin-cipal long sandy Islands, divided by narrow water channels, and scarcely far enough above the water to bo distinguished dis-tinguished from clouds when seen from a distance. The LItorale, or beach, of Malamocco Is the largest and most Important, as It contains both the famous buthlng resort and the small village of Malamocco. The LItorale of Pellestrlna is a strung-out village of fishermen and gardeners. Along It are portions of the great seawall, sea-wall, for, although the Adriatic protected pro-tected its daughter from the guns of the heavy-draught vessels of the Middle Mid-dle ages, It exacted constant homage in stone walls and breakwaters. The LItorale of St. Erasmo, north of the. Lido, Is shorter and less Important. Fine Bathing Resort. At one time there were five ports on the channels between the Islands, but that at St. Erasmo was closed to Increase In-crease the volume of water at the Lido port nearby. The amount of tidewater that entered en-tered the lagoons through the port channels bears upon the welfnre of the city. If it had ever been more than normal, large vessels could have sailed up to the Grand canal (as they do today, due to dredging, however) and Venice would have needed heavy fortifications In plnce of airy palaces. If It had been any less, the city would have been malarial and unhealthy. Malamocco Is the main approach, today for vessels of heavy draft. The other ports, Tre I'ortl, and Cliloggla, together are not as important as the Lido. The Lido, however, owes Its chief renown to the fine bathing bench facing fac-ing the sea. Along Its windswept sands Byron and Shelley raced their horses before the vogue of sea bathing. Here artists set up their easels to catch that soft and luminous harmoDy of Venice from a distance. |