I am peeking over the window of the public water bus. “The Vaporetto” connects Marco Polo Airport with the city centre; the ride to my stop is about forty minutes and I can’t wait to be there. The Venetian Lagoon is vast, but the boat navigates at a very fair speed, almost jumping the waves left by the speedier water taxis. This is my first time in Italy; the marvelous Venice is the entry point for my two-week-long adventure. As I reach Arsenale, my stop in San Marco, an almost surreal, warm-tinted sky over the shoreline and iconic buildings welcome me. I couldn’t resist and dropped the bags and started taking photos.

The capital of the Veneto region needs no introduction. The city is listed as a World Heritage Site in its entirety. The “Queen of the Adriatic” is often also recognized as being one of the most romantic cities in Europe and one most beautiful places built by man, and with that I am really excited to be here. Unfortunately my stay in Venice is only two days, just enough to take a quick glimpse as I continue on to longer stays in Tuscany and Cinque-Terre.

The short stay didn’t stop me from trying to make the most of it. Beyond the beauty of Venice’s marble palaces and epic architecture, it is difficult to resist the mystery and charm of strolling around discovering what’s beyond the narrow backstreets, canals and alleyways.

I also had the opportunity to cross over the teal-blue waters of the lagoon, not far from San Marco, and visit the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello. Not sure if I’d call them suburbs, but they are much more tranquil for sure, and apart from the centre. These are not be missed. Colorful pastel-painted houses, art glass, and a fishing village that seems to be lost in time are all worth exploring. I enjoyed the afternoon jumping from one to the other and took some pictures despite the bad weather that followed me that day. I wish I had more time, but as far as possible, I got a taste of the smaller islands.

Venice is not easy to photograph—at least it wasn’t for me. There are gazillions of photos from Venice in every shape and form. I wanted to avoid the cliche, the obvious, but add to the mix herds of tourists in every corner and it makes it very difficult to work and pull a clean photo. So I went out at night and early morning and got my photos, which ended up being the cliche, the obvious: yet another photo of the gondolas, San Giorgio Maggiore, Piazza San Marco, the Grand Canal, The Bridge of Sighs. But at least these are my photos of Venice, the ones that will freshen up my memory every time I look at them of my days in mind-boggling Venice.

Hope you like them. For prints and licensing information, just click on the photos. More of Italy coming soon…