Going to Venice had never really been a dream of mine. Despite all the huge acclaim, I just wasn’t too fussed. But when I paid the legendary city a visit to see a friend in November 2012, I had one of the best travelling experiences of my life:
Venice during acqua alta.
Admittedly, acqua alta is a relatively regular occurrence – you only have to google the phenomena to be shown countless videos and picture of people stood wait-deep in water, proudly donning their wellies. Nevertheless, it’s something I always remembered seeing about the city during my childhood, and I was ridiculously excited to see it in the soggy flesh.
Of course, we didn’t have any wellies (this was the first significant flooding in the four months my friend had lived there) and so crammed ourselves into the nearest shoe shop and paid €20 for a pair of boots, which we then had to convince ourselves weren’t taking on water at a rapid rate…
We took some standard photos, nipped into a cafe for a bite to eat and 20 minutes later all the flood waters had receded. Gutted. Still, the fact that my first experience of Venice was during acqua alta is something that I’m sure will stay with me for a while.
I’d like to experience the acqua alta too – did you hear the air-raid sirens?
No, I didn’t know they sounded them?! The water was pretty high when we arrived in Venice, so we must have missed them. Was great to see, but I’m glad the water receded – would’ve been pretty impractical.
I’ve not experienced it, but I’m sure I read somewhere that they have different sirens depending on the height of the water.
I would love to return to Venice for the carnival, but I wouldn’t mind to experience Venice during acqua alta, too. Venice can show so many different sizes, one more exciting than the other.
Definitely agree!