Last time we visited Venice, was 11 years ago and we stayed for 5 days near St Mark's Square but we had left our car in a town near Venice and entered this canal city by train. Today, we sailed into Venice by ship and it had a completely different feel. We stood on the front deck as the ship magestically floated down and around the Grand Canal. We were sailing ever so slowly so as not to cause tidal waves to flood what little areas of Venice are not covered by water. I felt like we were on the back of a beautiful swan - for the captain glided our ship ever so gently through the canal. It seemed that we could see right over the rooftops of the buildings for we could see right over the "whole of Venice" and even to the outer islands. Lord Byron described Venice as "a fairy city of the heart". Venice charms with its romantic gondolas, intimate maze of canals, centuries of history, cute stone bridges and impressive Byzantine, Roman and Venetian churches and art galleries.
A short history: After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 6th Century, when the Lombards invaded Italy, many fled southwards, seeking safety on a low- lying offshore island named Torcello. These inhabitants were the founders of what would become Venice. During the Crusades, Venice became a major maritime power and developed its own culture and economy based on its successful sea trade monopoly. In 726, the people of Venice elected their own Doge (ruler), who with his successors would lead the city for over a thousand years. By 1094, a magnificent church had been built and it stands in St. Mark's Square today much larger than in 1094 because over several centuries, a combination of Byzantine, Roman and Venetian craftsmen have created a dazzling Basilica which has 5 domes, 20000 square metres of colourful mosaics, which adorn the walls from floor to ceiling and unexpected design elements from the Far East have added a distinctive flair to the evolution of this edifice. Photographs cannot do it justice - it needs to be seen to be appreciated as a work of art, and especially since it was achieved long before cranes and computers had been invented. 
The Grand canal is a busy waterway with water-taxis zipping around and across and up the canals, gondolas meandering through the waters and vaporettos (small public water bus-ferries) delivering masses of people around the city. There are also pilot, police, ambulance, garbage and fire fighter boats sharing the same laneways together with fishing launches, luxury cruisers and yachts and farmers, manufacturers and trades people transporting their 
wares on huge cumbersome barges. The Grand Canal is lined with 170 buildings dating between the 13th and 17th centuries, so there are thousands of years of history that have taken place within their solid stone walls and some of it adorns their walls in paintings, frescoes and sculpture. The architectural styles also tell their own story.
The Grand Canal IS busier than "Pit Street", a little chaotic but we've never seen any collisions because somehow "it all works" in a mush-mash way. Pardon the pun. From the ship we noted that already by midday all the bridges and promenades we passed were crowded so we expected we be joining the Venice tourist crush later in the day.
