Holidays in Venice

Charles Dickens once said "nothing in the world that you ever heard of Venice, is equal to the magnificent and stupendous reality", while D. H. Lawrence considered it "an abhorrent, green, slippery city". Whatever the views, millions flock the city every year and remain, invariably, thrilled by their first impression of the Grand Canal.

"There is no more magnificent absurdity than Venice. To build a city where it is impossible to build a city is madness in itself, but to build there one of the most elegant and grandest of cities is the madness of genius." Alexander Herzen, My Past and Thoughts (1867)