Listen. I have been perusing. As our city lies in disarray. I do know what I’m doing.
I was fortunate to take some time off work to watch some movies, visit cities and think. It was my first time in Venice. The city does swoon you with the myriad of public transportation options. The novelty of taking the ferry never quite wears off (that is to someone who has always had aquatic travel options in every city they have had the privilege to reside in). There is something missing.
I kept wondering why the housing was considerably more affordable than here in Istanbul. Both are historic cities with massive tourist attractions and great food. Then I realized the city had become an attraction more so than its contents.
You can’t blame the tchotchke salespeople, the street vendors, the hustlers. That is what the city has become. The city does feel like a roller coaster ride. Living with the Land, not Space Mountain.
You walk from curated streets to curated streets. History is the great equalizer, I guess, because if not for regulations there would be swaths of uninhabitable shopping districts. When you reach sea level you are the wilderness. Battles here are always PvE, even if they seem PvP. Pickpockets, obnoxious tourists (me included) and rising prices are not a disease, they are a symptom. The notoriety makes the city ground zero for tourism, tourism breeds brands so much so every ground level commercial area is utilized. Most being large brands you have seen countless times already. The local industry is diluted to physical manifestations of nameless Amazon storefronts to sell you the same piece you have seen thousands of times within your two days. They don’t appease, they wear you down.
As you walk you eventually tire. Resting is essential for travel. How are you meant to sustain your capital expenditure parade if not for some me time looking out onto the beautiful sea? Oh wait… There are no banks, seats, resting stools. That is not what the city was meant for and god only knows how absurd that would be now that it is a tourism hotspot. You are not meant to rest. You are meant to sit at a cafe to boost you up with sweets and caffeine until your next crash. You are meant to sustain your pace through spending just to bypass more shops, more cafes.
I have no vendetta towards these establishments. They are merely seizing on the obvious opportunity. Most of them make above average products. I hate the lack of freedom. Freedom to snack on something while relaxing at a bench. Freedom to relax in a city of pandemonium.