VENICE

I was here: 1 day in February 1995, 1 day in May 2008, 1 day in April 2010 and 2 half days in May 2016.
Number of days needed: although lovely, the city is kind of small, in one day you can see the most important places, but ideally you should spend at least 2, or go back as many times as you can, as I do.
My score: 5/5.

There are always those who are outstanding to highlight the negative aspects first. They will tell us that it looks old, canals are green and stinky, humidity in winter is unbearable and that there are so many tourists that it is impossible to enjoy it. And if you immediately ask that person if it is nice, she will tell you that it is incredibly beautiful. There must be a reason why every city with canals wants to be Venice; if we talk about “Venice of the North” we could be speaking about Amsterdam, Bruges, Stockholm, Copenhagen or St. Petersburg; “little Venice” could be the Italian Chioggia or the area north of Paddington in London; and “Venice of the East” could be several Chinese cities in Suzhou area, several in India, or even the already almighty themselves Kyoto and Bangkok. They all want to be Venice.

But Venice there is only one, and there are many at the same time, because those who dare to leave the tourist circuit, regardless of the number of times they have visited it, will find themselves inevitably lost and incredulous about how they could have got lost in that small city where they have already been and how beautiful is each new place they are going through. The unique beauty of this city only competes with itself. The huge canals filled with gondolas, limited by magnificent facades in different states of preservation, offer perhaps the most romantic images that human being has been able to capture in architectural terms. But its secret is that the small, silent channels, with a boat here, a door there and a drying rack that crosses it, have nothing to envy in enchantment to their bigger brothers. Its small churches or arcaded corridors and intricate narrow streets provoke a fascination difficult to understand, you can not explain why these elements overflow with attraction when in another city you would hardly pay attention. And when that is accompanied by wonders such as the Bridges of the Academy and Rialto, St. Mark’s Square with its Basilica and its Campanille and its great churches and palaces, some of an unexpected luxurious interior, we have the city aesthetically perfect.

Personally after 4 visits I still have not seen the old, I do not think that any channel smelled bad, I have not felt it was too hot or too cold and I do not even think there were so many tourists. Unique and great city, I only keep the good of Venice.