n the port side a green meadow interspersed with red poppies. A small chapel to starboard. Short wooden jetties in the shallows, narrow barges, two small motorboats. Behind them, three sunlit, earthcoloured house facades, in front of them their gesticulating inhabitants and a few neighbours from one of the surrounding islands. An unexpected idyll: Isola delle Vignole, one of Venice’s two farming islands. As a normal tourist, you wouldn’t expect an island of farming here. When you think of the elongated lagoon on the Adriatic coast, you think of Venice and the Rialto Bridge, which even the little ones know. After all, it is often emblazoned on the wafer-thin, flimsy paper napkins of the ice cream parlours. But the lagoon is not Venice. At most, Venice is a part of the lagoon. A part, however, that has little or nothing in common with the sheltered bay and all its islands. A lively and tourist-ridden part of the whole colourful world on a blue-green sea. The islands, which provide fresh fruit and vegetables, artichokes, lettuce and tomatoes, are particularly colourful. Courgette flowers and nasturtiums provide further splashes of colour on the other side of the narrow canal. Locals use it for weekend excursions, »strolling« along here in their motorboats, as they do elsewhere with their Vespas across the piazza or on foot along the harbour promenade. Moor the boat and hop on the vaporetto, the Italian water bus, off to Venice to savour the evening atmosphere. Relax and look out over the lagoon, leave the navigation to others for once and memorise the first flat for the onward journey on your own keel. Seeing palaces, getting lost in dead ends, exploring side streets and the realisation that there is never a direct route in this city. The »maze of streets« within the lagoon is the same as in the city. Orientation on the water is sometimes just as difficult as on land, but navigation is actually quite easy. Wooden dolphins help. They stand like guide posts at the edge of the fairway – always three posts joined together with rings. Their tips point towards the fairway. Sometimes they stand on one side, sometimes they border both sides. Sounds as simple as it is. And then there is the »Donna«. In the centre of the three posts of equal height, a fourth, taller one sticks out, which, with a little imagination, makes the bundle of posts look like a long-skirted lady. She stands quite loftily at crossroads. Red and green coloured fields at the top indicate how they should be passed. The rest is like driving a car. Briccole line the fairway. Behind, it is flat. A fishing boat swings on a dolphin. The fisherman wades through the ankle-deep water, looking for mussels for dinner and for the market. The landscape slowly passes by. The nearest transport hub, where the quiet Canal Orfano in the eastern part of the island of Venezia flows into the Canale di San Nicolo. Countless vaporetti, the ambulance, excursion boats, a floating crane – it’s a hustle and bustle, so we just go with the flow, let our boat be pulled along. The contrast to the quiet side canals and the islands such as Pellestrina, the southern Lido or Le Vignole could not be greater. A trip through the 550-square-kilometre lagoon of Venice is more varied than in almost any other area. The lines are cast off rather often as the next destination is always beckoning. City air again. We are now going to Venice on our own keel. There is a suitable berth on Sant’Elena, the easternmost island of the city within walking distance of the historic centre. The Santelena marina is perfect, quiet and in an original and green part of Venice. // THERE IS ONLY ONE REALLY SUITABLE WAY TO EXPLORE VENICE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS: ON A BOAT TOUR IN THE ISLAND WORLD OF THE LABYRINTHINE LAGOON AROUND THE SERENISSIMA. TEXT: KIRSTEN PANZER Fotos: Kirsten Panzer (4), Michelle Raponi/Pixabay(1), Komrakovav/Pixabay (1) read more 56 57
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