Romantisches Venedig & Zerklüftetes Kalabrien

About the destination: Perhaps no city is as fabulous as Venice, a metropolis built upon pilings, a labyrinth poised over a lagoon. Venice has been called the drawing room of Europe, and indeed for centuries the city was a sanctuary for ideas and idealists, a crossroad of the Byzantine and Roman worlds. Today Venice is a different kind of drawing room. Wealthy visitors clamber into gondolas to gawk at the Byzantine palaces while being serenaded by accordionists and art appreciators stand on tiptoe for a glimpse of Renaissance masterpieces. No monument is as memorable as the city itself, so use the major sights only as an excuse for wandering. Venice revolves around piazza San Marco. The best feature of the mosaic-covered Basilica di San Marco is the Pala D’Oro, a glittering gold Byzantine bas-relief. The Torre dell’Orologio, left of San Marco, is a beautifully embellished clock tower. For culture vultures check the Accademia for the best of Venetian paintings. Some say that the tourist Venice is indeed Venice, but there are other Venices as well. To find them, wander away from the major sights and into the quieter outlying residential neighbourhoods, you won’t be disappointed, this maze of stone and colour exudes enchantment from every brick.

About the destination: Calabria is a region in Southern Italy. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro. The Regional Council of Calabria is based at the Palazzo Campanella in the city of Reggio Calabria. The region is bordered to the north by the Basilicata Region, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea. The Strait of Messina separates it from the island of Sicily. The region covers 15,080 km2 (5,822 sq mi) and has a population of just under 2 million. The demonym of Calabria is calabrese in Italian and Calabrian in English. In antiquity the name Calabria referred, not as in modern times to the toe, but to the heel tip of Italy, from Tarentum southwards, a region nowadays known as Salento.