I have been to a few water towns. Most of them were in China. One characteristic they had was that they had lots of water running all over the place. This was not just a simple overflowing of water but deliberate diverting of water for the use of the inhabitants of the town. Venice is one of those water towns but it is probably the most famous water town of all. Venice is actually an island and you can probably say most of it is actually built on top of the water. There was not a lot of land to go around with and for some reason they really wanted to live here so up rose the city of Venice. Fortunately, the lagoon of Venice makes it a good place to built on top of the water. The lagoon is shallow enough the people can actually build on it.
Venice is also permeated with numerous canals which practically serve as roads for these people. Where you thought there would have been a small street, it turns out to be a canal and with boats moving through them. It is quite delightful to see how the people still keep to the old ways after so long. It is quite different to be living on top of the water and yet still be “modern”. I’m sure that there are a lot of challenges to living here but they have probably already resolved them.
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