Myth And Reality. Beauty And Decay In Venice With J.F.Penn

03/21/19 • 27 min

Today I’m talking about The Myth and Reality Of Travel, and focusing on Venice in particular, as well as giving you some tips and book recommendations if you are going to visit.

There is a problem inherent in travel, especially in a world of filtered Instagram photos, social media bubbles and glossy travel magazines.

There are some places in the world that are so famous it can be difficult to know whether they live up to the hype or not. There is the myth and then there is the reality, so how do you manage the two? How do you decide to go in the first place in case it doesn’t live up to the myth, and how do you deal with the reality if you have to face up to it?

In this episode, I’m talking about Venice, which is definitely one of those places. I’ve been to Venice three times under very different circumstances and today, I’ll share some of my thoughts on the myth versus the reality.

The myth of Venice

What does the word Venice evoke for you, regardless of whether you’ve been there or not?

Arched bridges over deep blue canals, slender glossy gondolas passing underneath with handsome gondoliers and couples kissing while the sun dapples the water. The sweeping curves of the grand canal, the inspiring architecture of St Mark’s Basilica and art — so much art.

Perhaps you think of Casanova, Shakespeare, Tintoretto or Veronese? Or the famous movie scenes of James Bond in Casino Royale, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, or The Tourist? You will certainly have some image in your mind because Venice is a mythical city.

“Venice, its temples and palaces did seem like fabrics of enchantment piled to heaven.” Percy Bysshe ShelleyClick To Tweet

There’s no doubt that Venice is special, made up of over 100 small islands separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The lagoon and some of the city are marked as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It has been inhabited since the 10th century BC but became more well-known in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance when the Republic of Venice was a powerful city state, possibly the first real international financial centre with trade all over the Mediterranean.

That money built its grand churches and palaces, enabled patronage of the arts and made the city a magnet for the writers and painters who romanticised it over time.

“It is the city of mirrors, the city of mirages, at once solid and liquid, at once air and stone.” Erica JongClick To Tweet

But I’m a writer too. I know how to use language to embellish and obscure reality, to curate the aspects that capture the imagination. It’s human nature to make more of the places we visit even if they are disappointing. If we spend time and money visiting somewhere, we need evidence that it was worthwhile, that we had a fantastic time and that others should be jealous.

And in Venice, the myth is all about romance.

Venice — not quite the city of romance for me

I first visited Venice in 2004. I was going through a divorce and I entered La Serenissima, the city of love, with my Dad, my step-mum and my teenage sister. We walked the tourist-trodden paths from St Marks to L’Accademia, and drank overpriced prosecco. I wallowed in my grief and swore that I would go back someday with a man I loved. I wanted the myth in all its glory.

So, I returned to Venice in December 2009 with Jonathan (still my wonderful husband!). We’d been married just over a year and flew from Brisbane, Australia for Christmas with my family in the UK and then to Venice for New Year before heading south to Rome and then back down under.

Winter in flooded Venice by J.F.Penn

We left the sun of Australia for cold and wet winter in Europe. It didn’t stop raining for days and inevitably, Venice flooded. It’s not a secret that Venice floods but it’s less well-known that the flooding occurs a lot in winter and at other times of the year as well depending on weather conditions.

Acqua alta, high water, was mid-calf height while we were there which meant we could wade through the streets in the gumboots provided by the hotel. Venetians have to pump water from their houses and shops every morning as water rots away the foundations slowly. Th...

Today I’m talking about The Myth and Reality Of Travel, and focusing on Venice in particular, as well as giving you some tips and book recommendations if you are going to visit.

There is a problem inherent in travel, especially in a world of filtered Instagram photos, social media bubbles and glossy travel magazines.

The myth of Venice

What does the word Venice evoke for you, regardless of whether you’ve been there or not?

“Venice, its temples and palaces did seem like fabrics of enchantment piled to heaven.” Percy Bysshe ShelleyClick To Tweet

That money built its grand churches and palaces, enabled patronage of the arts and made the city a magnet for the writers and painters who romanticised it over time.

“It is the city of mirrors, the city of mirages, at once solid and liquid, at once air and stone.” Erica JongClick To Tweet

And in Venice, the myth is all about romance.

Venice — not quite the city of romance for me

Winter in flooded Venice by J.F.Penn

Previous Episode

Granada And Cordoba In Andalusia, Spain With Historical Thriller Author, David Penny

Andalucia brings to mind balmy evenings with the scent of oranges in the air, the sounds of flamenco guitar, and the exotic architecture of the Moorish Alhambra.

In this podcast interview, I talk to David Penny, author of The Thomas Berrington Historical Mysteries, which are set in medieval Spain.

You can listen above or on iTunes or your favorite podcast app, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.

Show Notes

The inspiration for David’s detective novels set in Moorish Spain
Writing about an ancient place from modern time
Weaving religion into historical fiction
Finding an authentic flamenco experience in Spain
Recommendations for local food and drink
Getting used to local customs, like shop closure times
Adjusting to the slower pace of life in Spain

You can find David Penny at DavidPennyWriting.com and on Twitter @davidpenny_

Transcript of Interview with David Penny

Joanna: David Penny is the author of The Thomas Berrington Historical Mysteries, set in Moorish Spain. Today, we’re talking about how his love of Spain features in his books. Welcome, David.

David: Hi Joanna. Thank you for having me.

Joanna: It’s great to have you on the show.

First up, where are you in the world right now? And what is outside your window?

David: I am actually in Spain at the moment. A couple of years ago we bought a small house in Spain. So, we come out here when the weather in England is too bad.

At the moment outside my window is lots of olive groves, almonds just coming into blossom, and it’s about 19 degrees C.

Joanna: That’s very pleasant. I’m in England, and, of course, it’s a bit chilly right now, but that’s awesome.

Tell us a bit more about how you fell in love with Spain, because you’re obviously British. Why did you decide to set your books there?

David: Spain was a very late discovery for me. I visited the Alhambra at 16 years old, on a school trip, and I think we had three days or three afternoons when we actually got off the boat, which was not much fun. I distinctly remember travelling in a coach through what, at the time, looked like desert landscape for hours, and we got to the Alhambra Palace.

I do have pictures of it, and I do vaguely remember it. But my abiding memory of that trip is, you could go into a bar when you were 16 years old, and 15, and you’d order a beer, and they’d serve you. And it was brilliant.

Joanna: Perfect.

David: But then we never visited Spain for another 40 years. And, in fact, the ideas for the books I write came before we came back to Spain.

I’m not sure what was happening. I was sitting at home with the kids and my wife, and for some reason, I said, ‘Do you think anybody’s ever written a detective novel set at the end of Moorish Spain?’ And they gave me this weird look, and they said, ‘Why?’

I said, ‘Well, I just got an idea for a 10-book series, and it seems like a nice idea. Somebody must have come up with it before.’ I took a look around, and nobody has. I couldn’t believe it because it is such a fascinating period in history and such an amazing place to write about. So that was the initial idea.

I thought about it a little bit more, and then we booked a flight and we came out. And I think we spent a week, maybe a little longer in Spain, in Barcelona, and Granada, and Córdoba, and visited the Alhambra. And I thought, ‘This is going to work.’

That’s where it came from really. And the love of Spain was almost immediately as a result of that. We’d done Italy and France and the usual places, and Spain just combined everything I liked about Europe in one place.

The longer I’m here, the more and more we fall in love with it. It’s just such a great place. It’s just such great people and their fantastic culture. Even though strangely, the Spanish don’t particularly appreciate the Moorish culture that is all around them down here in the south.

Joanna: Give us some ideas of what that Moorish culture actually is. Talk about Andalusia.

David: It is Andalusia very much so. My characters don’t stray out of Andalusia at all. Not at the moment anyway, although I do have plans for that in future.

The starting point for the series of books, as well as the starting point for anybody who wants to know what Andalusia is all about, has to be Granada, of course. It was the capital of Islamic al-Andalus from about 1100 AD to 1492, when the Spanish sacked the city.

They walked in, and the then sultan handed over t...

Next Episode

Macabre Montreal with Mark Leslie

Montreal is more than just music festivals, street art and the St Laurence river. It also has a dark side.

Mark Leslie is a Canadian horror writer with a passion for haunted places and, today, we’re talking about his book, Macabre Montreal.

Show Notes

On the old world feel of Montreal and it’s history
The influence of the St. Lawrence river on Montreal’s feel
Interesting places to look for history in Montreal, including the cemeteries
Making connections to history through city ghost tours
Recommendations for good books based in Montreal
On the pleasure of walking through a new city

You can find Mark at www.MarkLeslie.ca and on Twitter @MarkLeslie

Joanna: Mark Leslie is a Canadian horror writer with a passion for haunted places and, today, we’re talking about his book, ‘Macabre Montreal.’ Hi, Mark.

Mark: Hey, Jo. How are you doing today?

Joanna: I’m good. Thanks for coming on.

Where are you in the world right now?

Mark: Right now, I am in Waterloo, Ontario and that’s in Canada. And for those people who aren’t familiar with where Waterloo, Ontario is, it’s about an hour and a half drive northwest of Toronto.

We are near the Great Lakes of North America, just north of Lake Ontario. Waterloo is relatively flat. I mean, there’s a local ski hill, but it’s not very big.

You have to drive a couple of hours to get to a really, really nice, big ski hill, Blue Mountain, or even many more hours, one of the best skiing in this part of Canada is near Montréal.

We’re near the Niagara Escarpment; Niagara Falls is about a two-hour drive away from here and the Niagara Escarpment is beautiful, so the hiking here is impeccable. Great trails for running and taking the dogs for a walk etc.

Joanna: Today, we’re talking about Montréal, so why are you writing about Montréal? Because I think people might not know about Québec. You’re not living there.

What fascinates you about the city and what is different?

Mark: Initially, my co-author for the book is Shayna Krishnasamy and we used to work together and Shayna knew that I had written ghost story books. This would be the sixth one I have either written or co-written.

She lives in Montréal and she said, ‘Hey, would you ever want to co-author a book together?’ and that’s how some of the projects come about. She says, ‘Well, I live in Montréal,’ so she could go on the ghost walks and take pictures and then, myself, I could do a lot of the research through reading and books and stuff like that.

Now, one of the beautiful things about Montréal is Québec City is probably the only city in Canada that has more of a European feel than Montréal. When you’re in Paris or you’re in Lille in France, you get that sense, this just beautiful, old architecture and the cobblestone streets and all of this beautiful history, and Montréal does have a beautiful sense of that history.

Québec, in Canada, has a very, very strong French culture. It’s probably more primarily French than any other place in Canada.

My actual last name is Lefebvre, if you want to try and give a bit of a French tang to it. I don’t speak French very, very well and most people can never spell or pronounce Lefebvre.

However, if you go to Montréal and you look at the phone book, whereas the phone book in Toronto might have 10 or 20 Lefebvres in it, and if you go to the Montréal phonebook, there’ll be 20 or 30 pages of Lefebvres because it is a common name. Well, not as common as Smith, but it’s like a French version of Smith.

Montréal has such a rich culture and history, and again, a lot of French. And a lot of the formation of Canada is embedded in this because Montréal is right on the St. Laurence Seaway. So, thinking about the main commerce routes, especially trading coming in from Europe and travelers and explorers. There’s just such a fascinating history to dig into and that, for a ghost story, is the best type of ghost story when you can rely on the history.

Joanna: Just on the language thing, do people in Québec primarily speak French? If you go to Montréal, would you expect the signs to be in French?

What is the dominance of French language in Québec?

Mark: In Québec City, there’s probably a lot more dominant because there are millions of people, probably, in Montréal that don’t speak French and only speak English. It is very multicultural, but French is very, very dominant.

The last time I had spent some time in Montréal, I was work...