3. The Grand Canal in Venice
A gondola ride through the canals of Venice is a tradition that travelers have been enjoying for centuries. Venice is a city of islands, and the canals have long been the city’s main streets, connected by a labyrinth of narrow passageways.
The Grand Canal is the largest and most famous of these waterways, cutting a wide S-shaped route through the city. Along its sides are the grandest of the palaces once owned by the wealthiest and most powerful families of the Venetian Republic. The best way to see many of the grand palaces, whose fronts face the water, is from a Vaporetto ride along the Grand Canal.
Be sure your gondola ride — and your sightseeing explorations on foot — include some of the more atmospheric smaller canals, lined by old buildings that have remained relatively unchanged for hundreds of years.
4. Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius
The still smoking volcano of Mt. Vesuvius looks down on the remains of the city it destroyed in AD 79. But that same eruption also preserved many of the city’s art treasures: frescoes, mosaics, and sculptures that were encased in the lava as it cooled.
Several centuries of excavations have revealed the remains of houses, markets, baths, temples, theaters, streets, and human remains. Visitors can tour the site, walk along the old streets scarred by the tracks of chariots, and see the engineering used by Romans more than 2,000 years ago.
Near Pompeii is the excavated city of Herculaneum, destroyed by the same eruption in AD 79, but buried in lava and ash that solidified and froze the town just as it was. You can combine visits to the two sites in one day, but a longer stay allows time to ascend to the very rim of still-active Vesuvius.
