Venice

Venice has been built entirely on water by many brave men, who turned it into a place like no other in the world. It doesn't matter how many times you have visited, in movies or TV commercials, the real thing is more like a dream than you could ever possibly imagine. The most famous buildings found in the city are; the Basilica di San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale, seem hardly Italian: delightfully idiosyncratic, they're beautiful mixes of Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance styles. Glowing sunlight and silvery mist soften every perspective here, making it easy to understand how the city became renowned in the Renaissance for its artists' rendering of colour. This place is full of many secrets, and is inexpressibly romantic and at times given over entirely to pleasure.