Venice: The uncommon commoners.

 Venice:

City View of Venice standing on cross over bridge. 

This was one of the rare trips where I was all alone, yet with someone. Being a student of Earth Sciences, going to exotic places and studying them is a part of my job. I am usually accompanied by a team or by fellow researchers, but my trip to Venice did not follow this convention. The night before travelling to Venice I was in Bolzano. I was ahead of schedule on a few things and had two days to spare. With a few directions from a kind friend in Bolzano, I caught an early train to Verona and changed for an express to Venice. I always wanted to visit Venice for quite a few reasons. I had read a lot about it and had played the ‘Assassins Creed’ game franchise. The train reached Venice at about 9.30 am in the morning and I got off at the station. Just like any other tourist destination, the place was crowded. I went to the information desk for a map and to my astonishment, it looked quite like the game. Strangely I knew most of the things where they were, as I had played the map times over. I still took it, and was wondering which way to start,when I heard an Oriental accent struggling with English. I turned around and saw a Japanese girl asking for directions to the Grand Piazza. The answering party was fumbling with the map and appeared to be just as confused. He wore a cowboy hat, cargo pants and a green t-shirt. There was a peculiar tattoo on his arm that suggested he liked football and was Spanish.   There were words and nodding but the communication lacked. I just smiled and took to my map and started on a route that took me towards the crossover bridge.

Standing on the bridge I saw the two speaking to an Italian officer at the information desk who did more nodding without communication. They both looked at me and smiled and without a gesture started walking towards me, I guess it was unsaid that I had to wait. When they both reached me the soft Asian accent with a question mark asked …. “You have map ? I want Piazza go ” to which the Spanish nodded “also me”. I smiled saying "that makes the three of us". I gave them my name saying "hi I am Rohan" and in return I got an answer "hello I come Japan" and he added "me España ". I knew there would not be a lot of speaking and it made me more comfortable. We started walking roughly in the direction of Piazza and came to the crossing of the Grand Canal where we saw an array of  carnival masks. I saw a spark in the girl’s eyes as she was amazed to see so many beautiful masks. Out came a small point-and-shoot camera, and captured different expressions. The amigo was astonished to see the girls’ excitement. He just failed to derive what was so exciting in a mask. My eyes scrolled through many masks and a strange thought crossed my mind. The girls excitement, the guys astonishment and my sense of being an observer, aren't these all just masks ? just different expressions of the same face ?? I smiled to myself and guessed I had a mask without buying one. 

Harbour view from the main Island

I used to take my time absorbing as much from the surrounding and taking an abstract in the shot. Every time I took a photo, my new company would promptly come and see it and would gesture their comments. Occasionally I got a "bella grande !!".

We were walking close to the monument of Santa Stefano and came across an aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Me and the Amigo were drawn to the aroma. I suggested coffee and there was only one word “of-course”. The girl denied, shaking her head. The Spanish got all his English together and suggested  “the Spanish  ...South America grow good coffee, but only Italians cook it best”. I don’t know how much she caught it but his expression, I guess, was very convincing and she agreed with a nod. I got the coffee for all. The morning breeze and steaming coffee was a good combination, I read through a local newspaper a while having the coffee and returned it to the stall. I was about to settle for the coffee but the Spanish said sternly “I pay”. The girl rushed to the counter to pay and looking at our wordless chaos the man at the counter had a laugh. We stood at the counter and the man on the other side curiously asked us from where we were. I was the most communicable with words and he smiled back. There were three hands again to pay but there was no money taken. The stall owner took it on the house and said, "my four fathers  run this hotel.... go go enjoy your day". I guess he was amused at our combination.

Piazza

On way to the Piazza, we passed the ‘Thieves Guild’ the ‘Artist Alley’ and then the harbour. The place was a mix of art, cultural show and had sense of permanent travel. Permanent travel in the sense the place is a constant tourist attraction that tourists and tourist atmosphere is native here. 

A must-see thing in Venice, and I am sure no one will miss it, is the Gondola ride. I guess more than just the ride, it, in itself is a culture. There is a haggling phase, then the riding phase and then comes the enjoyment when you are at water level, taking in the city. The views, the people, the architecture.

A view from a side a canal.

‘San Giamoco’ is another monument worth seeing on the way to the Piazza. It is next to a clock-tower that has sun-signs and roman numbers engraved on its dial. It shows constellation time. We  pondered there for a bit and found it to be common topic to our backgrounds. Looking at the tall tower, we started identifying the names of constellations. It was a strange scene. Three strangers, not even knowing each other’s names, in a foreign country sharing names of stars. How ironical is our sense of knowing ! After a while, the notion crossed our minds and we laughed. Later I suggested "lunch" pointing out to a pizzeria. After having lunch we reached the Piazza. It has multiple-dome structure, is intricately decorated construction having a maritime tower in front of it. We took a tour of the monument  and the museum inside. I guess by now,we had understood that time was too short to give each other language lessons, so we would start in English and then continued as we liked. 

Grand Canal Bridge Cross over

We came out and walked along the harbour to see various vendors selling many articles, which included souvenir articles, masks, t-shirts, vases etc. After browsing through, we decided to take the ferry back through the Grand Canal and make our way back to the station. The girl in the meantime was busy shopping and clicking photographs and had forgotten to buy her ticket. We got the tickets and boarded. She was busy talking to us and we were nodding even though we did not understand a single word. Her expression seemed happy and we were happy enough with that. Soon, there was ticket collector on the ride and she was scared as she had not got a ticket. We saw the tension build on her face as the officer reached us and I gave him tickets for three. If I knew how to explain content and gratitude, I would show you the expression on her face. I and the amigo smiled and ride back was eventful with laughter and expressions in unknown languages but known sentiments. It was some time the evening where the sun was slanting and the orange color was giving away to the twilight. I could hear the train announcements. We stood at the platform ,all to catch a different train. There was nothing to say and yet a lot could be heard. We exchanged hand-shakes and finally got each-others names, but I learnt it did not matter. 

  

On the ride back to Verona, it all came to me more clearly. How indifferent, yet familiar we were in this small journey.

We care more about names, ethnic backgrounds and languages when they don’t really matter. Aren't these all masks that we put on ? But, in truth the human face is common to all of us. And so is the nature of life. We know each other for some time and if we feel concern,  it is all that matters. There comes a time when we have to catch a different train and take good memories along. Who were they to me? Why would you get a free coffee to make your day? I guess specialty is not only in the unique. It is the commons that do common things in a unique way.

A view from the Gondola on the Grand Canal

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Malta

Malta: A Mediterranean splendor

Ghana Bay

Ghana Bay Malta

When our flight reached the Maltese airspace, I saw a splendid view of a small island surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. The northern side of the island showed two outcrops and an edgy tapering to the North. Just at some distance from the main island were two smaller islands called Comino and Gozo.

The plane landed and we reached the hotel in time for lunch and had the second half of the day for work. From a geologist's perspective, this place is quite interesting, as the whole island is basically a massive calcium carbonate rock.
 Malta is a small island country. It had been an English naval base during the Second World War, so most of the population here speaks English. The whole country can be traveled length and breadths in a day and is a good scale model to study island bio-geography. 

To understand the present-day geological and geo-chemical setting of Malta, it is essential to know the history of this land in terms of it's land use. Geographically, Malta is in the center of the Mediterranean Sea. It has undergone three war sieges in it's history. It's initial inhabitants included Roman and Arabic people. Maltese, as a language is a mix of both. In terms of heritage, Malta has many beautiful churches, and was one of St John’s bases on his voyages. Malta also hosts a beautiful St. Paul’s cathedral, which is worth a visit.  Through the years, main occupation here used to be agriculture. The vegetation here can be categorized as Mediterranean scrub vegetation.
 Initially, the island constituted of small freshwater streams, but there are none present now. People used up all the terrestrial freshwater for farming and domestic purposes in the past. They then turned to groundwater sources. To support the island population, more water was necessary and ground water abstraction increased to a substantial level. To this note it should also be mentioned that due to over abstraction of groundwater in the past, the entire country does not have any natural freshwater sources left. It is entirely reliant on desalination for its freshwater needs. There are about 4 desalination plants and there is extensive research going on to refine desalination process. Malta has one of the world’s highest population densities. Population here is not the count but amount of people per square acre. The government levies a forty percent surcharge on every taxpayer for freshwater production. They have a saying in Malta “whatever is yellow treat it like mellow, whatever is brown flush it down”. It shows the need and scarcity of water. Being small, this island also faces an issue with it's waste disposal as land filling is not an option. From an earth scientist's point of view, Malta is a good scale model of ecosystem problems. It really made me wonder that these problems in the real sense are going to be our problems soon as our earth no different  than a bigger island in the unknown space. 

A shot from the tip of Ghana Bay.

In a normal functioning, the aquifer would run out of water when over abstracted, but as this island is a massive Calcium Carbonate rock it acted like a sponge and refilled itself with all the surrounding sea water. The ground water got mixed with sea water and when it was abstracted and used for domestic purposes most of the land under agriculture was salinized. Unlike normal beaches most of Southern Maltese beaches are rocky. All throughout the coast line is beautiful, with many coves and clear water with shades of blue and turquoise. It is a tourist hot-spot and offers good holiday environments. It is rivaled by Greece and Cyprus for Mediterranean tourism. Nonetheless it must be complimented for its exceptional Mediterranean food and very hospitable people. Something really noteworthy about Malta is that it is easily navigable. One can cycle or take a bus all over. Majority of the buses in Malta are the 'Routemasters' which gives the place a classic touch. 

Golden bay and the Ghana Bay are two must-see beaches in Malta. Both the sites hold great prospects for tourists as well as Earth Scientists. There are excellent openings for scuba diving. The Fungus Rock and Dwejra Bay on Gozo are really noteworthy in this respect.

Fungus Rock Gozo Island.

But even with all the political and economic storms ahead there is a huge blue horizon to look forward to. 

I really enjoyed my stay and research in Malta, and I hope to see it again sometime in the future. There was a lot to take away in terms of experiences, from the depths of the sea to depths of the problems this country faces. 
   

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