Italy: Venice

This isn't a place of subtle charm. Venice knocks you over the head and bowels over your senses as soon as you emerge from the train station.

Architecture? They'll show you architecture...

"Over the bridge" is a common dictum for lost bikers getting directions out of the town. Let it be noted: Venice is NOT a place for loaded touring bikes. Even if you do manage to find places to ride, you'll likely get busted by floating Venezian polizei.

How does one make decaying back alleys with peeling paint into a prime tourist haunt? Just add water.

Dusky rose glass lanterns add an air of fantasy to an already fantastic city square.

Pigeons, though they don't get top billet, manage to steal the show in San Marco's square

Gondoliers coplete the picture of authentic Venice, jostling for space in the narrow canals

Like a strip mall parking lot, the main canal is lined with vehicles: ferries, gondolas and powerboats tethered in long rows to wooden stakes

A frenzy of shape and colour greets visitors checking out one of the city's premier mask boutiques

On a cool, gray, drizzly day the hordes of tourists fall away, and abandoned back corners of the town regain some of the haunting, lonely feel of their erstwhile days

NEXT: Florence