"Venice is like eating a box of chocolate liqueurs at one go" said Truman Capote.

See Venice and die, the saying goes. Well, hopefully not, but it is to die for. It is one fo the few tourist icons that exceeded the advance billing. It's a living city, not the historic theme park that many would have it. Children played football in squares, washing is hung across courtyards, old women walked their small dogs.

Although is a city whose charms are extolled to the point of clichè, it is also a place you can return to again and again. A place where repeated acquaintance only deepens, rather than dulls, one's affection.