"City of Canals"

In my past blog I briefly mentioned how most of the cities narrated are described with canals, wells, lakes and other water sources. Even though I thought it was a weird coincidence the only thing I could think about was weather he was narrating the same city. As I continued reading, one specific city caught my attention by the emphasis on the canals.

Esmeralda. Trading City number five. It was the city of water, made up by a network of canals and streets. As Marco Polo continues describing this city, he mentions that to go from one place to another there is always the option of going by land or by boat.

Think about it. Picture this city. “…It is not a straight line but a zigzag that ramifies in tortuous optional routes…”(Pg. 88). 

Now tell me, what came into your mind? Another city maybe? A city you do know or have at least heard about?

Well, I hope you are thinking of Venice. Yes, the “City of Canals”.

If we go a little into history you should know that Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant. Does this mean that Esmeralda is actually Venice? Maybe. Taking it further, I believe all the cities are Venice.

So answering my questions, it is not that there is no city. There is one city, Venice, and Marco Polo is adding more fiction to it to narrate it to the emperor.

Even though at first I was reluctant to accept this idea, it was confirmed in class. There is actually only one city.

As I read the last cities, I saw another pattern: rats. Many of the cities had something to do with rats, either there were rats in the sewers or he compares the behavior of the people to rats. In the fourth Hidden City, Theodora, rats were the last enemy for man in terms of the possession of the city. I decided to look up what it was with rats and Venice and I found out that during the 17^th century the “black plague”, otherwise known as "Italian Plague" roamed Venice. It was caused by the large amounts of plague infested rats brought by merchant ships that arrived here. Maybe that’s why rats were continuously mentioned.

Anyways. Now we know that there are no real cities, they are all describing Venice in different ways.

 Here is some proof that there still are rats in Venice :).