The Piazza San Marco is the hub from which you can most easily reach all of the Venice's most famous landmarks — all of which are well worth seeing in spite of the crowds. There's glittering San Marco Basilica, which looks less like a northern European cathedral than a sultan's pleasure palace; the Palazzo Ducale, a pink-and-white Venetian Gothic wedding cake of a building that housed Venice's rulers and now hosts art exhibits; San Marco's beloved 100-metre-tall brick bell tower, constructed in 912 and fortified after collapsing in 1902, so it's now quite safe to climb for a beautiful bird's-eye Venice view; the extravagantly decorated, and extravagantly priced, 18th-Century Florian's and Quaddri cafes; and, of course, the piazza's famous pigeon
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