Getting Oriented

Getting Oriented

Seen from the window of an airplane, central Venice looks like a fish laid out on a blue platter. The train station at the western end is the fish's eye, and the Castello sestiere (neighborhood) is the tail. In all, the "fish" consists of six sestieri—Cannaregio, Santa Croce, San Polo, Dorsoduro, San Marco, and Castello. More sedate outer islands swim around them—San Giorgio Maggiore and the Giudecca just to the south, beyond them the Lido, and to the east Murano, Burano, and Torcello.