Even if you've never been to Italy to see the real Venice, chances are good most long term travelers have run across another city in another country calling itself the "Venice of" something. Of course, some of these so-called Venice facsimiles bear more resemblance to the Italian original than others, but even in those cases it seems that the only criteria that must be adhered to is this:
Your town must have at least one canal or slow-moving river.
On that shaky ground, there are probably plenty more places that could call themselves the "Venice of" something than currently do - but even so, there are lots for us to explore in this slideshow about 15 of the fake Venices around the world.
We'll start by taking a quick visit to the real thing, and then we'll compare and contrast the fakes.
15 Venices
Photo credits:
Venice, Italy by llamnudds on Flickr, Venice, CA by GrahamKing on Flickr, Alappuzha, India by akshaydavis on Flickr, Suzhou, China by jeremybarwick on Flickr, Amsterdam by Roger Wade on WhyGo Amsterdam, St. Petersburg by Tierecke on Flickr, Monasterevin by archangelm on Flickr, Nantes, France by broken glass on Flickr, Ft. Lauderdale by cliff1066 on Flickr, San Antonio by satosphere on Flickr, Puerto de Mogán by mmeida on Flickr, Sete, France by kafeole on Flickr, Basra by david_axe on Flickr, Bangkok by jhecking on Flickr, Recife by Márcio Cabral de Moura on Flickr, Venetian Las Vegas by Marionzetta on Flickr