In November, 2003, I went to Greece and Turkey, fulfilling part of an earlier plan to see areas of interest related to the Venetian empire of the Middle Ages. I was also interested in seeing Troy, Athens, and Istanbul for their other historical and cultural sites - the Venetian connection was only the original inspiration.

Two maps of the area in the 1200's and 1300's are helpful in seeing how the area was ruled in the days of the high Venetian empire. Venetian rule in the region was spawned by the 4th Crusade, in which Venice and its Frankish allies invaded the Byzantine Empire and took some of its best territories for themselves. Venice seized Constantinople and much of what is now Greece. According to John Julius Norwich, most of these Greek areas were ruled as fiefs with little oversight from Venice itself.

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