15 April 2014

Venice 13/04/2014

We docked at 0800, grabbed a 12hr 'bus' ticket (18 euro) and cruised the grand canal initially.  We got off at San Marco (St. Mark) square.
We arrived in the square right on 1000 and witnessed the Palm Sunday mass beginning in St Mark's Cathedral.
We walked the streets and back alleys.  I think we got lost a few times but others probably wouldn't admit that.  It's a maze of paths and alleys sometimes only a couple of metres wide where you can only see the sky.  We had a map but as you could imagine it's very busy in it's detail and not every street can be named.  The trick is to just keep tracking in the same general direction and eventually, you'll end up on the grand canal.  From there you can get your bearings.
Had lunch at a small ristorante near the Rialto bridge.  We set out on a mission see if we could find our stomping ground of 2007 when we stayed here a few nights. 
By the end of the day, we were spent and our weary old legs eventually got us back to ship about an hour before we were due to depart.
Today we unloaded a shipload of boat people and took on another - about 2000 turnover.  Included in the exodus were Mark and Karen, our friends from home.  They are spending a couple of nights in Venice before the trip home. 
So now we begin another 7 day cruise which, for us, is the last leg.  This leg takes us to Santorini in the Greek Islands to the South and return to wind up in Venice next Sunday.
Tomorrow, we land in Bari on the SE coast of Italy at 1300.  It will be a short visit of about 5 hrs.
Catch ya then...

No comments:

Post a Comment