Piazza San Marco viewed from the Grand Canal
Unknown church on canal, venice
Friday May 1 2009 - Once in every persons lifetime, they should be so lucky as to sail out of the beautiful city of Venice on a modern cruise ship, its massive bulk slipping effortlessly between the ancient buildings. To the music of Andrea Bocelli we sailed down the Grand Canal, in slow motion, seemingly within arms length of one magnificent building after another. The sun was perfectly positioned behind us on a beautiful clear warm evening and the throngs of people on shore waved a sad goodbye as we passed, It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day on this island city.
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Izzy on the vaporetto, Shelley behind
Our day began at 06.00am when we went up on top deck for an early breakfast as we sailed into Marittima pier, located about 3 or 4 miles from centre of the city. We had arranged to meet Bill & Shell on the dockside to walk to the nearest vaporetto station and use the vaporetto (water bus) system to travel around. We were joined by Dale & Stan from Vancouver and the six of us set off on the twenty minute walk to Le Roma station where we bought the twelve hour tourist pass for 16 Euros, allowing us unlimited travel on land and water. After validating our tickets, we found the dock servicing line number 42 and headed for our first destination, the island of Murano, renowned for its’ glassmaking factories.
Me and Izzy on Murano Island
It was about a half hour trip out to the island and we decided to get off at the far side of the island at Museo station and walk back to the Colonna station. We wandered the back alleys and canals checking out the shops and glass factories and came close to actually sitting and watching a glass blowing demonstration ‘til they said it was 2 Euros entry fee. Around 11.30am we found a nice canal side café and had a litre of wine, 2 beers, 2 paninis, a pizza and some pasta with sauce, total cost 47 Euros (about US$60), an welcome break from the joy of trudging from shop to shop. We grabbed the first boat that stopped at the Colonna station, the guy on board said it was going to Piazza San Marco and that was good enough for us.
The Bridge of Sighs, the actual bridge is the small grey square shape in the middle, the rest is temporary cover during reovations
Bill, Shell, Dale and Izzy close to Piazza San Marco
Gondolas at Piazza San Marco
San Marco was wall to wall people, we shuffled by the Bridge of Sighs, which was almost completely sacrilegiously covered in blue advertising plastic, then made our way into San Marco square, it was as imposing as I’d remembered from our previous visit, but this time with about 100 times more people. We quickly moved on for a short visit to Harry’s Bar, a one time hangout of Ernest Hemingway (he really got around) then we continued winding through the narrow streets moving generall back toward the ship.
Piazza San Marco with the Doges Palace at the far end
The Grand Canal
By 02.00pm, we were ready for another break and had the misfortune to happen upon the picturesque little eatery of “Ristorante Alvagon’, we were welcomed by the most accommodating host and made the cardinal sin of all tourists by not asking for a menu with prices. Initially we ordered a half litre of wine, a beer and a coffee, then asked for some bread with olive oil. Our friendly waiter appeared with the bread and oil plus some olives, sauce, some salami slices and some pieces of cheese, all complimentary he said. We enjoyed the ‘free’ extras until the bill arrived 80 Euros, the complimentary extras amounted to 60 Euros, lesson learned, we paid and left no tip. If you want to sample some overpriced salami, Ristorante Alvagon can be found at Cannaregio 5597, Venice.
Since we were beginning to feel the effects of the days efforts, Izzy and I decided to head back to the ship and after finding a vaporetto station we were soon back at Le Roma for the long walk back to the ship. After a short rest I went up on deck to watch the sail away and that’s where I began.
There was a spectacular lightning storm about half a mile off the port side of the ship about 08.00pm tonight. I think it was about half a mile off, from memory you divide the number of seconds, between lightning and thunder, by seven.
