Venice

Venice was the final destination of our 14 day cruise on the Oceania Nautica. How enchanting the city without cars is! The highlights were visiting St. Mark’s square and Cathedral, the Doge (pronounced doji) Palace and an excursion to Lido island.

First day we took the Vaporetto public transit water taxi to Murano and explored the glass factory. We then walked to the Rialto Bridge and had a beer – 14 Euro each! We sauntered back through St. Mark’s Square. That night, we stayed on board Nautica the and enjoyed one last dinner in the Polo Grill.

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Then it was off to our local hotel. We stayed 3 nights at the Alloggi Barbaria guest house with some friends from the cruise. It is in the east area of town about a 20 minute walk to St. Mark’s. Breakfast was included on the terrace. We had a small fridge and their was a grocery store nearby. Restaurants are very expensive in Venice so this place was great.

St. Mark’s was a very busy square. There were several cafes and we remember that if you made the mistake of sitting down to order your coffee and pastry, the price doubled compared to if you stayed standing lol!

St. Mark’s Cathedral was very crowded so we had to line up to get in. It was very hard to get good pictures because of the huge crowd. There was a tower in the square that we climbed so we could get a better look at things and enjoy the view.

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The Doge Palace is just behind St. Mark’s Cathedral. It was the home of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Venetian Republic. It dates from 1340. It contains some magnificent paintings, institutional chambers, the Doge’s apartments and the Bridge of Sighs to the ancient prisons below.

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On another sunny day we took the Vaporetto to Lido, a picturesque little island nearby and wandered around. We found some lovely gardens, a nice hotel and a quiet beach. It was a great place to visit.

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On our last night we joined friends Bruce and Judy for a great fish dinner.

Our Eastern Med cruise with friends had now come to a beautiful end. This was indeed the best cruise we ever went on – 13 fab ports in 14 days. Thanks for cruising with us. To Canadian readers, Happy Thanksgiving!