Despite a very late night after Dubrovnik, we managed to get ourselves out of bed early enough on our final cruise day to watch the approach into Venice. It is definitely worth finding a spot on a forward deck for, if you find yourself onboard someday. The port requires all ships use tug boats & at some points it looked like we were going to run them over.
We met up with some family friends who had boarded early, studied the map for our walk into the city, & got directions to meet up for dinner later one before heading out to explore Venice. We wandered from the terminal to the Ponte Academia, where we shared a pizza & a drink. From there, we continued to San Marco, getting lost in the maze of bridges & dead ends a few times. The city is beautiful though & getting lost seems to be a right of passage there.
Making our way into Venice
Gondola Builder
Ponte Academia
drinks by the bridge
venice life
a man & his flying lion
Piazza San Marco is impressive. The people feeding pigeons grossed me out a bit, but to each his own, I suppose. I’m happy to take photos of it, but I’ll refrain from actually letting them land on me. We eventually made our way to the Rialto Bridge & grabbed another drink (after getting lost a few more times). I loved watching the gondolas & wandering the narrow streets. The boats speed along as if they could brake if need be. It’s incredible to watch.
Feeding the birds in the square
So narrow!
Busy Venice
View from the Rialto Bridge
At 8, we found our way to the very hidden restaurant to meet everyone. It only took us two stops to ask for directions & a couple wrong turns.
Dinner was exactly what you’d expect from an Italian meal – incredible hospitality, lots of laughter, simple, delicious food, & all the wine you could ask for. To start things off, the owner put together an amazing set of seafood platter for our table. We all shared clams, calamari, shrimp, & a few unknowns. It was all delicious! For our main course, N & I both chose risotto. By this point, I was quite full though & barely made a dent, which was a shame because it was perfectly creamy & full of seafood. I’m so glad we were able to join everyone in Venice – it was such a wonderful evening & a great way to cap off our cruise.
One of the many seafood platters
risotto
interior of one of the gorgeous hotels
Last shot of our home for the week, Ventura.
We took a boat back to the ship for our last night on the ship. It was a pretty quiet one since we had to be packed & out of our room pretty early the next day.
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