Cruising in place: Still in Venice

While today is technically the second day of our cruise, we’re still in port here in Venice.  This is by design - shore excursions were available today.  We opted for one of the included choices - a walking tour of the area around Piazza San Marcos.

Other than the inevitable frustration of the hurry-up-and-wait that cruise excursions are infamous for, the boat ride into Venice and the walking tour were good.  John spotted a few outdoor seats behind the enclosed cabin on the boat, and apparently no one else did because we were able to get them.  We had a great view, we were sheltered from the wind so it wasn’t cold, and our seats were more comfortable than the hard wood benches inside.  John scored points for that call.

We passed an island with a dilapidated estate, complete with an overgrown formal garden and crumbling sea wall.  Looks like a great fixer upper.


We had great views of iconic buildings from the lagoon.


Our tour guide had lots of information - it would be great to have an all-day tour with her.


Here’s a better view of the Bridge of Sighs - 


Watching this guy manhandle a large hand truck up and down the steep steps of a footbridge (while yelling loudly at tourists to get out of the way), gives you a sense of how difficult it is to do ordinary tasks in Venice.


Our ride back to the ship took a different route (possibly due to a low tide), taking us past the working harbor of Porto Marghera.  We may have been in the minority, but we thought it was really interesting.




They’re building a new bio fuels refinery next to an existing oil refinery.

We got back to the ship a mere 5 minutes before the “All Aboard” time because we’d had to wait an entire 30 minutes for everyone to show up to return on the shuttle boat.  After repeatedly hearing that we MUST be back at the meeting point by 1:15 pm, a few finally sauntered in at just about 1:45.  That made me appreciate the policy on Rick Steves tours - if you’re not there at the appointed time, it’s your responsibility to get yourself to wherever the group is going.

We wouldn’t have been left behind today since we were on one of the cruise-sponsored tours, but we were annoyed with having to wait so long for the late-comers.

Not long after boarding, we felt the ship start to move.  The tugboat is pulling us into the shipping lane.


We had a busy evening attending talks - first a port talk about our next destination (Split, Croatia), then a lecture about the rise and fall of Mussolini (not great), and finally a talk about Diocletian and his palace in Split by the resident historian (very interesting).

After “Italian Night” at the buffet, we’re calling it a night.

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