Venice Italy / Day 3 and Embarkation

     

     We woke up excited about our new adventure, and decided to grab a quick cappuccino and croissant in a corner cafe so we could pack up quickly, check out of the hotel and head to the ship. We thought it would be easier that it was because everyone walks around suitcases, and it's only a 15 minute walk. The stairs on the little connecting bridges  have a skinny side with low steps for your suitcases. It wasn't so bad til we got to the bigger bridge past the train station that we couldn't roll our suitcases up, but had to lift and carry. 

It looks like this.

Once over that you will head straight across the street and turn right across the street and turn left to buy your ticket for the people mover. The tickets are €1.50 for each person.

What the People Mover looks like. 

 You can pick your language on the bottom by clicking on a flag. I didn't see the U.S.A. flag so I picked the U.K. flag. lol.

Follow the prompts and click on people mover, then there are are 3 choices. 2 on the top and 1 on bottom. I saw many people get tripped on this part. Choose the top right one which I think says 1 person tram + bus. It's confusing because you think " I'm not taking a bus". Click on it anyways, and pick how many people by clicking on the + sign. Wait for the light to turn green to put your coins in, then your ticket will print. You'll go through a turnstile and up an elevator or escalator to the people mover which is about a 1 minute ride.

 When you get off just follow the crowed tot he pier and look for your ship. This was about another 10-15 minutes. 

Now... let me tell you what  I would of done differently. If Id insisted on walking I'd of used these guys that had these porter carts and they would take your luggage to the people mover. I don't know how much thew were but the last bridge was not fun. They look like this below.

And once I got to the street after the people mover, and reached the street, I would of gotten a taxi , because as  I was doing the long walk to the ship which was the last one, I saw taxis pulling all the way up to the ship curbside. I met a lady at dinner and her hotel was on the mainland. She took a taxi from there to the ship for about  € 30 and they dropped her off right at the front. I love to walk but that a little much. After we found our room, ate a little lunch and rested we headed out again as our ship was not leaving til 2:00 a.m. 

We are boarding Holland America Veendam. This is our first time with Holland America and it's a smaller ship than we are used to. We heard that to visit Venice the only ships that are allowed are the smaller ships, if you can call them smaller. It's definitely smaller than the ones we are used to, but we are experiencing it with an open mind.  

Passengers: 1350 Launched 1996

UPDATE: Due to pandemic this ship was sold in 2020.

I decided to not go too far, and we all ready did the most important things, so we took the vaporetto only a couple stops in search of a church that was on our map, only to discover it was under construction. Thinking that was a sign and wearing out we stopped for some gelato and headed back to the pier. Now I'm becoming an expert on the people mover. We settled in and unpacked, and wandered around the ship to get our bearing before we headed to the restaurant for dinner. It's a 2 level restaurant and anytime is on the bottom level and scheduled is on top. We like to share tables and meet people, so he brought us to the second level right by the window. We met some great people and had a nice dinner to end the day. I think I did 1600 steps according to my fitbit. Whoo hoo!!

 

#Venice #VeniceItaly #peoplemover 

Venice Day 2/ Doge Palace / St. Marks Square/ Grand Canal

      I am so happy I took this vacation in 2019, a year before the COVID happened when this trip would of been impossible. I'm always saying..."You have to travel now before something happens and you can't", however, I was always thinking if you were ill, or broke a bone. I would of never predicted a pandemic to be the reason we couldn't travel. Also, I am hearing that cruise ships won't be allowed into Venice and they will have to go to a town about 2 miles south of Venice. So as I am missing traveling and vacations, I will use this time to review the one I did last summer, reminiscing about the amazing time I had, worry free and care free. 

Day 2 we wake up around 7:00 a.m. after hearing rumbling for while. I thought it might be trash day, but later realized it was thunder. As we would soon find out, thunderstorms would happen randomly in the evening and were common this time of year. We headed out in the morning to look for breakfast and exchanged money on the way. Right next door was a sidewalk cafe  that was recommended so we decided to eat there. We both had cappuccinos, vegetable omelet and orange juice. My husband who usually likes his coffee black, liked the cappuccino so much he had 2! Well they were pretty tiny, so I'll give him a break. I think we both could of had like 3!! They aren't Starbucks sized.  Then we walked back to our hotel to get ready for our tour of Doge Palace and St. Marks square. We used our passes that we bought at the airport and jumped on the vaporreto, that took us down the Grand Canal, which is the scenic route to get there, and took about 45 minutes. Here is a little video of going down the canal. 

 I did Walk of Italy tour and chose the V.I.P. secret passage tour. It took about 3.5 hours and is named below. 

VIP Doge's Palace Secret Passages Tour & St. Mark's Basilica

• The most complete tour of the Doge’s Palace, we’ll take you to special access areas not usually open to the public – including torture chambers and Casanova’s prison cell!
• After your secret passages tour, you'll skip notoriously long general access lines to get inside the Doge's Palace for a special tour by our local guide

• 

  Doge Palace
  
  

  
  

  

  Doge Palace and St. Mark Church
  

  
  

  

  Doge Palace
  

  
  

  
  

• 
  

Panoramic view inside

Inside the Prison Chambers

More Prison Chambers

Panoramic view of ceiling at St. Doge Palace

Bridge of Sighs 

Bridge of Sighs

Doge Palace

Doge Palace

Trying not to look hot. 

 It was a little more expensive than the other ones, but I knew it was peak season and didn't want to waste what little time I had waiting in line in the hot sun of summer. And boy was I glad I did that. She took us through mazes, dungeons, and secret rooms with lots of history. About halfway through the Palace we came out of a secret doorway with the regular people who were doing the normal visit. Our tour guide took us to the rest of the palace with our headsets on as she explained the history and art work. The last 45 minutes was "St. Marks Cathedral" which also was skip the line. You are told to have your shoulders and knees covered prior, but being hot and muggy many people had shorts and sleeveless top on. I wore over the knee capris and a spaghetti strap top, but had a light windbreaker wrapped around my waist, so just put that over and I was fine. For all the others that weren't prepared, that had to buy a sheer shawl like thin material covering for 2.00 € before they entered. You aren't allowed to take photos, which sucks, so you will just have to use your memory. : ) It is an amazing, beautiful church and there were long lines inside.
                                      This is not my photo, but one from the internet. 

After that we stopped by a little cafe/bar to have a beer for my husband, and a gingerino drink for me.

Number #1 tip.

When you are traveling, you need to stay hydrated. Everyone carries around hydro-flasks. I would carry a plastic water bottle and always leave them someplace. So guess what I got for Christmas? And I ordered a holder with strap that goes on crossbody so I would not leave it anywhere! I tried it on a day at California Adventure/Disneyland and it worked great. It looks like this. Then your H2O stays cold!!

#Lovetotravel #Travelingtheworld #venice #Italy #vacationtravel 

Venice Italy

    On the way back to our hotel we stroll through the narrow streets toward Rialto Bridge. This is where we decide to eat dinner. It may be touristy, expensive, not on the beaten path, but we would like to eat along the Grand Canal and just enjoy the experience. So we chose a cute place, which I can't remember it's name but had excellent service and of course pasta. 

But it was one of these restaurants. Not my picture below. 

After dinner we decided to hop on the Vaporetto back to the hotel. 

Walking back to the hotel we got caught in an evening thundershower. A surreal moment in Italy.

Burano...island of Pastel painted houses.

Just a few more pictures of stolling  down winding

alleyways and feeling the jet lag.

Strolling through the streets of Burano. 

Venice Day 1

Finally we have landed. 

It's 11:30 the next day, and we are going to try to stay up as long as we can till we crash. We decided to take a water bus to our hotel which is one of the first stops when we get to Venice. We bought our tickets from a machine/kiosk at the airport, and there is someone there to help and guide you through the process. It's  Euros for a one way ticket. I thought I would be super efficient and buy a 3 day water bus for 40 Euros while I was at the airport. This pass will get me to St. Marks Square. a ride down the Grand Canal and even get me to Murano and Burano. It's unlimited for 3 days.  Once you walk out across the way you will see little booths where you can buy these. 

Just follow the people to get to the water taxis. They will  tell you which line to get into. It was a little bit of a wait for the water taxi. So be prepared, it moves slow. It was about a 45 minute ride to our hotel Ca'Pozza which was right by the Guglia stop. This location is the northern part about a 10 minute walk to the train station and 15 minute walk to the people mover for the cruise ships. Our hotel is down one of those very narrow little alleyways at the end, but the hotel is very updated and clean. 

Ca' Pozza Hotel

The front desk is very helpful and informative. No elevator which I already knew, but I was only on the second floor, and they will help you if you need it. 

After we unpacked and settled in we decided to venture out. I made tours for the next day in case we had any problems or unexpected delays. So I thought we could go to Murano and Burano, knowing it was a short water bus ride away. Lucky us we caught the water taxi right outside our hotel to Murano, the glass blowing factory island. It was about a 15 minute or so water ride to the island. We of course started buying souvenirs in some stores, and most every store is full of Murano glass, what it is infamously known for.

I like to not bring any earrings, go into a store and buy earrings to wear out. So I bought some cute Murano Glass earrings as one of my souvenirs. It was a pretty hot day and the clouds were coming in, so asked a few people for direction to the next water boat to Burano. It's easy to get disoriented in the twisty little alleyways and streets. So we took a 35 minute boat ride to Burano which is known for lace making and pastel colored houses and store along the way. Whenever you see paintings of Italy and the multi colored painted houses it is usually Burano.

By now we are getting hungry and tired so stopped at a little restaurant for beer and pizza.

We didn't buy any lace and headed back to the boat to get back to the hotel. We were both worn out and started to nod off even

 on the boat.  We transferred to another water boat and headed to the 

hotel to crash out. I never fell so fast asleep in my whole lie.