Let The Cruise Begin!

Sunday May 18th - Weather warm & sunny 23C

Today we woke early again, although not as early as yesterday. it certainly is not the fault og the hotel as you can't hear a thing once the windows & shutters are closed at night. During the day you can hear the dlightful sounds of the gondola owners & singers as they are just below our window.

After another nice walk through the deserted streets, we arrived back at our hotel for breakfast. Then we asked reception to book us a water taxi for 11am & headed to our room to pack. Once organised we headed out again for some window shopping & a coffee, returning to check out & wait for our water taxi. It was quite amusing watching our driver negotiate all the gondolas in a narrow canal. Once out in the Grand Canal we stood and enjoyed the scenic ride taking photos along the way. 

This set of Louis Vuitton Cases caught my eye, until I checked the price. They ranged from 3,500 to 7,000 Euros each!!! Just a little out of our price range.

We arrived at the cruise terminal in less than 20mins (not bad considering the cost of 90 Euro)! We could have used the Ferry service, however that involved carrying our suitcases a long distance & over 4-6 bridges (all with many steps) & a similar situation when arriving at cruise terminal. So well worth the money we feel. It was a lovely way to arrive at the ship with cruise staff meeting our taxi & taking care of our luggage.

Photos of our water taxi ride to cruise terminal.

After a short walk to the terminal we were processed, received our cards and screened by customs, walking onto the ship (MSC Fantasia) within 1 hour of leaving our hotel. We were sitting down to lunch in the Buffet at 12.30pm & exploring our cabin at 1.20pm. Have taken lots of photos so will include as soon as I find WiFi.

Here are a couple of photos of our cabin. Very Italian in decor, but functional & comfortable.

I will finish this now & try to upload when we go ashore in Bari. 

More later :)

Venice Sail-away

Sunday May 18th - 5pm

Our sail-away from Venice can only be described in one word - STUNNING!

The sun was shining & it was such a beautiful sight. We took hundreds of photos from our balcony during the 1 hour the Fantasia took to transverse the Grand Canal & reach the ocean proper. Here is just a little selection of those photos. I have another 200 or so if anyone wants to see them when we get home :)

Saturday May 17th - Continued

Please don't panic & think I am going to write as much as this every day because it just won't happen! Today is an exception because we have such fast, free WiFi & Venice is one of my all time favourite places to visit & photograph. Not to mention it is such a beautiful sunny day.

It is almost 4pm Saturday here & we have just returned from a wonderful day out in Murano (famous for it's beautiful blown glass). After a few minutes of looking, we found the correct Vaporetta (water bus) station & purchased our tickets to Murano. We waited only a short time before our boat arrived and off we headed. The very picturesque ride took around 40 minutes & we arrived just before 10am.

Here are a few assorted photos of Murano

We walked around looking at some of the beautiful glass jewellery & I purchased a nice necklace, then we found a cute little bar and sat outside in the sun. The waitress asked what we would like & I said "aqua & a small white vino", she nodded & seemed to understand so then said what I thought was "water" so I kept saying we also wanted vino. Mike was having a gool old chuckle & when she left I said it looked like we would only get water. He said no we would get wine as well because she was just stating the volume of wine as "a quarter" meaning quarter of a litre which is what they tend to say here. Anyway when she returned she had a bottle of water and a small jug of house white containing 250mls. The wine was wonderful by the way!

When we had lunch later they also sold their wine by 250ml, 500ml & 1000ml jugs.

This is the wonderful Trattoria where we had lunch. We shared a Caprese Salad, then I had a scampi pasta & Mike had ravioli in a tomato & meat sauce. Both pastas were hand made & delicious.

Just one of the many hundreds of items made from Murano glass. 

We then found a Vaporetta from a different location & hopped on hoping it would return us to San Marco. Well it did eventually, however via a very long and scenic route. As we headed back to our hotel it was obvious just how large the crowds had become since our early morning visit. There were many groups with tour guides as well as lot's of cruise ship passengers (we counted at least 6 large ships docked as we passed on our Vaporetta trip). Luckily for us, tomorrow there is just our ship (MSC Fantasia plus a smaller ship in port.

After some relaxation time in our hotel room (a long snooze for Mike & some photo downloading & blog updating for me) we set out for a restaurant recommeneded to us which we were unable to find last night. Because I had done some research it was very easy to find & just 70 metres from the hotel. The Vino Vino Wine Bar & Restaurant was just beautiful. I had one of the specials, cuttlefish & squid ink spaghetti & Mike had the lasagne. Both we delicious & went well with the wine they recommended. Can't remember the name but it was very good, as have the other 4 wines we have tried since our arrival.

Now back at our hotel after after a little walk around yet another set of hidden little lanes. Each corner you turn reveals another beautiful building. We have yet to get totally lost, although we did go close early this morning.

Time for bed after a pretty long day.  

Betty & Mike

  

Saturday May 17th - Venice, Italy

Officially day 1 of our holiday!

Weather - Light Cloud/Sunny - 23 C

Last night was a bit of a jet-lagged blur so we just wandered around a little, discovered a gorgeous little restaurant on the Grand Canal for dinner & a glass of vino, then back to the hotel & sleep. At some stage I uploaded the photos & published yesterday's blog, however discovered a few typos today. Just blaming tiredness!

This morning, thanks to our wonky body clocks, we were awake at just after 4am. Considering the naps on plane & when we arrived, that was not too bad. We were showered & dressed before 6am, so decided to go for a walk. What a great decision this was as there were virtually no tourists anywhere and the views were unencumbered by masses of humans! Anyone who has visited Venice will know that during the day (any day, all year round) the crowds in San Marco Square & nearby areas can be horrendous. When we were last here in June 2010 that was certainly the case as we were staying out of Venice & visiting on day trips. By staying right in the city, you can venture out any time & see the amazing sights taking photos without multople obstructions. This will be seen in the early morning photos.

Our Hotel From Outside

What a beautiful morning it was, cool but not cold & started cloudy but the sun soon came out. We ended up wandering for what felt like miles. 

Beautiful Church Outside Hotel

The Famous St Marks Basilica (Under constant restoration)

San Marco Square (Tourist Free)

Doing Some Window Shopping

How Cute is this set of beads?

What about this sign below on one the the little gift shops?

Random Canal Photos from our walk

We have had breakfast & now heading off to find a boat to take us to Murano for a few hours. I will upload this now add more later.

Betty & Mike

Arrival in Beautiful Venice!

Well we have finally arrived in Venice, after an easy flight from Dubai. Our flight arrived on time & we were off the plane by 2.15pm & through customs & walking outside with our limo transfer driver at 2.30pm would you believe? Compared to Dubai, Marco Polo airport, Venice is tiny.

The Emirates included transfer worked seamlessly & our driver was quickly taking us to the water taxi depot for transfer to our hotel. This was our view entering Venice via The Grand Canal;

The water taxi dropped us off at an area right near St Marco Square & we just a short walk through a laneway (no bridges to cross) to our hotel. The Hotel is quite small but comfortable & our room has a freat view of a canal & gondola station. 

This photo (below) was taken from our hotel room window. 

After a much needed shower we decided to go for a walk & explore a little. Ended up walking through St Marco Square & finding a nice little gelato shop for our first Italian gelato this trip. Then discovered a little cafe in one of the back streets & had a coffee before wandering back to our room. 

A couple of pics around St Marco Square:

Apologies for the quality of these photos. After I returned to our room, I noticed the settings had been accidently changed, so they appear a bit dark. Also, I haven't bothered to edit them so lot's of tourists included. Hopefully better quality next time.

It's now 6pm here & we are trying to stay awake long enough to go out for dinner. Not liking our chances though!

Until next time ..... from Venice.

Betty & Mike