Before I get into the marvels of Venice, and Venice is marvelous, I want to offer a caution to anyone considering getting there by cruise ship. Check the itinerary carefully, because strict limits on the number and size of ships that can dock in the island city require many cruise ships to dock in Ravenna instead. What does that mean? It means that a nine hour excursion to Venice may only include three hours in the city, as the rest of the time is spent in getting there by train or bus, and then a ferry.
That was the case for us, and we docked in Ravenna, a port city south of Venice on Italy’s Adriatic coast, a little before 9:00 this morning. With the ship cleared by port and customs officials, we were on our tour bus at 11:30 and off on the ride north to the City of Canals (one of a half dozen nicknames I found for Venice).
One other aside. The ship is docked in Ravenna overnight tonight, and I suppose we could have arranged to stay in Venice the rest of the day, get a hotel, and return to the ship tomorrow. However, we want to visit San Marino tomorrow, and that tiny landlocked country is in the opposite direction from Ravenna as Venice, and logistically returning to the ship tonight was the only way to make that work.
So, back to today’s excursion to Venice, which promptly put an exclamation point on the caution in my first paragraph. Road construction between Ravenna and Venice added an extra half hour to the already long drive and chopped half an hour off our time in the city. Bottom line: by the time the bus and half hour ferry ride deposited us on San Marco, in the heart of Venice, it was 3:15, and our schedule called for us to be back at the ferry landing at 5:15. Two hours to see one of the world’s great cities.
And now I want to add one more caution. When traveling in Europe, bring your own earbuds on excursions. European guided tours often involve tourists being given a small radio receiver to hang around their necks, along with a disposable earbud. This makes sense in noisy, crowded places like Venice, because the radio and earbud allow you to hear the guide over all the noise. However, if like me you have ears that won’t hold the earbud, you’re out of luck, because you can’t hold an earbud to your ear and take photos at the same time. So just in case, bring your own earbuds, because you know they fit your ears.
On docking at San Marco we got the aforementioned radio enhanced guided tour of some of the island highlights, primarily the Piazza San Marco, where the great Basilica is located, which lasted about 45 minutes. The remaining 75 minutes were left to us to wander on our own. We hooked up with some friends and spent some of that time making our way to the Rialto Bridge overlooking the Grand Canal, which is one of those must-see spots (selfies mandatory) in Venice.
By now, however, it was after 4:00, and none of us had eaten since breakfast, so food became the priority. One of our friends knew a nice little open air cafe that served good pizza, and it had the benefit of being on the way back to our meeting point for the ferry. So, we decided to burn our remaining time dining on good pizza rather than frantically dashing around trying to get a few more photos.
Happily, others in our group knew how to get us back to the ferry dock from the cafe, because I was completely lost. San Marco is a warren of alleys, and it’s ridiculously easy to get turned around, so if you go, have operational GPS, a really good map, or stick with someone who knows their way around. Even with a member of our group who knew the way we barely made it back to the ferry dock by 5:15.
The rest was uneventful. The ferry took us back to the bus lot, and we settled in for the long ride back to Ravenna. We got back to the ship at 8:30, which gave us just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat, shower, and pack up for tomorrow’s excursion to San Marino. That one has an early 7:00 start, so it’s off to bed ASAP.
No time for formalities, so ciao, ciao for now.
I know this is a post about Venice, but the blog is about more than the day’s destination. It’s also about what we saw and experienced along the way. Our ride to Venice from Ravenna was a long one, and I thought I’d share a little of what we saw between the two cities. The sunflower fields were beautiful.
Lots of wheat fields too. There’s a lot of agriculture in this part of Italy.
Corn too, which reminded me of home.
Because of the length of the ride to Venice we made a short rest stop on the way next to the Abbey of Pamposa, which has a unique claim to fame. A thousand years ago a monk here invented modern musical notation. How about that.
The bus took us as far as Venice, crossing the long bridge into the city. But that’s as far as land based vehicles can go, and getting from there to San Marco, where the big attractions are, requires a thirty minute ferry ride from the bus terminal. The ferries are all a little different, but most of them are pretty similar to this one we passed on the way.
Even before you land on San Marco, the sights start getting you excited for what’s to come.
This is the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, a Palladian church and important landmark on a small island we passed on our way in to San Marco.
Just off the ferry dock in San Marco. Straight ahead is the Piazza San Marco. Visible in the photo from right to left are the Doge’s Palace, the Basilica San Marco, St. Mark’s Clocktower, the base of the Basilica bell tower, and the National Library.
The Basilica is spectacular.
A closer up view of the front of the Basilica.
One more Basilica shot. Just magnificent.
St. Mark’s Clocktower is fascinating. Zoom in on the clock and you’ll see that it’s a 24 hour clock, with the Zodiac signs inside the Roman numerals.
Also on the Piazza is the Doge’s Palace, used for generations by the rulers of Venice.
Time to start roaming the streets, and they are charming.
One of the least crowded streets we saw. There were a LOT of people in Venice today.
One of the many bridges over the smaller canals.
Gondoliers waiting for customers to retain their services. Gondolier rides aren’t cheap, but it wouldn’t have mattered to us anyway, because we didn’t have time to explore the canals by water.
Gondolas awaiting customers on a small canal.
Doorway to a curio shop. Note the lion overhead.
Pretty as a postcard.
And so is this.
From the Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal. This is one of the iconic spots in Venice.
Nice shot of Michele on the Rialto Bridge.
The pizza was really good. I never did get the name of the place.
Back in the Piazza San Marco on our way out. That’s the Basilica bell tower, and to the left is the national library. You can’t see it in this photo, but two of the statues on its roof are missing because Napoleon swiped them and took them back to Paris.
A final shot from the ferry dock near the Piazza. Venice is truly beautiful, and I wish we could have stayed longer.
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