Beautiful Venice and Adriatic cruise (part 1)
Beautiful Venice and Adriatic cruise (part #1)
This year I decided to fulfill my old dream - to go on a sea cruise. After reviewing a lot of material on the Internet, I stopped on a cruise on the Adriatic, according to reviews I chose the American company Royal Caribbean International and their cruise ship “Voyager of the Seas”, one of the largest in their fleet. Since one day to Venice on a cruise was clearly not enough, I decided to add 5 days in Venice to my vacation (two before the cruise, sightseeing and three after, to swim). This is how the route came about. Having bought air tickets to Venice, a tour of the Adriatic, having booked all the hotels in Venice I needed on my own, having waited for visas, we went to Kyiv. Kyiv met us with street coolness. With suitcases, we climbed the steps to the overpass and went towards the South Station, from where, according to information from the Internet, route No. 9 should go, which will take us to the Zhuliany airport. Surprise at the South Station - route number 9 has been cancelled.
Options - station taxi drivers (up to 200 UAH), ordinary taxi drivers (from 50 to 100 UAH, how to bargain), ordering a taxi by mobile phone from the train, another option for an independent tourist - legs in hands, a suitcase in your teeth and go. After 300 meters there are city minibuses, which for 2 UAH. 50 kopecks per person will be delivered safely to the Zhuliany airport, where we ended up in half an hour. Further - everything is simple! Registration, customs and passport control, a bit of waiting in the sump. The buses approached, took us to the plane, loaded safely into any seats, everything was decorous, polite, with the smiles of stewardesses. The A320 aircraft is new, leather seats, legs are free, unlike the Boeings of Ukrainian Airlines, on which I flew. The flight is two hours, and already Treviso. The queue at the border control goes quickly, a look at you, a stamp in your passport, is free. Luggage is already waiting, dismantled and on the way out.
Unlike Ukraine, buses in Treviso adapt to aircraft flights and therefore getting to Venice is very easy. At Piazzale Roma there are vaporetto piers and ticket offices. We are on the island of Murano, on Murano we are looking for the Locanda Conterie hotel, where we spend the night for two nights. Since we plan to mainly be in Venice, the hotel on Murano suited us.
The island of Murano, inhabited since ancient times, became famous when, out of fear of fires, all Venetian glass blowers were evicted here. They enjoyed enormous privileges and could even count on the indulgence of the court, no matter what crime they committed. On Murano they knew how to make things that were inaccessible to anyone in Europe until the 18th century - primarily mirrors and glasses. During the Renaissance, when it became fashionable, the aristocrats built themselves dachas on Murano. From here we made our trips to Venice, a beautiful, decrepit old lady, about whom much has been written and I do not want to repeat myself.
I am writing about what I encountered from ignorance, from self-conceit and from lack of knowledge of the language.
We walked around Murano, there are a lot of places where there are interesting sculptures and other things made of glass, even looking into glass-blowing workshops, had a bite to eat, washed our arrival in Venice with a little Crimean cognac and decided to see what Venice is like in the evening. It was already getting dark. We went out to the pier, a vaporetto approached, sat down, crossed the lagoon and it unloads us. Having learned that it is not far from here to go to Piazza San Marco, we decided to take a walk along the streets of Venice in the evening. People sit in pizzerias, trattorias and other cafes and restaurants, shops are open, the closer to San Marco, there are more and more people, a festive atmosphere, orchestras play, in general, amazing. You can’t push through on San Marco, we walked, decided to ride along the Grand Canal at night and, out of ignorance, swam in the wrong direction (to the Lido).
Since vaporetto No. 1 is circular, I decided that it’s okay - we’ll return along the canals to Piazza Roma, and then the familiar vaporetto No. 42 to Murano. It seems that everything is correct, but it turns out - No. 1 is the slowest vaporetto, walking, and we only reached Roma Square by 24 o'clock. Further, it turns out that they go to Murano vaporetto only until half past eight in the evening, and then only night ones with Fondamento Nuove. And nothing goes to Fondamento from the square either. One Italian said - a water taxi will take you, but for 80-100 euros, since it is night time. Here is the problem of ignorance! A vaporetto approached, we decided that it would take us to San Marco, then we would look for the way back and hope that the night vaporettos run at least somehow. They sailed to San Marco, deserted, no people. One cafe is closing, you can see in the window, the waiter is cleaning something up. I knocked, I was lucky - I responded, I was lucky - that I was Russian, showed me where to go - across the bridge and straight ahead. And so we go ...to the first fork.
And then - a question! There are no people, all the windows are shuttered. Not a soul! Somewhere in the distance a person will appear, we are following him, we are walking, as if we are catching up - and he is not there. In short, we got lost in Venice, you walk along the canal along the sidewalk - a dead end, you return in the other direction - again a dead end. Lucky again! Well, what would we do without Russian tourists! ! ! There are two on the canal. I approached, in a mixture of Italian-English-swear words I say, tell me how to get to Fondamento, and he tells me in pure Russian - I don’t know how to get there, but now we’ll find out. He takes out a navigator, determines our location, says, stick to this channel, he will display it. It became easier, a couple of times we still stumbled into different dead ends, walked several streets where you can’t walk side by side and came to this Fondamento. And there a boat appeared on the horizon, transported us to Murano, where I already felt at home. And we were at home at half past four at night.
What an evening walk! Calluses and dropsy on the legs, but how much adrenaline!
The next morning greets us with a clear sun. Light European, aka Italian breakfast (egg, sausage slice, croissant, coffee). Forward ...for new experiences! Vaporetto No. 41 is waiting on the pier, I am now arming myself with a map of Venice, an orange guide, it contains a lot of information, every sight is described (it has nothing to do with our orange ones). My wife is putting on a band-aid for dropsy and we are ready for new Venetian routes.
The drive across the lagoon from Murano is also interesting. Boats, boats and boats, small boats are scurrying about. Everything is carried on them - people, food, bricks, a boat with a sofa passed, but they brought a coffin on a boat, since the cemetery is also on a separate island. There are two rows of piles with lanterns on top!
It turns out - it's like a fast lane on a freeway, speedboats rush along these mossy piles. In general - life on the water.
But here is Roma Square, from where you can go around Venice, and from Venice anywhere. The task is worth it - to go over bridges and bridges from Piazza Roma to San Marco, seeing all the sights along the way that you meet on the way. It is impossible to get lost, because the stream of tourists shows the right direction. And the whirlwind of basilicas, palazzos, canals and bridges, shops and shops, pizzerias and trattorias, gondolas and boats, Italians, Germans, Japanese, blacks ...cafe tables.
Here is the Rialto Bridge.
Mandatory filming of the Grand Venice Canal from the bridge, we cross the bridge (you can cross the canal on a gondola, this option costs 1 euro, unlike an hour walk along the canals - up to 100 euros) and slowly following the signs, once with your wife
then going into the shops, we move towards San Marco. The temple, the door is open, we look in - the beauty is indescribable, we quickly click the camera several times and go, suddenly it’s impossible to shoot. We approach San Marco, the crowd increases, the surrounding beauty also. San Marco is described repeatedly in all guidebooks, they captured themselves against the background of these beauties and decided to have a bite to eat somewhere away from tourists. We left in the direction of the Biennale, there is a park, very beautiful, they didn’t eat pasta in the trattoria, they managed with sandwiches and coffee. In Venice - a siesta, people sit in cafes, rest - some at home, some in parks. Only tourists wander around, take pictures, watch something, such a Brownian movement.
We decided that it was enough for us to tour, since there is still a whole day to Venice in the cruise program and three days on the Lido after the cruise. Home on Murano, pack up and prepare for your Adriatic cruise. I will describe the cruise in the next part.
