VENICE, ITALY
Today, we arrived in the port of Marghera, and we had 11am tickets for the shuttle boat to take us into Venice, which meant we had plenty of time for a bit of a lie-in and a leisurely breakfast.
At 11am, we climbed on board the shuttle boat and enjoyed a slow transit to the big city, which took us past an industrial area. Other than that, the journey was relatively unremarkable save for a few interesting birds.

Since March 2021, large cruise ships have not been allowed to sail past St Marks Square. Not before time, I say, but what do I know? The boat traffic in that area is still quite manic, and fun to watch, but the absence of large ships is something of a blessing in my opinion. It never seemed quite right to have a huge cruise liner floating past so closely to such an historic location.
Our shuttle boat took us to a spot four bridges down from St Marks Square, so not far from the main action at all – maybe a ten minute walk at the most.

Once on land, we were able to appreciate our surroundings. Wherever you walk in Venice, the route is punctuated by bridges that cross over narrow canals. No-one drives here; everyone gets around by boat. The good thing about that is that you’re never short of something to look at and photograph; Venice does canals really rather well, and the constant movement of small boats and gondolas is a treat to see.


If I have any reservations about Venice at all, it is the sheer numbers of visitors. Once we’d navigated to St Marks Square, we decided to join the very long queue to enter The Basilica. At €3 per person, it seemed a steal, yet once inside its dark, dingy interior, those €3 only take you so far. Further payments are required at strategically placed ticket barriers if you want to experience the full thing, which we calculated would have pushed the fee to around €15. In the end, we settled for the cut-down version.
Once back outside, we fought our way through the milling crowds in St Marks Square and started making our way through the busy narrow streets to Academia Bridge, pausing along the way to buy a panini lunch from a small bakery.

The view from Academia Bridge is a something of a classic. It’s been painted by all the masters, and if you pick up any travel brochure advertisng Venice, then this is one of the views that is likely to loom large.
The Grand Canal passes under Academia, weaving its way through the centre of the city, to Rialto Bridge – the next classic location on our itinerary.

Of course, it being such a classic means that. like St Marks Square, Rialto Bridge tends to draw the crowds. It is also a major picking up and dropping off point for many of the small boats and gondolas, so the constant, slightly chaotic movement of canal traffic is entertaining to watch.

We ‘did’ Rialto Bridge, and then navigated our way via a broadly circuitous route back towards where we’d started. The shuttle back to the ship wasn’t untuil 5pm, so we had plenty of time.
Away from the bustling crowds and expensive designer outlets (you name it – they all have a presence here), Venice becomes a more interesting place. Walking along the quieter, more sedate streets and crossing over the less famous bridges you start to get a sense of what Venice is all about. Having said that, someone on the ship had said that they’d spent three weeks here, which is something that I don’t think either Tracey or myself could ever imagine doing. It’s nice enough (it would be nicer if there weren’t quite so many people, though), but we’re not cafe people, and once you’ve seen one canal, you’ve sort of seen them all. There were a couple of places we made a mental note to check out properly when we come here again later in the year, and instead of queuing for the Basilica, I think we’ll probably aim to climb the large clock tower in St Marks Square.
Our final few minutes, before boarding the shuttle boat back to the ship, were spent relaxing by one of the nearby bridges and watching the world and his vessel pass by. Interestingly enough, the boat took us back a slightly different way, which seemed a little more direct, and shorter. It’s possible that the boats have a one-way system that they have to adhere to, or maybe they have a system of ‘smart canals’ or some sort of certification that controls which routes boats should take at various times of the day. Either way, the area around Venice itself is quite extensive and flat, with small islands dotted here and there.
By 8pm, we were on our way again, heading towards our final Croatia destination, Zadar, where we are due to arrive tomorrow morning.