We are cruise people. We love cruises. Some people say they don't think they could spend 30 or 40 or 100 days on a ship. Not us, we love it! We love days at sea. We love days in port. We love ports we have been to before. We like being treated like we are special. We like trying new and different food and drinks and activities we have never dreamed we could attempt much less accomplish.
We took our first cruise in 1980 with a group of friends and friends of friends. We were 29 or 30 and figured we would need a large group to help keep us entertained. We were innocent and niave and didn't have much money so we booked the cheapest inside cabin in the bowels of the ship for a week in the Caribbean. We saw the San Souci Palace in Haiti, El Morro in San Juan, a rum factory in Dominican Republic and Charlotte Amalie in St Thomas. It cost us $800+- per person and took us a year to save and pay for it. We loved it!
For one reason or the next we didn't go again for almost 20 years. In 1999 we decided to go to the Mexican Riviera for our 30th wedding anniversary. By this time we had a bit more money so we booked an ocean-
view stateroom. WOW! did we ever think we were royalty. A window! That one cost us about $1000 for both of us. The prices have continued to go down compared to other things through the years.
Now we are up to balconies and swear to never go back. We have now sailed a total of 22 times all in balconies except for those first 2. We love having our own private little haven to view sites entering or leaving port. We have seen the inside passage in Alaska twice this way. The Grand Canal of Venice, a good portion of the Caribbean, and ports up and down the coast of Mexico from Cabo to Acapulco to the Panama Canal. We like to have a glass of wine before dinner or watch dolphins and fish as we traverse the oceans.
We are cruise people.
We love to travel. People tell me I should be a travel agent because of all the things we do,the places we go, and the money we save. Our grandaughter,Sophia,tells everyone that we are on a "field trip" while we are gone, thus the name. I hope you find helpful, interesting information about different locales, ideas on how to get the most for your money, and be entertained in the process. Welcome. Connie
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
When in Rome...How 2 can spend 6 days for $1000
When we decided to go to Italy for the first time in 2009, we booked a 33 day Transatlantic cruise. The cruise line offered a one night hotel stay in Rome including transfers from the airport to the hotel and then to the ship on embarkation day. So we thought we would go a few days early and get some extra time to see the eternal city up close and personal. I excitedly called to get information from the cruise line. "It's okay, just breathe", I told myself as I graciously thanked the young lady on the other end of the line. Tony, my husband, could tell by the look on my face and the open gape of my mouth that one of two things had just happened. Either I was in "sticker shock" or a village some where had just found its lost idiot. For a few minutes after telling him the cost I was afraid he might have a seizure . At the same time, I was about to cry while thinking, there goes my only chance to see Rome. The cost you ask?... a whopping $479 PER PERSON for ONE night!!!
I decided to do some research and see if there was a way to spend a few days in Rome and save some money in the process. After thinking about what we considered the 'must do' things this is the list we came up with.
1. The Vatican Museum 6. The Pantheon
2. The Colosseum and Forum 7. The Spanish Steps
3. Piazza Navona 8. Pizza
4. Trevi Fountain 9. Galleria Borgese
5. St. Peters Basilica 10. Sistine Chapel
We figured we would need a minimum of 4 days before we boarded our ship for the Med and then transatlantic back to Ft. Lauderdale. My first need - a place to stay. I like http://www.hotels.com/ and have fairly good luck with them. We stayed at Flaminio Village Bungalow Park,Via Flaminia Nuova 821, Rome, 00189 Italy 866-539-0036. This is a campground that also offers several sizes of bungalows on a very large property. We paid less than $35US per night and that included breakfast. No TV or phone and limited
WiFi for a fee. But clean and adequate. Here is their website. http://flaminio-village-bungalow.h-rez.com/ I got a better price from hotels.com than the pricing on the site. And please remember we were there in November which is the low season. These lodgings were great for the price, however, we wouldn't stay there again because a few days we spent up to 2 hours a day traveling to get to the main part of Rome where all the major sites are located. But because of the money we saved on these accommodations we were able to stay for six days. There is a restaurant on premise and that is where we took most of our evening meals. Dinner was an average of E45 each night including wine. We packed a light lunch of boiled eggs, croissants and fruit from the breakfast bar. We would occasionally purchase a piece of pizza on our daily outings if we wanted an extra snack. We drank water from bottles we brought with us from the bungalow that we filled at the open faucets that are all over Rome. All of the water comes from the mountains thru the ancient aqueducts and is very safe for drinking and tastes like expensive bottled water . This alone probably saved us E50.
We used public transportation and had a wonderful time mingling with the locals on the trains, buses and metro. Use common sense the same as you would in any large city you are not familiar with. Don't dress like a tourist and watch your pockets and you will have a once in a lifetime experience blending in. We speak very little Italian, but between our few words and their little bit of English and sign language and lots of smiles we did just fine. We purchased 2 Roma Passes each for the six days since each is good for 3 days public transportation and includes free entry into the first 2 venues on each pass plus discounts on many others. Using the pass at venues you get to bypass the ticket lines which can take an hour or more at certain sites depending on what day of the week it is. And the price of entry at the first 2 venues almost covers the cost of the 3 day pass. That means your transportation is practically free! Here is the website.
http://www.romapass.it/english/index.html We also felt the 48 hour pass on the Hop On Hop Off Bus was money well spent allowing us to get acquainted with the area and get dependable transport between
sites. There are three to choose from. We would not recommend the yellow one as it is mainly for Christian sites. The green and red are almost identical in routes. They offer the most circuitous routes nearest the popular sites We chose the green.
We saw 8 of our ten 'must do' items plus the Scavi Tour (the necropolis under St Peters), which was spectacular, a Rome By Night Tour that was fun fun fun, and spent one entire afternoon on a quest to find a keyhole through which the dome of St Peters was visible only to be driven there that same night on the Rome by Night Tour. We still laugh about that one. If you look at the pictures on the left you will see through the keyhole both during the day and at night. My advise is to reserve and purchase as much beforehand as possible. We bought our Roma Passes (picked up in the airport before we exited), Scavi Tour, and our hotel in advance. We reserved tickets for Borgese Gallery a few days before we wanted to go since they fill up quickly. The Scavi Tour should be booked thru the Vatican scavi@fsp.va several months in advance. You will be assigned a day and time during whatever days you say you are available since they only allow a maximum of 250 people a day, and each group is limited and for a specific language. We also reserved a driver to pick us up at the airport and then take us to the ship six days later. All of this including souvenirs came to around $1000+/-US. Compared to $958 for one night at a hotel and transport to the ship we had an adventure we will always remember. The best part was we were not slaves to a schedule. We have plans to go back again to see some of the things we didn't have time for, but we have been told you can never see all of Rome. I would love to try. How about you?
I decided to do some research and see if there was a way to spend a few days in Rome and save some money in the process. After thinking about what we considered the 'must do' things this is the list we came up with.
1. The Vatican Museum 6. The Pantheon
2. The Colosseum and Forum 7. The Spanish Steps
3. Piazza Navona 8. Pizza
4. Trevi Fountain 9. Galleria Borgese
5. St. Peters Basilica 10. Sistine Chapel
We figured we would need a minimum of 4 days before we boarded our ship for the Med and then transatlantic back to Ft. Lauderdale. My first need - a place to stay. I like http://www.hotels.com/ and have fairly good luck with them. We stayed at Flaminio Village Bungalow Park,Via Flaminia Nuova 821, Rome, 00189 Italy 866-539-0036. This is a campground that also offers several sizes of bungalows on a very large property. We paid less than $35US per night and that included breakfast. No TV or phone and limited
WiFi for a fee. But clean and adequate. Here is their website. http://flaminio-village-bungalow.h-rez.com/ I got a better price from hotels.com than the pricing on the site. And please remember we were there in November which is the low season. These lodgings were great for the price, however, we wouldn't stay there again because a few days we spent up to 2 hours a day traveling to get to the main part of Rome where all the major sites are located. But because of the money we saved on these accommodations we were able to stay for six days. There is a restaurant on premise and that is where we took most of our evening meals. Dinner was an average of E45 each night including wine. We packed a light lunch of boiled eggs, croissants and fruit from the breakfast bar. We would occasionally purchase a piece of pizza on our daily outings if we wanted an extra snack. We drank water from bottles we brought with us from the bungalow that we filled at the open faucets that are all over Rome. All of the water comes from the mountains thru the ancient aqueducts and is very safe for drinking and tastes like expensive bottled water . This alone probably saved us E50.
We used public transportation and had a wonderful time mingling with the locals on the trains, buses and metro. Use common sense the same as you would in any large city you are not familiar with. Don't dress like a tourist and watch your pockets and you will have a once in a lifetime experience blending in. We speak very little Italian, but between our few words and their little bit of English and sign language and lots of smiles we did just fine. We purchased 2 Roma Passes each for the six days since each is good for 3 days public transportation and includes free entry into the first 2 venues on each pass plus discounts on many others. Using the pass at venues you get to bypass the ticket lines which can take an hour or more at certain sites depending on what day of the week it is. And the price of entry at the first 2 venues almost covers the cost of the 3 day pass. That means your transportation is practically free! Here is the website.
http://www.romapass.it/english/index.html We also felt the 48 hour pass on the Hop On Hop Off Bus was money well spent allowing us to get acquainted with the area and get dependable transport between
sites. There are three to choose from. We would not recommend the yellow one as it is mainly for Christian sites. The green and red are almost identical in routes. They offer the most circuitous routes nearest the popular sites We chose the green.
We saw 8 of our ten 'must do' items plus the Scavi Tour (the necropolis under St Peters), which was spectacular, a Rome By Night Tour that was fun fun fun, and spent one entire afternoon on a quest to find a keyhole through which the dome of St Peters was visible only to be driven there that same night on the Rome by Night Tour. We still laugh about that one. If you look at the pictures on the left you will see through the keyhole both during the day and at night. My advise is to reserve and purchase as much beforehand as possible. We bought our Roma Passes (picked up in the airport before we exited), Scavi Tour, and our hotel in advance. We reserved tickets for Borgese Gallery a few days before we wanted to go since they fill up quickly. The Scavi Tour should be booked thru the Vatican scavi@fsp.va several months in advance. You will be assigned a day and time during whatever days you say you are available since they only allow a maximum of 250 people a day, and each group is limited and for a specific language. We also reserved a driver to pick us up at the airport and then take us to the ship six days later. All of this including souvenirs came to around $1000+/-US. Compared to $958 for one night at a hotel and transport to the ship we had an adventure we will always remember. The best part was we were not slaves to a schedule. We have plans to go back again to see some of the things we didn't have time for, but we have been told you can never see all of Rome. I would love to try. How about you?
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Ahhhhh…Venice, Italy
October 16, 2010 - We were up and off the ship around 8 am. Our first order of business was to take the people mover from the dock area into the station for the vaporettos to St Mark’s Square. We found the ticket office and exchanged our voucher for tickets. These boats are like city buses only on water. Everyone uses them and they are the least expensive form of transport. Our unlimited use ticket cost us about $20 US each for a 24hr period.
We boarded the vaporetto at Piazzelle’ Roma. I was rather giddy with the idea that I was at last in Venice, one of the places I had dreamed of all my life. It was almost as exciting as my first views of Rome had been.
Everything is in a state of decay. But the most poignantly beautiful decay I have ever witnessed. The foundations of all the buildings are covered with lichen and moss and barnacles. Rickety bridges spanning small canals allow residents to cross from one building to the next. Interspersed are bridges made of stone and marble. The pier posts for tying up the gondolas and innumerable boats along every walkway and side canal are rotted and worn at water level. Yet still strong enough to be of use. Walls of houses are mottled with crumbling brick and stucco as the wavelets of water rolls in marching fashion against them with each passing from the vaporettos, tronchettos, ferries and private motor boats. And yet, what you most remember is bougainvillea and ivy draped balconies, window boxes highlighting worn wooden shutters of all colors, with all manner of geraniums and other blooms spilling over the edges, iron grille work with Asian, Moorish, Egyptian, Turkish and so many other styles of architectural influence combined into an almost solid wall of structures along the water’s edges. It is difficult to tell a local business from a five star hotel, restaurant, or private home because not much is marked to help define each from its adjoined neighbor.
We finally reach the floating station at St. Mark’s and the vaporetto disgorges it’s contents of tourists from every locale imaginable, the locals on their way to work, and even school children on a cultural outing with their teachers and assistants.
Doges’ Palace We have reservations for the Secret Passages Tour at Doges’ Palace so we don’t tarry because the vaporetto ride has taken a bit longer than I had originally anticipated. We find the office easily after employing the help of a local vendor in St. Mark’s. Our Italian is very limited and they take pity on us like you would with a small child needing guidance.
Our voucher is once more exchanged for tickets and we line up on a bench to await our guide and the rest of the members of our tour. This tour is to last about 1hr 15min and is limited to 20 people with an English speaking guide. Our guides’ name is Chiesa or in rough translation Cynthia. She is very charming and her narrative helps to bring this huge cold building life. We begin by climbing two sets of stairs, each with golden opulence painted and applied to the frescoed ceilings. These are the last pictures we will be allowed to take inside the building.
To have been the center of justice this place is very austere. The offices of the Doges’ and his committees are a series of very tiny interconnected rooms. The Doges’ himself was chosen to hold office for his lifetime but he was an old man before he was ever selected and he could be impeached and removed. This did happen once. The example served well as not another Doges’ ever took advantage of his position. This sector of government investigated major crimes and through out the courtyard and building there were boxes built into the walls for the depository of complaints and accusations. The one requirement was, that if you made a complaint you were required to sign your name to it and if the complaint proved false you were then prosecuted and sentenced. So it was a very honest form of justice.
Once tried and sentenced bribery was a recurrent theme in the treatment of prisoners depending on their status in life. The more you could pay the better off you were. And in most cases the sentences were shortened for good behavior. There was a short period when torture was used to gain confessions but it fell by the wayside and the Venetians were enlightened early on that torture didn’t work in the pursuit of justice.
The most famous prisoner in the palace was Giacomo Casanova, the well known lover. He was actually imprisoned for tempting the daughter of a wealthy Venetian. The main problem was he enjoyed tempting nuns. He was sentenced to 10 years but served only a matter of months before his escape thru the rafters and out the front door the next morning. Ironically he made his escape on October 31st. He fled to other parts of Europe for the next 10 years and actually came back to Venice and was pardoned.
He wrote an autobiography of sorts extolling all of his adventures even his escape from the prison at the Doges’ Palace. The tale was a best seller in his time, however, no one knows exactly how much is truth without embellishment.Murano, Burano, TorcelloOur next scheduled activity is a trip to the three islands in the Bay of Venice.
We made our way from St. Mark’s down to the ticket kiosk and once again exchanged our voucher for tickets. We still had over two hours before this boat would depart so we asked the agent to recommend a local spot for lunch. He sent us down a small alley/street for a E12 lunch that was very hearty local food. Two courses plus either dessert or coffee. First course (of course) was pasta. A huge serving that was a meal in itself. We are beginning to learn that in most cases we can share one lunch or dinner and it is more than we can eat. We did this last year in Rome so we should have remembered. Second course was a small platter of mixed fried fish which included shrimp and calamari. We chose coffee since we were both stuffed. I have started to collect small coffee cups from the restaurants we eat in as mementos of our travels. I have had coffee this past year in Napoli, Istanbul and Brazil on various mornings at home, so I asked to buy the small cup at our lunch in Venice. The owner and his wife thought I was just another crazy American tourist I am sure but the wife offered it to me for E1 and the husband said take it at no charge. So Tony left a E3 tip to compensate. So now I will have coffee in Venice whenever I want. Time now to walk three bridges farther down the canal and board our vaporetto for the “Three Islands.”
Murano is famous for its glass. The glass forges are numerous and the locals who live on the island are very proud of their craft as they should be. Their infamy is hundreds of years old. However, the prices are outrageous!! For a small nondescript frog or turtle the price of E38 caused us to bypass most of the items. These items were of about the same quality as the glass animals we used to get at the LA County Fair when we were children for $1. Guess simply because it is on Murano the price is inflated. I did find some small pieces of glass candy for E3 each that will make very nice ornaments for the grandchildren on the Christmas tree and serve as a memento. Our stop here was about 35 minutes and then we were off to Burano on a different vaporetto with a different guide.
The island of Burano is very picturesque with houses painted in bright almost Caribbean colors. It is famous for its handmade lace. We watched a very old woman ply her needle to make a small swatch about the size of my hand. This one piece will take up to a month to complete. I purchased a handkerchief with “R” embroidered in the corner and lace work around the edge for E7 and then an appliqué showing the canal and a gondola for E10. Next we are off to Torcello. This island was the beginning of Venice itself. The church located here is the first and oldest in Venice. There is not much else on the island now other than a few farm houses and the church and museum. The church is covered with scaffolding for renovation so maybe the next time we come we will visit again to see what progress they have made.
Just as we are ready to leave and head back to Venice it began to rain and continued so for the next day and a half, but that didn’t stop us from our next scheduled adventure… a gondola serenade.Gondola Serenade and dinnerWe venture back past St. Mark’s umbrellas in hand, night falling rapidly and with vague directions. We have over an hour to find our next destination, however everything looks completely different at night so it was a stroke of luck that I had asked for the later time of 7:30 instead of 6:30 because as we discovered “you can’t get there from here”. We had to wind over, around and through several streets, bridges, a sea of umbrellas with tourists attached looking as lost as we are, to find Santa Maria del Giglio, the location of our very damp gondola ride with serenade. There was a total of 3 gondolas on this little adventure. The first held 6 wet souls, the second 4 and the two young men who would sing for us, and ours was the third with 4 plus our gondolier.
There was one tense moment when we first drifted into the Grande Canal directly into the path of an oncoming vaporetto. Needless to say I was a bit nervous about the possibility of the gondolier yelling “abandon gondola!”. As the saints evidently knew I was repentant of any and all offenses I might have committed in my life and that my grandchildren would forever be scarred with the knowledge Nanya and Papa got run down by a vaporetto while on a gondola serenade in Venice, they went around us. But it was a close call.
Our ride and serenade lasted about 40 minutes and our young singers were excellent. As we went under little bridges the lost tourists with umbrellas would stop to take pictures and listen to the young tenor and his partner with the concertina. I encouraged them to throw money but finally realized that since they had been too cheap to pay for a gondola serenade themselves they were not going to help defray our costs. Oh well.
As luck would have it the restaurant where we were to have dinner was right next to the gondola stop. Restaurante del Giglio is a small elegant hole in the wall with low ceilings of ancient worn smooth beams, offered us another 2 course meal that began with (of all things) pasta for me, lasagna for Tony. We ordered a small carafe of wine and water. Good wine by the way. Second course for me was grilled sole and for Tony scaloppini, both were excellent. And I finally had gelato. OMG!!! Lemon gelato is to die for!!!
We finished off the wine and headed around the corner to hop the vaporetto back to Piazzelle’ Roma and our ship. We finally arrived back in our cabin around 10:30 pm and fell into bed exhausted but very satisfied with ourselves for conquering Venice on our own.
We left the following day at noon headed for Dubrovnik, Croatia. I have to admit I found myself thinking of the third Indiana Jones movie where they are racing around the Grande Canal and out into the Bay of Venice when we started our departure at the end of our short sojourn. And I caught myself repeating Indy’s comment of “Ahhhhh…Venice” with a quirky knowing smile on my face. Ahhhhh…Venice.
We boarded the vaporetto at Piazzelle’ Roma. I was rather giddy with the idea that I was at last in Venice, one of the places I had dreamed of all my life. It was almost as exciting as my first views of Rome had been.
Everything is in a state of decay. But the most poignantly beautiful decay I have ever witnessed. The foundations of all the buildings are covered with lichen and moss and barnacles. Rickety bridges spanning small canals allow residents to cross from one building to the next. Interspersed are bridges made of stone and marble. The pier posts for tying up the gondolas and innumerable boats along every walkway and side canal are rotted and worn at water level. Yet still strong enough to be of use. Walls of houses are mottled with crumbling brick and stucco as the wavelets of water rolls in marching fashion against them with each passing from the vaporettos, tronchettos, ferries and private motor boats. And yet, what you most remember is bougainvillea and ivy draped balconies, window boxes highlighting worn wooden shutters of all colors, with all manner of geraniums and other blooms spilling over the edges, iron grille work with Asian, Moorish, Egyptian, Turkish and so many other styles of architectural influence combined into an almost solid wall of structures along the water’s edges. It is difficult to tell a local business from a five star hotel, restaurant, or private home because not much is marked to help define each from its adjoined neighbor.
We finally reach the floating station at St. Mark’s and the vaporetto disgorges it’s contents of tourists from every locale imaginable, the locals on their way to work, and even school children on a cultural outing with their teachers and assistants.
Doges’ Palace We have reservations for the Secret Passages Tour at Doges’ Palace so we don’t tarry because the vaporetto ride has taken a bit longer than I had originally anticipated. We find the office easily after employing the help of a local vendor in St. Mark’s. Our Italian is very limited and they take pity on us like you would with a small child needing guidance.
Our voucher is once more exchanged for tickets and we line up on a bench to await our guide and the rest of the members of our tour. This tour is to last about 1hr 15min and is limited to 20 people with an English speaking guide. Our guides’ name is Chiesa or in rough translation Cynthia. She is very charming and her narrative helps to bring this huge cold building life. We begin by climbing two sets of stairs, each with golden opulence painted and applied to the frescoed ceilings. These are the last pictures we will be allowed to take inside the building.
To have been the center of justice this place is very austere. The offices of the Doges’ and his committees are a series of very tiny interconnected rooms. The Doges’ himself was chosen to hold office for his lifetime but he was an old man before he was ever selected and he could be impeached and removed. This did happen once. The example served well as not another Doges’ ever took advantage of his position. This sector of government investigated major crimes and through out the courtyard and building there were boxes built into the walls for the depository of complaints and accusations. The one requirement was, that if you made a complaint you were required to sign your name to it and if the complaint proved false you were then prosecuted and sentenced. So it was a very honest form of justice.
Once tried and sentenced bribery was a recurrent theme in the treatment of prisoners depending on their status in life. The more you could pay the better off you were. And in most cases the sentences were shortened for good behavior. There was a short period when torture was used to gain confessions but it fell by the wayside and the Venetians were enlightened early on that torture didn’t work in the pursuit of justice.
The most famous prisoner in the palace was Giacomo Casanova, the well known lover. He was actually imprisoned for tempting the daughter of a wealthy Venetian. The main problem was he enjoyed tempting nuns. He was sentenced to 10 years but served only a matter of months before his escape thru the rafters and out the front door the next morning. Ironically he made his escape on October 31st. He fled to other parts of Europe for the next 10 years and actually came back to Venice and was pardoned.
He wrote an autobiography of sorts extolling all of his adventures even his escape from the prison at the Doges’ Palace. The tale was a best seller in his time, however, no one knows exactly how much is truth without embellishment.Murano, Burano, TorcelloOur next scheduled activity is a trip to the three islands in the Bay of Venice.
We made our way from St. Mark’s down to the ticket kiosk and once again exchanged our voucher for tickets. We still had over two hours before this boat would depart so we asked the agent to recommend a local spot for lunch. He sent us down a small alley/street for a E12 lunch that was very hearty local food. Two courses plus either dessert or coffee. First course (of course) was pasta. A huge serving that was a meal in itself. We are beginning to learn that in most cases we can share one lunch or dinner and it is more than we can eat. We did this last year in Rome so we should have remembered. Second course was a small platter of mixed fried fish which included shrimp and calamari. We chose coffee since we were both stuffed. I have started to collect small coffee cups from the restaurants we eat in as mementos of our travels. I have had coffee this past year in Napoli, Istanbul and Brazil on various mornings at home, so I asked to buy the small cup at our lunch in Venice. The owner and his wife thought I was just another crazy American tourist I am sure but the wife offered it to me for E1 and the husband said take it at no charge. So Tony left a E3 tip to compensate. So now I will have coffee in Venice whenever I want. Time now to walk three bridges farther down the canal and board our vaporetto for the “Three Islands.”
Murano is famous for its glass. The glass forges are numerous and the locals who live on the island are very proud of their craft as they should be. Their infamy is hundreds of years old. However, the prices are outrageous!! For a small nondescript frog or turtle the price of E38 caused us to bypass most of the items. These items were of about the same quality as the glass animals we used to get at the LA County Fair when we were children for $1. Guess simply because it is on Murano the price is inflated. I did find some small pieces of glass candy for E3 each that will make very nice ornaments for the grandchildren on the Christmas tree and serve as a memento. Our stop here was about 35 minutes and then we were off to Burano on a different vaporetto with a different guide.
The island of Burano is very picturesque with houses painted in bright almost Caribbean colors. It is famous for its handmade lace. We watched a very old woman ply her needle to make a small swatch about the size of my hand. This one piece will take up to a month to complete. I purchased a handkerchief with “R” embroidered in the corner and lace work around the edge for E7 and then an appliqué showing the canal and a gondola for E10. Next we are off to Torcello. This island was the beginning of Venice itself. The church located here is the first and oldest in Venice. There is not much else on the island now other than a few farm houses and the church and museum. The church is covered with scaffolding for renovation so maybe the next time we come we will visit again to see what progress they have made.
Just as we are ready to leave and head back to Venice it began to rain and continued so for the next day and a half, but that didn’t stop us from our next scheduled adventure… a gondola serenade.Gondola Serenade and dinnerWe venture back past St. Mark’s umbrellas in hand, night falling rapidly and with vague directions. We have over an hour to find our next destination, however everything looks completely different at night so it was a stroke of luck that I had asked for the later time of 7:30 instead of 6:30 because as we discovered “you can’t get there from here”. We had to wind over, around and through several streets, bridges, a sea of umbrellas with tourists attached looking as lost as we are, to find Santa Maria del Giglio, the location of our very damp gondola ride with serenade. There was a total of 3 gondolas on this little adventure. The first held 6 wet souls, the second 4 and the two young men who would sing for us, and ours was the third with 4 plus our gondolier.
There was one tense moment when we first drifted into the Grande Canal directly into the path of an oncoming vaporetto. Needless to say I was a bit nervous about the possibility of the gondolier yelling “abandon gondola!”. As the saints evidently knew I was repentant of any and all offenses I might have committed in my life and that my grandchildren would forever be scarred with the knowledge Nanya and Papa got run down by a vaporetto while on a gondola serenade in Venice, they went around us. But it was a close call.
Our ride and serenade lasted about 40 minutes and our young singers were excellent. As we went under little bridges the lost tourists with umbrellas would stop to take pictures and listen to the young tenor and his partner with the concertina. I encouraged them to throw money but finally realized that since they had been too cheap to pay for a gondola serenade themselves they were not going to help defray our costs. Oh well.
As luck would have it the restaurant where we were to have dinner was right next to the gondola stop. Restaurante del Giglio is a small elegant hole in the wall with low ceilings of ancient worn smooth beams, offered us another 2 course meal that began with (of all things) pasta for me, lasagna for Tony. We ordered a small carafe of wine and water. Good wine by the way. Second course for me was grilled sole and for Tony scaloppini, both were excellent. And I finally had gelato. OMG!!! Lemon gelato is to die for!!!
We finished off the wine and headed around the corner to hop the vaporetto back to Piazzelle’ Roma and our ship. We finally arrived back in our cabin around 10:30 pm and fell into bed exhausted but very satisfied with ourselves for conquering Venice on our own.
We left the following day at noon headed for Dubrovnik, Croatia. I have to admit I found myself thinking of the third Indiana Jones movie where they are racing around the Grande Canal and out into the Bay of Venice when we started our departure at the end of our short sojourn. And I caught myself repeating Indy’s comment of “Ahhhhh…Venice” with a quirky knowing smile on my face. Ahhhhh…Venice.
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