Our first day off the ship we ventured into Venice.
Getting around
To get from the cruise ship, we used the water based public transport http://www.alilaguna.it/. They had a counter located closely to the the ship where you purchased tickets.
After heading to the “ferry” for want of a better word, we watched as the craftsmanship of the canals showed what it takes to manoeuvre small and large vessels in close confined spaces on water. I commented at the time if you loved, watercraft and you wanted to follow that for a profession, well Venice would be the place. You probably would need to learn a little Italiano.
We arrived just down from Piazza San Marco (St. Marks Square) and walked along the foreshore of the canal. One of the challenges for the day was that there were around five cruise ships berthed meaning an influx of around 8000-10,000 additional people on top of the normal tourist trade. To further complicate the morning, it was raining and there was potential for flooding in Square.
The Venice Tourist Route for day visitors
We soon realised that we were now in the tourist crowd and were being swept along with the flow. There seemed to be the main “Tourist route” for day visitors which seems to go from St Marks Square to Rialto Bridge.
As we came to the end of the square we decided to follow the crowd which seemed to be making its way to the Rialto Bridge. Needing a break we ducked down some alleyways to find a coffee shop.
When you duck down an alleyway in Venice you enter this maze of walkways where you will find businesses, cafes, bars, hotels, churches, canals and accommodation. You really need to treat the whole experience as an adventure, even when you get lost which is so easy.
After our break we jostled with the crowd to Rialto Bridge, doing some window shopping and trying to find a place to purchase a map. We headed along the grand canal only to be be met by water flowing over the edge of the canal into the Alfresco Dining area where you sat, you could sit but you would have had wet socks.
The staff didn’t seem too impressed with the tidal flooding. It also meant we couldn’t get to where we wanted to go, so we ended up going down an alleyway to miss the water which became another adventure in directions.
We found a cafe for lunch and settled in for an hour to catch our breath and stay out of the rain.
With the amount of tourist traffic, our first impressions was not that high and we’re starting to think that this is little annoying. We decided it was time to head back to the cruise ship.
We stopped at the Grand Canal thinking we could board the ferry service back to the shop, however, the lady behind the counter advised we had to go back to the stop near St Marks square.
On our way back to the square we noticed these portable platforms just under a metre high where you could walk, they resembled a portable stage. These were portable and seemed to be able to be joined to together. We soon found out that these were for flooding and designed for people to walk about. In the time of heading across to Rialto Bridge unbeknown to us St Marks Square had a small tidal surge/flood.
After discovering we could not avoid having to go through St Marks square, we joined the line up for the platform and slowly made our way across the square. A little unpleasant however we got across the flooded areas.
We finally made it to the ferry stop and back to the Cruise ship for our final evening on board.
So that was our first day in Venice, hustle and bustle on the Tourist Route for day visitors.