¡Venezia!

No matter how you feel about cruise ships, there cannot be a more beautiful way to enter the city of Venice than by water and the perspective that being about 6 stories up provides. There is no other approach (train, car or plane) that allows you the stealth that a water entry does.

We arrived back in Venice after a very windy sail across the Adriatic from Split. The seas weren’t particularly rough, although there were plenty of whitecaps, but the wind howled most of the night.

Still it was peaceful and picturesque as dawn broke over Venice and we sailed silently into her harbor.

For disembarking almost 2,000 passengers, the ship companies have this down to an art (if not a science). The night before you and your luggage are assigned a color group which gives you your order of disembarkation. Everyone had to be out of their staterooms by 8 a.m. (they were going to flip this ship and sail again at 5 p.m.). Breakfast was served at various locations until 10:30 and the last passengers would be off by 10:45!

We were in the 10:00 group and left the ship, retrieved our luggage (also in a color-coded arrangement) and were on the People Mover within 20 minutes. The People Mover, a monorail, takes you from the cruise terminal to the Piazzale Roma stop in Venice. This is the transportation hub for the city where you can catch a train, a bus to the airport or a vaparetto for local transport in the city.

We had an address for our apartment, but without WiFi we had no navigation services. We stopped and bought a paper map (yep!) and had the location marked for us. Then we headed out walking, pulling our bags through the narrow streets and up and over a few bridges. We did well until we got into the heart of the Cannaregio and finally had to call the landlord for help! Turned out we had come to within a couple of blocks of the apartment, but without the help of Carlotta, who was waiting to check us in and came to fetch us, we never would have found it.

Checked in, oriented to the apartment do’s and don’ts, coached on transportation options, restaurants and shops we were happily ensconced in our new digs for the next five days. So happy to be back in this magical city.

We unpacked a little, studied the map and tried to orient ourselves to locations we would visit in the upcoming days and then we hit the streets. We are in the Cannaregio district or Sestiere of Venice. If looking at an aerial view of Venice, the Cannaregio is the northernmost Sestiere.

From the 16th through the 18th century this was the Jewish Ghetto. The height of the buildings in this area represents the population they were forced to house. There are still five active synagogues here serving the small current Jewish population.

Not far from our apartment we stumbled upon Personal Structures in the Palazzo Mora, a European Cultural Center exhibit running alongside the Biennale Arte 2019. The exhibit presents a wide selection of works from emerging and internationally renowned artists, photographers and sculptors. What a find! The palazzo alone, built in the 16th century, is worth the visit, but the art was superb.

We continued our wander down the Strada Nova, taking alleyways out to the Grand Canal and just embracing the sites, sounds and smell of the city. We stopped at a market on the way back to the apartment for some provisions. We returned to the apartment (yes, we found it) put the groceries away and waited for restaurants reopening at 7 p.m.

Carlotta, our apartment contact, had recommended a restaurant close to us. It was lovely and nicely located on the Strada to watch the Friday night parade. We had a delicious dinner and then walked in the opposite direction before returning home.

Time zones allowed a nice chat with Paige, who was now in Orlando, before signing off for the night.