Venice, Italy

Our cruise began in Venice, Italy.  We got our airfare through Viking, had no issues with strange connections or timings as we flew directly from RDU, NC to Paris, France then to Venice, Italy (although we did have about a 5 hour layover in Paris).  Given we had never been to Venice before, we decided to arrive one day prior to the ship departure.  Viking offers some excursions and travel stays for both prior to the cruise and afterward, but we decided to do our own exploring.  I had to contact Viking to move up the flight to a day earlier, but they did this without issue.  Normally, they charge you an extra one hundred dollars to change flights, but if you ask nicely they may just do it for free. 

From the Venice Airport, we took the shuttle to the city proper.  We then proceeded to lug our suitcases about halfway across the city.  I never realized that Venice is actually a series of more than a hundred islands, many connected through walkways and the rest through boats.  There are a decent amount of stairs and narrow alleyways in the main city, so some people might want to consider the water taxi or shuttles.  Also, a lot of the street signs aren't too obvious, so it can be easy to get lost.  It can be helpful if you first try to go to a major tourist attraction, then make your way from there, as just about anywhere you'll be able to find signs to the Piazalle Roma, Ponte di Rialto, and Piazza San Marco.  I'm sure there's plenty of great hotels in the city.  We ended up staying at the Ca'Angeli as it had a nice central location.  The room was fine and they had a nice breakfast buffet including pastries, cured meats, cheeses, and fruits.

We only had about 24 hours in the city, so we tried to make the most of it.  We had to see the main tourist attractions of the Ponte di Rialto and Piazza San Marco.  Both had a good amount of people, but weren't too crowded given that March still isn't heavy tourist season.  Be on the lookout for scammers, of which there were many, and pickpockets, which we luckily did not run into during our explorations.

Throughout our trip we say many statues of winged lions.  This was traditionally a symbol of the Republic of Venice, and the ubiquitous nature of this symbol served as a reminder of the far reaching influence of this former nation.  When the lion held an open book, this indicated the city or area was acquired via trade or diplomacy, while a closed book meant the city was conquered.

We had dinner at Al Gazzettino, which had a great atmosphere and local feel, although the food wasn't as good as I hoped.  They do give you tons of free alcohol and samples which is nice, as well as some packaged pasta to take home as a memento.

The next morning, we went out to Murano, the glass island.  The glass working areas of the city were concentrated on this island many years ago to avoid the fire risk to the rest of the city.  We took the local water shuttle which runs about every 15 minutes and had no issues with transportation.  On the ride to Murano, you'll also pass the San Michele Cemetery island.  There is a stop for the shuttle at this island, so you can explore the headstones and look for famous names if desired.

We went on directly to Murano given our limited time.  The island of Murano has a few small museum as well as a plethora of glassworking shops.  Most of these you can enter and watch the artisans make various glass products (typically while smoking).

The island also has some nice glass art projects located throughout the city which you can find as you wander around the town.

Despite Venice having plenty more to offer, we decided to head to the cruise ship in the early afternoon.  We dragged our luggage back to the Piazaala Roma, then followed the signs to the Venice People Mover, an elevated train system which dropped us right off at the cruise port.

Our official boarding time was 3 PM, but we arrived an hour early and Viking let us on without any issue.  We dropped our luggage off with the Viking crew, then went on board to get a snack.  We just had to wait a bit for our stateroom to be ready with our luggage inside.  We ended up spending the afternoon exploring the rest of the ship, exercising, and relaxing.  Viking did offer a few, non-included excursions for Venice which we did not do, although we heard good things from some of the other passengers.

Our next stop was Koper, Slovenia.