Venice, Italy

Venice has been known as the “Queen of the Adriatic”, “City of Water”, “City of Bridges”, and “The City of Light. The city stretches across 110 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea.

The buildings of Venice are constructed on closely spaced wood piles, which penetrate alternating layers of clay and sand. Most of these piles are still intact after centuries of submersion. The foundations rest on the piles and buildings of brick or stone sit above these footings. However, the city is still threatened by more frequent low-level floods that creep to a height of several centimeters. Many Venetians have resorted to moving up to the upper floors and continuing with their lives.

Each of the 110 small islands have its own character and legends. The vanguard is the Lido, a long, narrow sandbar that is also one of the most fashionable resorts on the Adriatic. The city is laced with 150 canals, but you won’t get wet because of the 400 bridges. The longest is the 3-mile Laguna Veneta which is the only bridge that links to the mainland.

This was another beautiful sail in. We took pictures from the bow. Our first tour was a four hour walking tour which acquainted us with Venice. Narrow Venetian streets lead us to some of Italy’s most prized buildings. We passed through Camp San Polo–an enormous square dating back to the 15th century. We saw buildings designed around 1550 and famous churches. We walked to the Rialto Bridge (see picture) the first bridge to be built of solid stone after the collapse and decay of earlier wooden structures. We walked through markets along the Grand Canal. Finally we arrived at St. Marks Square to admire its beautiful basilica and belltower (see pictures). We then had some free time for shopping, but we found a small café for an expensive beer.

We went back to the ship long enough to eat and then back to Venice for a gondola ride. The city is best admired from the water and is especially lovely viewing at night, with moonlit reflections glistening on the water.

The next day, we visited two of Venetian Lagoon’s 40 islands, Murano and Burano. Murano is known for their glassmaking. Today, the Murano products of blown glass mirrors, chandeliers, goblets and intricate works of art are renowned worldwide. We saw a glassmaking demonstration, then checked out the many shops. Burano is know for their lace making. A lady demonstrated this complicated craft. The craft requires extreme precision. Stitches are so intricate, each artist specializes in a single pattern–a completed work is a community effort passed from seamstress to seamstress.

Split, Croatia

Since this was a tender port and the waves were too high, we were not able to go aboard. This was a first for us. Holland America quickly came up with a new daily program as is usual for a day at sea. This gave us some extra time which we needed to catch up on our blog.