Venice Days - Pre-Cruise

Venice Pre-Cruise

This vacation felt like it was taking forever to arrive and actually start. Because of our remote location it can often take two days of travel to get on or off the island. This is what happened when we left for vacation. Our first flight leg left in the evening and took us from our island to Lisbon, where we had to overnight in a hotel before flying to Venice the next day. It was kind of nice to break up the flights this way and getting to Venice at 10:30 AM the next morning was definitely a perk!

Having been to Venice before it was helpful in knowing how to navigate the airport and get to the water bus stations. The airport is actually on the mainland part of Italy and you take a water bus (boat) from there to the island of Venice. It was nice to arrive early in the day before it got too dreadfully hot, especially since we were lugging three big suitcases and a carry on size one. Venice and luggage is a disaster, but we already knew that and were prepared. Luckily our experience also paid off in the navigation department and finding our hotel was a breeze, which is also highly unusual in this city.

By the time we arrived at the hotel and hauled the luggage up three (maybe four, I'm trying to block it from my memory) flights of stairs were were drenched in sweat, ready for a cold shower and thrilled to no end the air conditioning in the room actually worked. After resting for a bit we headed out to wander and find some lunch. By this time the sun was HOT and I was in shock. I'd forgotten what that kind of humid heat felt like.

In our few days in Venice before boarding the cruise ship we wandered and tried to take in as much as physically possible. The sun was draining for us not being quite used to that kind of heat. We ate A LOT of delicious food, mostly clams and mussels, and returned to the room a couple times a day to take a cool shower and so I could put my ever swelling feet up for a break. I'm glad we did stay in Venice a few days prior to the cruise because it allowed us to acclimate to the temperatures we'd see throughout the rest of our vacation and I think it was more enjoyable for us because of it. We didn't stress about not seeing too much in the first stop in Venice because we knew we'd be staying for a few days on the back end of the cruise as well.

Finally getting on the ship was very exciting for all of us and sailing out of Venice gave some of the best, most beautiful views of the island. I'm very glad I was able to see it from that perspective and experience it that way.