Venice, and the islands of the Venetian lagoon were enchanting, perhaps even magical. There's an appeal to this Italian city, that is unlike any Italian city that I've ever been to, that I can't put my finger on. It's an odd mix of old world wealth and charm, mixed in with a sprinkling of modern sophistication. I walked away from Venice and it's surrounding islands with one thought in my mind, "I have to go back there some day and spend more time exploring the area."
On the day that we were to embark the Ruby Princess, we traveled by train from Milan to Venice. We figured that with the ship overnighting in Venice, that it would give us enough time to get an overview of the city. We departed Milan's Centrale Stazione just before 9:00 am. As this was a long distance journey, this line is serviced by the EuroStar. We pre-booked our 2nd class seats the day before when we arrived in Milan. When the train pulled up to the platform in Milan, we just needed to find the right car, and the right seats inside the car. We were pleasantly surprised to find that our seats ended up being right in the middle of our particular train car, and directly adjacent to luggage racks that are found in each train car. That was convenient as one of the concerns we had ahead of time was where we would put our luggage so that we could keep an eye on it. With a luggage rack located right next to our seats, this was no longer a concern. We actually ended up meeting a party of 4 seated directly across the aisle from us that happened to be traveling to board the Ruby as well. So we passed the time chit chatting with them.
The journey from Milan to Venice takes just under 3 hours. The scenery along the way was nice. The atmosphere relaxing. When we arrived in Venice, we opted to disembark the train at Venice's Santa Lucia station (on the island) rather than the Mestre station (located on the mainland). We figured that since we are the DIY type that we would walk from the train station to Piazzale Roma. Once off the train, we located the new pedestrian bridge and used it to cross to Piazzale Roma. One note on the bridge, while beautiful and new, it is full of cumbersome steps that must be traversed in order to cross the bridge. In hot weather, with multiple pieces of luggage, this can present a bit of a challenge.
The process of getting to the ship and checking in was not a particularly pleasant one. I had found out in advance that there would be a free shuttle to take passengers from Piazzale Roma (the main transportation hub in Venice) to the port as there was also an MSC and Costa ship in Venice that day (those are the cruise lines that trigger the operation of the shuttle). However, the wait for the free shuttle was long, and there seemed to be much confusion. In addition to the free port shuttle, Costa, MSC and Celebrity also operated their own shuttles, for which Princess passengers were not allowed to use. While we waited for the free shuttle to arrive, many passengers got fed up enough that they just hired private taxis to take them to the port. However, as this is a free service provided by the port, this is something that is beyond Princess control. Once we finally arrived at the port, there was confusion as to where we should go, what we should do. There were signs that informed passengers that check in for Princess was down at the far end of the terminal building (Ruby Princess was docked at the furthest pier away). However, what they failed to inform people was that you actually needed to drop your luggage off first at the building outside the terminal building with the porters, who would then transport your luggage to the ship. We were lucky that a Princess crew member spotted us and told us to go back to the luggage drop off location prior walking down to the far end of the terminal building to check in. Others were not so lucky as they had walked all the way down to the far end of the terminal building only to be told to walk back to luggage drop off and then walk back to check in. The check in process itself was smooth and simple with a minimal amount of waiting time.
Once checked in and fed with lunch, we decided to walk from the ship to Piazzale Roma. There is an ACTV office there that sells vaporetto shuttle tickets. As we would be in Venice now for exactly 24 hours, we decided to purchase the 24-hour pass at a cost of 18,00 Euros per adult. This would allow us access to all vaporettos, any line, in any direction for 24 hours after validation of the ticket.
As we knew that traveling out into the lagoon would take the longest amount of time, our first stop would be from Piazzale Roma to Murano, then from Murano on to Burano, and from Burano over to St. Mark's Square. After validating our ticket, we found the vaporetto stop for the vaporetto out to Murano.
Once on the vaporetto, that was my first experience in traveling through the canals and in the lagoon. For some reason, things just look different at water level than they do when you're just walking through neighborhoods. The trip out to Murano took approximately 30 miniutes. We departed the vaporetto at the very first stop in Murano, the Colonna stop.
Murano has long had a history of glass blowing. In fact, the quality of Murano glass is known worldwide. Along the main canal that runs through Murano, each side of the canal is filled with glass shop after glass shop, selling everything from jewelry to vases, to chandeliers, to sculptures. Some of the stores even have free glassblowing demonstrations where their artisans show you exactly how a masterpiece is made before they try to get you to purchase that masterpiece. When we were in Murano, they had an interesting exhibit of huge glass art pieces scattered all over the island. There was a gigantic blue glass star, a Christmas tree and ornaments made of glass, and other works of art. We wandered through town for a little bit until we came to the Murano Faro stop. This stop is located where the Murano lighthouse is located, and is the only location on the island to catch the vaporetto to Burano.
The ride from Murano to Burano is approximately 30 minutes. During the ride over to Burano, you pass by some rather small little islands in the lagoon that are only large enough to house one decaying building left to stand in ruins. Not long after leaving Murano, you can already see Burano off in the distance. A distinguishing landmark of Burano, and an easy way to spot it from afar is the fact that Burano has it's very own leaning clock tower that rises up over the island. As you approach Burano, the first thing that strikes you is one of the things that Burano is well known for, it's brightly colored rows of buildings that line the waterfront. It's quite a sight to see a long row of buildings painted in reds, blues, yellows, pinks, oranges, and every other color under the rainbow.
Only a few feet from Burano's only vaporetto stop, is the shopping area. Aside from the brightly colored rows of buildings, Burano is known as an artists colony. And their most famous product is handmade lace. Lace products of every imaginable sort can be found here: umbrellas, clothing, hats, tableware, etc. As you walk closer to the main canal of Burano you begin to see the pastel colored buildings. The buildings that line the lagoon tend to be brightly colored, where the buildings that line the inner canals tend to be muted pastel colors. Pale pinks and greens, mixed with pale purples and blues join together to create a beautiful effect, especially when those colors are reflected off the water in the canal. Gorgeous is the only way to describe it.
We had to be careful when getting off the vaporetto in Burano. As it is located quite a distance away from Venice, the frequency of vaporettos to Burano is limited. By the time we headed back to the vaporetto stop to catch the vaporetto there was already quite the crowd forming. We were concerned that the vaporetto wouldn't have the capacity to fit all the guests waiting, and the following vaporetto was more than 90 minutes away. Luckily, the vaporetto that showed up to pick up passengers was a large 2 deck vaporetto.
The ride from Burano back to Venice was almost 90 minutes long as the vaporetto ride includes stops at Lido, the lagoon's largest island. We had timed the trip well and approached Venice just as day started to turn into dusk. Off in the distance, we were able to watch the Costa ship sail by after having passed through the Grand Canal on it's onward voyage, with the setting sun as a beautiful backdrop.
It was certainly worth the time and the effort to head out into the Venetian lagoon and visit Murano and Burano. My only disappointment was in not having more time to explore each of these islands further as well as some of the other islands in the lagoon such as Torcello.
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