Venice and Adriatic - our experiences

[herbanrenewal]

including pre- and post-cruise days

 

May 5 - Milan is a vibrant city, with architectural wonders from modern high-rises to Gothic Cathedral, cultural impact from A-list shopping to La Scala Opera...but its our arrival destination because its one of American Airlines best frequent flier deals. Our transportation to Europe cost less than $6 each. So here we are, beginning our latest adventure!

We used our arrival day for some basic sightseeing, enjoying the Piazza del Duomo and its fairy-tale-like view of the Cathedral, checking out the Galleria Vittorio Emanuel, then walking around the Castello Sforzesco, a 14th century castle with museums, galleries, fresco, and a wonderful park. This is a great place to walk around and enjoy the day... Nice, but if we return we will head straight to a Lake Como town.

 

May 6 - After a short train trip from Milan we arrived in Varenna in Lake Como. What a wonderful place!!! We will need to return because our 2 days here were too brief. There are so many lovely towns around the magnificent lake nestled at the foot of the Italian Alps. For the price of a ferry ticket you can visit towns with different gardens and attractions. We both loved Lake Como.

We took the ferry to see two very different gardens. En route we glimpsed other towns for future exploration - laughing at Las Vegas name places, with natural beauty so far removed from the artifice of the Bellagio there. First stop for us was Villa Carlotta, 14 acres of magnificent gardens in prime spring bloom on a gorgeous sunny day...my idea of Heaven! Azaleas and rhododendron in full bloom; tumbling streams through nature; a lovely Japanese style section with varieties of bamboo...all with the backdrop of the glorious Lake Com, and the Italian Alps.

Our next stop was Villa del Balbianello. This involved a bit of a hike up the hill. These are very different gardens from Villa Carlotta's sprawling sumptuous abundance. This is a formal Italianate style garden. Elegant and contained, not wildly exuberant. Its easy to see why this is a perfect backdrop for a wedding. This is a magnificent setting. Contrasting style, so totally different from Carlotta.

 

May 7 - Our second day in the area we stayed in Varenna to see the local highlights, including the Giardini Botanica at Hotel Cipressi, and Villa Monastero.

 

May 8 - all too soon we need to leave Varenna, taking the train to Venice. We spent most of the day wandering around, trying to orient ourselves in the city built on water before we board our ship tomorrow.

San Marco Square. the Doge's Palace, the Bridge of Sighs, Canals and gondoliers ... the center of tourist activity, and there were a half dozen ships in port...very crowded, very hot, and very amazing even though you knew this is what to expect in Venice!! We watched an MCS ship sail down the Grand Canal. The next day, May 9, is our turn to sail down the Grand Canal to begin our cruise.

 

May 10 - our first port of call, Koper, Slovenia. We joined 6 others on a private minivan tour to Lake Bled. It was a misty, damp day, which made the church on an island in the lake seem even more like a scene of a fairy tale. We took a pletna over to the island which had a small museum, a gift shop, and a church currently under renovation. Then we went into the town to sample the local cream cake pastry. Our next stop was to see the castle, then on to the town of Ljubljana. After a brief walking tour we stopped to sample the local sausage before our trip back to Koper and boarding the ship.

 

May 11 - We decided to walk into Zadar Old Town - its not a great distance, but it is not well marked. We did find the walk pleasant with lovely gardens in the homes as we passed by. When we saw the old walled city we found we had walked half way around the modern town but were enjoying our experience.

After touring Old Town and checking out the shops our last stop was to find an experimental musical instrument, which plays music by way of sea waves and tubes located underneath a set of large marble steps. As we were walking to this last destination it started to rain. We saw a shuttle from our ship and hitched a ride on the shuttle bus.

 

May 12 - Next stop, Split and Diocletian's Palace, to visit its ancient medieval streets and squares, roam the narrow streets of the city, see Jupiter's temple and the maze of the former imperial living quarters and the imperial square, Peristyle. This is one of the most important examples of Late Roman architecture, including a 3500 year old Egyptian sphinx, with a bell tower rising right above the Cathedral of St. Dujam. The former mausoleum of 4th Century Roman Emperor Diocletian became one of the oldest Christian churches in the world. This was another rainy day, but we enjoyed the sites anyway. After covering all we had planned to see we went to a Cafe on the Riva waterfront to use the WiFi. While sitting there they started pumping rain water from the lower Palace to the street, leaving us with ankle deep water directly under our feet to wade through as we left to return to the ship.

 

May 13 - On CNN's list of the Ten Best Medieval Walled Cities and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Dubrovnik's Old Town is completely surrounded by enormous stone walls that date back to the 10th century. We walked the entire length, enjoying the magnificent views.

 

May 14- The beautiful Bay of Kotor, Montenegro, is often called Europe's southernmost fjord, with towering peaks surrounding a rocky coastline dotted with pretty waterside towns. Its not really a fjord which are carved by receding glaciers, but a bay formed by four rivers. UNESCO lists the Bay of Kotor as one of the World Heritage sites. Kotor is a fortified town on Montenegro's Adriatic coast. This medieval old town is characterized by winding streets and squares within an imposing town wall, which scrambles in a zigzag line up the mountain behind it. With the rain the town walls didn't look too safe, so we didn't wander too far up them.

 

After an At Sea day on May 15, on May 16 we arrived at our next port - Naples, where we joined another minibus tour group to explore the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii. Love, love, loved Amalfi coast, and wished we had spent the whole day there. We had one anxiety producing experience here - the group bus tour left us at a parking lot in Positano to explore on our own...fine until we took a wrong turn and couldn't find our way back. We caused a delay of about 30 minutes as we walk/ran/prayed to find the way back to the bus. I’ve always hated waiting for late returnees – how awful to be the one who is late!

 

May 17 - Catania, Sicily is dramatically situated between the Ionian Sea and Mount Etna, Europe's greatest active volcano. As well as ruins from the ancient city, the town boasts a wealth of fine Baroque architecture. Some visitors love Catania, others – not so much. We weren't particularly impressed but we did hear from others on the cruise that they toured outside of the city and loved it. We stayed in town to see its sites. One of the best Roman structures that can still be seen is the Roman Theatre on Via Vittorio Emanuele. The lava-and-marble Roman Amphitheatre, part of which can be seen in Piazza Stesicoro, dates to the second century AD. Among Catatonia's sights are the many Baroque churches and palazzi, including the facade of Palazzo Biscari. Piazza del Duomo is Catania's principal square, at the end of busy Via Etnea (named for the volcano), and most of the town's tourist attractions are close by. In the center is a much-photographed eighteenth-century lava statue of an elephant, supporting an Egyptian obelisk. The Duomo is another of Catania's sights. One of our favorite sights was the produce and fish market. We also happened upon an Herbareum, and had a private tour .

 

May 19th we returned to Venice. We had pre-purchased the Venice Museum Pass, benefiting from a great seniors discount, and avoiding lines at these popular destinations. We used the pass initially at the Correr Museum, then to enter the Doges Palace, Monumental Rooms of the Biblioteca ****onale Marciana, Archaeological Museum. We also toured Ca Rezzonico, and the Glass Museum of Murano. Not included with the pass, but of interest to us was Peggy Guggenheim's Museum.

In the ads our hotel was 5 minutes from San Marco Square...maybe with a water taxi, but with the narrow, winding, canal bridges it was more like a 20-30 minute walk. The canal pictured on websites in front is not on the vaporetto routes. And we needed to check in at a sister location which was near the closest vaporetto stop. From there the directions to our lodgings were go left, then right, then left, then right, then left - each turn was at a bridge... the desk clerk who showed us the route left us two mid 60s women toting our luggage, and actually looked irritated when we fell behind as he walked ahead. Uncomfortable cot-like beds and mold in the bathroom added to our impression of the place. Lets just say we would never stay again at San Marco Dreams. There were some nice piazzas along the way, and it did include use of a kitchen.

 

Our final day in Venice we bought a 24 hour pass for the vaporetto to use to go to the glass-making island of Murano. Aside from its glass industry, there are impressive sights along the canals, a lighthouse and the 12th-century Veneto-Byzantine Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato. Another of the lagoons famous islands, Burano, is known best for its charming canal-lined fishermen's homes, each painted brightly so that each fisherman could identify his home when returning. Lace shops and bright colored crafts are major draws fro the tourists. The third stop for the day was the island of Torcello. I had read of the walking paths of a nature reserve, but didn't find much of a walk or nature reserve. There is a large 7th Century cathedral famous for mosaics.

 

Our last day was spent taking a train from Venice to Frankfurt. This is a really scenic ride. We had to change trains once - an adventure because we didn't realize that there were actually two trains joined, and we couldn't find our reserved car. At the next stop we needed to jump out and run ahead to the adjoined train for our proper seat. In Frankfurt we stayed at the Adler - very nice with great breakfast...good for catching the train to the airport for our flight home.

[CruiseIreland]

Very interesting review. Thanks for sharing. Ken

[familyof6cruisin]

Thanks for sharing as we are doing a similar vacation at the end of June this year.

 

Milan to Lake Como to cruise from Venice.

Appreciated reading your reviews.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!