Live from Quest Rome to Venice

[Grandma Cruising]

Thanks, cinammon.

 

 

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[excitedofharpenden]

Not wanting to hijack Denise's thread, but this was sailaway from Šibenik yesterday evening from the back deck. Really beautiful.

 

Phil

 

 

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[Grandma Cruising]

Feel free to add photos & comments Phil - the more the merrier.

 

 

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[Bloodaxe]

Could I just add that the C.C App will only allow you to upload 6 photos per post. If you have more to add, you need to start another post.

Loving your photos HGC, it’s raining in Yorkshire this morning!!:evilsmile:

 

 

It's only raining in the West of the county, still very dry in the East.

[Grandma Cruising]

More photos of the sail away from Sibenik into St Anthony’s Channel and out to sea.

 

Caves that used to be used by the navy to store and hide boats

 

Pilot getting back on the smallest pilot boat we’ve ever seen

 

 

 

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[marinaro44]

Is ship/boat traffic in and out of Sibenik harbor still one-way and controlled by traffic lights?

[Grandma Cruising]

Yes, we saw a red light on the right hand side of the entry to the channel.

 

 

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[Grandma Cruising]

Quest moored up at the harbour for Ravenna this morning, right next to the biggest marina I have ever seen

 

I went to talk to the local tourism rep at her desk on deck 4 and she gave me a map and showed me the best route to see all the mosaics.

The (free) shuttle bus left from outside the port building and took about half an hour to Ravenna. We followed the map and bought a ticket (€9.50) to see go into 5 of the buildings which house the wonderful 5th Century mosaics.

They were amazing. So colourful and detailed. They took our breath away.

 

 

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[Grandma Cruising]

The old town of Ravenna was very nice, with some beautiful shops and lovely old buildings.

 

 

 

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[DrivesLikeMario]

Grandma - Can you tell me if a taxi can take you from the port in Sibenik to St. Michael's? Or is it purely walking in the old town?

Really enjoying your Live from! (y)

[Grandma Cruising]

Sorry, DrivesLikeMario, I really don’t know, but I think you probably could get fairly close by taxi. I think you’d still have to walk a bit and be able to go up quite a lot of steps in order to get into the castle.

 

 

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[Grandma Cruising]

We went to the Azamazing evening last night. We had to be ready to set off at 7pm. There was a buffet in both Windows and Discoveries beforehand ( and in Windows when we got back just after 10pm).

We got on the buses in Deck order. Being on Deck 4 we were among the last to leave the ship. We expected that meant we’d have poor seats, but actually we ended up on the front row of the stalls & had a great view. The event was held at the Dante Alighieri theatre in Ravenna, which was beautiful, but starting to look a little tired.

 

The music was Jazz by the Italian Jazz Orchestra, with 2 soloists Simone Zanchini on the accordion and Gabrielle Mirabassi on the clarinet. The programme was a “reinterpretation of songs” written for Fellini, Zeffirelli and Francis Ford Coppola films.

We are not modern jazz fans, so a lot of the music was not really to our tastes, but we had to admire the superb musicianship of both the soloists and the orchestra.

 

 

 

 

 

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[Grandma Cruising]

Saturday 14 July

We got up at 5:15 this morning so we could go on deck for the sail in to Venice, with commentary by Dr Craig Benjamin. It was wonderful seeing the sunrise over the Venetian lagoon and we had some fabulous views of Venice, including St Marks Square, the entrance to the Grand Canal & the Redentore Church.

Beginning of the Grand Canal

St Marks Square & Campanile

Redentore Church on the Guidecca Canal.

 

 

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Edited July 14, 2018 by Host Grandma Cruising

[DrivesLikeMario]

Thanks for the info. on Sibenik. Great pics of your sail-in! I can see the little canal to our hotel by the Hotel Danieli. Looking forward to reading your overall impressions, likes and dislikes. How are you getting to the airport? Or are you doing a post-cruise stay?

[workingtocruise-59]

Quest moored up at the harbour for Ravenna this morning, right next to the biggest marina I have ever seen

 

I went to talk to the local tourism rep at her desk on deck 4 and she gave me a map and showed me the best route to see all the mosaics.

The (free) shuttle bus left from outside the port building and took about half an hour to Ravenna. We followed the map and bought a ticket (€9.50) to see go into 5 of the buildings which house the wonderful 5th Century mosaics.

They were amazing. So colourful and detailed. They took our breath away.

 

 

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We loved Ravenna when we were last there on the Quest.

We had no idea what to expect from the "mosaics" and were so amazed!

We were on a private tour with a guide (on a bicycle ... so it was very hard to keep up with her) and every time we looked at her (to understand what she was saying about the mosaics) she said "Why are you looking at me? I am not beautiful but the mosaics are"!!

[cruisingaussies]

Grandma, thanks for your posts, very helpful. We are getting on to Quest :) as you get off :( on Monday.

Enjoy your day in Venice and have a safe journey home.

[Grandma Cruising]

Saturday 14 July

We set off at 10am to get 2 day Vaporretto tickets at San Basilio Vaporretto Station. The lady on the local tourism desk told us you could buy tickets at a tobacconists just behind the station, but we couldn’t find the shop. (We did see it on the way back to the ship - it’s tucked under the bridge just before the San Basilio Vaporetto station).

We wanted to see the Rialto market, so we set off to walk there. It was a very long way, but we did see some shops selling typical Venetian masks and one selling lovely working wooden models along the way.

 

 

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Edited July 15, 2018 by Host Grandma Cruising

[Grandma Cruising]

Thanks for the info. on Sibenik. Great pics of your sail-in! I can see the little canal to our hotel by the Hotel Danieli. Looking forward to reading your overall impressions, likes and dislikes. How are you getting to the airport? Or are you doing a post-cruise stay?

 

 

We love Venice, it’s great just wandering around the little streets and canal-sides, though it is easy to get lost, even with a map.

We’re going straight to the airport tomorrow, using the Azamara transfer. As our flight isn’t until 14.50, so we will be in the last bus leaving the ship at 9:30.

 

 

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[excitedofharpenden]

This was called the Redentore Festival cruise and the near 45 minutes of fireworks didn’t disappoint. Spectacular.

 

So tomorrow having been on Quest for just over a month it’s time to go home. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the trip. New Executive Chef has done a great job. Not one poor meal. Service from the bar tenders and bar servers has been top notch.

 

I will miss the ship and going forward, Russ, who did his last White Night last night. We will miss him when he goes to Crystal, but I wish him all the best. One door closes and another opens.

 

Phil

 

 

 

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Edited July 15, 2018 by excitedofharpenden

[travelberlin]

Have a good trip home Phil. I am glad you had a great time at the Quest. Are you still staying on board Grandma? If not, I wish you a nice and safe trip home. Thanks for your posts and lovely pictures.

[Lottie A]

So the news is now out about Russ leaving Azamara. It was his last White Night onboard Quest and they had to move it into the Cabaret as it rained. He said the fireworks were spectacular though.

We will miss him so much on Azamara and Quest won't be the same without him ....but I can now foresee a few Crystal Symphony cruises in my future.

[Grandma Cruising]

Saturday 14 July contd.

From the Rialto market we walked across the Rialto bridge to the Rialto Vaporetto station where we were able to buy 2 day €30 tickets from a ticket office there.

We had booked online tickets for the Peggy Guggenheim modern art collection, so took the vaporretto to Giglio station, then took the Traghetto (gondola ferry) across the Grand Canal (€2 each).

 

The Peggy Guggenheim collection includes a permanent display of 20th century works, including sculptures in the sculpture garden.

There was also a temporary exhibition called Josef Albers in Mexico. This showed the artist’s paintings alongside photos of the Mexican buildings that had inspired him, such a Chichen Itza. We found his paintings fascinating as they played with perspective and patterns.

We really enjoyed both the permanent and temporary exhibitions and would thoroughly recommend a visit to the collection, if you like modern art.

From there we walked to Salute Vaporretto station, then caught a vaporretto to Academia. We walked for about 5 minutes along a canal side to the Guidecca Canal coming out near Zattere station, where we caught a vaporretto back to San Basilio. We discovered this was by far the easiest way to get back, as Vaporrettos from the Grand Canal don’t go directly to the Guidecca Canal. They either go up the Canal to Tronchetta/ Piazza Roma, then around to the Guidecca, or they go to the Lido, then back to the Guidecca Canal.

 

 

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[Grandma Cruising]

Saturday 14 July contd.

We spent the afternoon relaxing in preparation for White Night, which was to culminate at 11:30pm with a 45 minute firework display in St Marks basin for the Redentore Festival. The buffet started at 7pm and was as good as usual - lobster (served by Capt. Jose), bbq lamb & steak, French fries, terrific salads & of course, Crepes Suzette served by HD Philip.

At 8:15 we were treated to a great 45minute concert by the tenor, who had a wonderful voice and sang lots of well known arias.

 

At 9pm Capt Jose introduced the crew

Unfortunately not long after his presentation finished it started to rain so everyone retired to the Living Room and Spirits Bar.

Just before 11:30pm we all made our way back on deck. We went to the bow of the ship on Deck11 and had a superb view of the display that lasted for a full 45minutes. As Phil says it was a fabulous display.

 

Despite the rain, this was one of the best White Nights we’ve had on any Azamara cruise.

 

 

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Edited July 15, 2018 by Host Grandma Cruising

[Grandma Cruising]

Sunday July 15

We did most of our packing straight after breakfast before setting off to walk across the temporary Redentore bridge.

The Redentore festival is to celebrate the ending of the terrible plague in Venice in 1576 which killed 50,000 people including Titian. The Doge (ruler of Venice) promised to build a church if the plague ended. Andrea Palladio was commissioned to build the Redentore Church on the island of Guidecca.

Every year a temporary bridge is built across the Guidecca Canal to connect it to the rest of Venice and there is a procession across the bridge and into the Redentore Church on Saturday evening, before the fireworks.

This morning we caught a Vaporretto from San Basilio to Zattere then walked to, and across, the temporary bridge and into the church.

 

We walked to Salute, where I had a look inside while DH had a rest sitting on the steps in the shade. We caught the Vaporretto back to Academia, walked across to Zattere and caught the Vaporretto back to San Basilio and the Quest.

 

We’re relaxing on the shade on Deck 9 this afternoon and looking forwards to our Aqualina booking for our last dinner on the ship.

 

 

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Edited July 15, 2018 by Host Grandma Cruising

[Grandma Cruising]

This was called the Redentore Festival cruise and the near 45 minutes of fireworks didn’t disappoint. Spectacular.

 

So tomorrow having been on Quest for just over a month it’s time to go home. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the trip. New Executive Chef has done a great job. Not one poor meal. Service from the bar tenders and bar servers has been top notch.

 

I will miss the ship and going forward, Russ, who did his last White Night last night. We will miss him when he goes to Crystal, but I wish him all the best. One door closes and another opens.

 

Phil

 

 

 

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We totally agree with Phil - the food has been first class. We haven’t had a poor (or even average) plate of food for the whole 9 days. The service has been great too, which says a lot for Azamara’s training, given that there are a lot of staff onboard who are new to Azamara.

 

 

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