Fw: Day 41 & 42 Venice

Day 41 & 42 Venice

The ship sailed into Venice around midday, into the canals and lots of small boats everywhere. We had the good fortune of spending a whole 24 hours here, great. Just sailing past the city was magical. We could see St. Mark's square a little and we were eager to disembark. We met up with Roy and Marg, our personal tour guides for the day. How lucky were we!! No waffle here just interesting stuff. Walking over the Bridge of Sigh towards St. Mark's square was a surreal moment. People galore and pigeons... St. Mark's square is huge, with beautiful buildings surrounding it, lots of restaurants, however now they actually charge to sit down on a chair at any restaurant.... a sign of the times I guess. We walked all over this amazing place, quaint shops line narrow alley ways. It was very hot and the local beer went down a treat, more than one I will say. The mode of transport here is the vaporetto, a bus on the water. I wouldn't mind being held up in water traffic as the scenery is beautiful. There is so much to look at that you really need 1 week here.... on our bucket list. After several hours wandering round the streets we headed back to the Mother ship for dinner and shower... ready for round 2 at night!!

Fw: Venice continued

Venice continued

Princess gave us "free" water shuttle, but charged us $15 each, mmm strange. Anyway it was unlimited, so we headed off for our evening in Venice. It was still extremely hot and humid, so more beer. Venice at night is spectacular, St. Mark's square is lit up and the restaurants have quartets...playing The Sound of Music. We walked to the the Rialto Bridge, soaking up the atmosphere. The shops were still open even at 11.30 p.m., people eating and drinking, such a different world. We got a little lost, well just couldn't see to read the map,(it is dark and not a lot of lighting) but found our way back to the square. Had a little dance in St. Mark's, well shuffle more like but we can say we have danced in St. Mark's square.
Our plan all along was to have the Gondola ride, however it was a very interesting scenario for us. Firstly, the gondola jam at every corner, the gondola's following nose to tail was a bit off putting, didn't see any romance here. Even more than that was the couldn't give a shit look on the gondoliers faces as they drove past. We didn't see one smile on any of the passengers faces. So we ditched this plan, both agreed it wasn't for us. Good to see and some people loved it and raved about it. Each to their own.
I have to add...it was fantastic doing our own thing here and not in a tour. The queues were horrendous to get into St. Mark's Basilica. To see sheep. oops sorry people following a sign made us grateful we were not one of them. We caught the last shuttle at around midnight, absolutely exhausted but thrilled at the same time.
Next morning, somehow we were refreshed and on the 8.30 a.m. shuttle, to do more browsing. We only spent a 3 hours, beautiful things but pricey. We had the best ice cream we have ever tasted, melon with real pieces... delicious and in Venice, yippee.

Venice 2

 

Day 40 Sea Day

A quiet day at sea today as we have a very busy time coming up. Last night we attended a fantastic production show, very classy.

Today we had an emergency drill, I don't think everyone attended as I could see many empty seats. Its only 30 minutes out of the day. We caught up with Barry and Linda for a few drinks afterwards, they are getting off in Southampton so making the most of their company.

Tomorrow is Venice, so looking forward to that and we have 24 hours there, so we will do lots of sightseeing.

Day 39 Santorini, Greece

Santorini is as pretty as a postcard. We arrived early morning and we could see lots of white washed, blue topped houses on top of a volcano. The ship anchored in the bay, we used tender boats to ferry us to shore. Now we had 3 options of getting up to the town of Fira....by cable car, by donkey or by foot. The queue for the first 2 was very very long so we thought what the heck, lets walk. We used the same path as the donkeys... lots of poo, old and fresh and donkeys everywhere. It was a steep. 35 minute walk but the view was stunning. I gave up trying to avoid the poo, just trying to breathe was important I figured. We came across Gail and John, much like us in fitness!! We stopped often. We arrived at the top and found lots of small shops and stalls all selling the same things basically. Very narrow, cobbled stone streets and lots of people. The population of Fira is 14,000 and today there was 7 cruise ships in and 15,000 people descended on the town! We came across quad bikes for hire and as the town of Fira and Oia are very far apart, we hired one. Yes family we did. 20 euros for the day and 10 euros for fuel and off we went. I had to keep reminding George to drive on the right side, a bit alarming when cars are coming toward you lol. We had a great time, drove from one side to the other and back, the steep cliffs are a bit scary and I felt like Casey Stoner as I leaned to one side going round the corners. George often shouted "lean left", or "lean right" so he could keep up the speed on the 50cc quad. The views were outstanding. After 3 hours on the quad, we handed it back, feeling a bit like John Wayne.. Did some browsing around the shops then caught the cable car down to the port. One absolute fantastic day and a place we have to visit again. We had originally booked a tour here but luckily we cancelled it, it was easy to do on your own and a hell of a lot more fun.

 

Re tours: after a "discusssion: with the Tour manager who admitted he had made a mistake on the description of the Istanbul tour and his weak excuse and arrogant apology, we have cancelled many more. Hey we have more fun that way, and save a lot of money. Many people have come to the same conclusion.

Joanne, we do use the walkie talkies a lot... on shore we give one to other friends we have met and meet up for drinks etc, so they are really handy.