15 An enchanted evening in Venice.

There is always an air of excitement as you enter the Venice lagoon. Sailing past St Mark's square, beautiful churches and the stunning palaces whose doorsteps are lapped by the water. Streets were replaced by canals, buses replaced by vaporetti, taxis replaced by speed boats.

 It is business as usual as they scoot around the waterways, in and out of bus stops oblivious to the fact a giant cruise ship is obstructing their route. But we are not huge, as the larger cruise ships are no longer allowed to cruise this scenic passage.

As an olive branch for missing Rijeka, Princess offered a free shuttle in and out of St Marks for this evening only. Our plan of attack was to walk to St Mark's via a route not taken in the past and then catch the shuttle home.
As many rushed for the first shuttle, we kept walking straight out of the port gates. Preserving our energy, we took the People Mover into the Piazzale Roma. This square is like a major hub. There is a station where buses get you in and out of the island. On the Grand Canal, you can catch a Vaporetto to St Mark's or to one of the many outlying islands. Crossing a rather modern-looking bridge which screams "I don't belong here" you arrive at the Santa Lucia Train Station. Being early evening this place was heaving… not so much with tourist, but commuters making their way home from work.

The People Mover

We made our way into the Jewish Ghetto, and so was everyone else, as this could be classified as the more residential area of Venice. Stalls and stores still catering for the tourist, but without the traps that you find closer to the Rialto bridge and St marks.

There were no designer stores nor flashy restaurants along these lanes. The cafés became quainter and the touting less obtrusive. We wandered the canals, crossing small bridges as we came to them; we walked down small lane ways that snaked their way around. Sometimes hitting a dead end where you
either had to swim or turn back. The charm of a gondola cruising past, with lovers enjoying the ride hoping to capture the romance of the city.

As night fell, the lanes became darker and the lack of streetlights was making it difficult for us to read our map. But then losing yourself in Venice is all part of its charm. Finally, we found a lane that led us out to water, a canal would have been good, but the large expanse of the lagoon was a different story. We were now on the outer edges of the island, not a soul in sight, pitch black and the dilemma of whether to walk left or right.

Spotting a bus station, we decided to see if could match it with a position on our map…. Hmm ok we are exactly at the opposite position on the island to St Marks. The practical and really the only direction we should go was back into the dark abyss of which we came out of. With no straight line to follow, we just had to follow our noses in hope coming across a major canal.

Running into a rather large group of people we decided to follow them, this led to a large square. This was good, civilization you might say. We were now getting hungry so we stopped for a quick meal and to regroup. Whilst sitting there we noticed passing groups all heading in one direction, so we
decided that this was a good indication that it led somewhere of some importance.

We followed their footsteps. Like children in a lolly shop our eyes light up as we walked out a lane to be greeted by the sight of the Rialto bridge. Amazing during the day, majestically lit up at night, a bridge of beauty no matter what time of day. We knew St Marks was close by and we found our way very easily.

"Is that water?" having seen the pictures and heard the stories, there in the middle of the square was water, not deep, but enough to capture the reflections of the Basilica and the surrounding palaces. People frolicked in it, took pictures of it, or avoided it like we did as not to ruin our shoes. 

Weaving our way around the puddles we headed out to the lagoon and to the shuttle that took us home.