Cruising from Venice to Buenos Aires....

On the wharf in Venice, four bags, two backpacks and a new adventure in front of us.  South America!

We lined up our bags in the proper line and put the tags we were given on them.  For the first time we were traveling in an inside cabin … because it was inexpensive of course and our bags weren’t going to receive any priority.  We were prepared for this.

Check in was done efficiently and only took about 40 minutes.  We boarded and decided to have a drink in one of the bars before heading up for lunch.  Our first shock was the price of the drinks.  We’d cruised before but hadn’t seen prices like this.  Our second shock occurred at lunch.  The food was awful at the buffet and there was no lemonade or iced tea with which to hydrate yourself.  Searching for something to drink, like say …..  juice, we discovered what had happened to the world’s supply of Tang.  MSC Cruise Line had bought all of it!  No matter what flavor you asked for it was yellow.  Oh boy!

Our next disappointment was that the ship had no observation bar.  What?  We always sip some exotic, stupidly sweet drink while we watch the ship sail out of the port.  Apple vodka martinis have been my choice.  This particular ship couldn’t even make one.  A quick and efficient lifeboat drill and we were off.

About six hours after boarding and four hours after sailing, two of our four bags showed up (they were left haphazardly outside our cabin door).  We wandered down to dinner where our waiter fouled our order (there were only three choices) and the food was, well, less than ordinary.  We were astonished, this was an Italian cruise line!

We returned from dinner …. still missing two bags in the cabin.  Where were the damned things?  We found ourselves on the observation deck, leaning against the rail in the cold windy weather watching the spectacular trip from the port in Venice, through the islands to the open sea.  Thought I would catch pneumonia.  Returning to our small but adequate room, we found our bags in front of our cabin door.  Only ten hours after checking them in.  We went to sleep sure that tomorrow would bring a fresh outlook.

Breakfast at the buffet was, well, terrible.  We won’t do that again.  What to do today?  First task, sign up for internet service.  It cost what??????  Minimum 50 euro plan was for 120 minutes of internet access.  No wireless in the cabins - you could rent a cable if you did not bring one for only another 10 euros.  There were two or three areas in the ship that had wireless access but you still had to buy one of the expensive plans in order to use it.  We went a head and got a minimum plan because we knew we would need access at some point.  

After that trauma it was off to a bar for a late morning pick me up.  We find that they don’t have half of the things listed on the drinks menu …. and won’t have  during this cruise.  The prices of the drinks were worrying as well but, salvation is at hand.  The ship offers drink packages and we bought three packages of twelve; one for bottled water, one for juice (they had three or four flavors to choose from) and one for beer (two or three choices as well).  This would save us some money!

Wandering around the ship we discovered that most of the bars were actually show lounges.  Not our thing but we were told the entertainment was pretty good.  This was going to be boring for us in a hurry.  Definitely geared for the sedentary crowd.  We checked out the gym.  The limited number of machines were filthy and crowded.  An exercise ball?  What’s that?

Our television worked but the remote had no batteries in it.  Our lamps had no shades and we thought that was normal until a week into the cruise they suddenly appeared.  Hmmm.  The blanket on our bed was a little threadbare and was replaced several days into the cruise as were the batteries for the remote.  Well, we were going to be in Malta the next day so we’ll just make the best of it.

We thought we’d take a shore excursion in Malta and booked one without really knowing what it was.  The shore excursion booth was generally unoccupied and when it was manned, the person manning it really didn’t know anything about the excursions, they just took the orders.  There seemed to be a trend here.  We dressed for dinner and met our table mates for the first time.  Turns out we were the only Americans on this ship of 3,000 passengers and we sat with an expat Englishman who lived in Switzerland with his Belgian wife who was very unsure of her English language.  Lovely couple and we enjoyed several evenings with them although we sampled the wine list up and down finding nothing but mediocrity to our mutual frustration.

Malta was wonderful although the shore excursion in Mdina moved a little slowly and we found ourselves wandering off to find a local café for some coffee and pastries Malta style.

  Returning to Valetta the shore excursion picked up a bit and allowed us a little more free time, in fact, we were able to leave them and walk back to the ship on our own schedule. 

We found Malta to be as lovely as we remembered from our previous trip there and were delighted to absorb the stunning amount of history this little island nation can boast.

The next day we discovered that during breakfast the other passengers, consisting mostly of Italians, Brazilians and Argentinians, did not inhabit the gym.  In fact they proceeded directly from breakfast to the pool area.  Now we knew when we were going to work some of the softness we’d acquired during our lazy summer in Spain but, although we were feeling a little out of shape we sure did see plenty of “that person is old enough to know better” swimwear on this particular voyage.

On our fourth day after another “at sea” day the shipped docked at Barcelona.  We liked having the gym almost to ourselves and the pool deck was a little less crowded when we were in a port. Interestingly, many of the passengers never did not get off the ship.  We were starting to understand that this cruise line operated for passengers that like to shop, sunbathe and watch lounge entertainment.

We did finally realize that paying several hundred euros for an unlimited drink package was actually the best way to go if one intended to drink a little bit and didn’t want to go bankrupt.  These packages included beer, wine, cocktails, juice, specialty coffee, and ice cream so we purchased two.  For the rest of the cruise we tried our best to beer, espresso, juice and ice cream the ship to death (we needed to get our money’s worth).

There was one haven on the ship though.  Surprisingly it was the cigar bar.  This bar was open around the clock and while fully half of the pool deck was open to smokers this room was the only indoor smoking area on the ship.  The bar had a powerful but quiet air exhaust system that really kept the place from being too smoky and many people liked being there.  The furniture was comfortable and the conversations engaging.

Here we met Augie and Marcus from Salzburg, Austria.  We also met Narush from Serbia and Marie, also from Austria.  The usual attendant was Neer from Nepal and he provided some of the best service on the ship.  It quickly became the place to meet for a drink before dinner and of course, a place to enjoy a drink and a cigar after.

We didn’t have any interest in Casablanca, Morocco having been there before and seen the sites, and we  decided that the nearly 12 hour round trip for an hour with our friend Wahdi in Marrakesh was just not worth the travel time so we didn’t get off the ship again until Tenerife.  Sitting in a café enjoying a tapa and a drink with Marcus and Augie we realized that the previous Thursday, when the ship was docked in Barcelona, had been Thanksgiving.  Wow!  It had completely passed us by and turkey was definitely something we missed!

We left Tenerife, in the Canary Islands in the late afternoon and began the long, six day Atlantic crossing with nothing but the ship to entertain us.

Finally....Venice, Italy!

Venice!  This is a city we’ve always wanted to see and it’s hard to believe we’re here.  It’s a chilly 11 degrees Centigrade (let’s see….double it, subtract 10%  and add to 32) or 52 degrees Fahrenheit and we’d heard reports that there had been flooding in the city.  Our hotel host had told us by phone, and repeated himself while we checked-in, that the reports had been greatly exaggerated and not to worry.  Guess what?  No worries.

We didn’t want to stay in San Marcos because the area is very touristy and expensive.  We stayed in San Polo because we thought it might be a little more authentic while still being centrally located.  Nothing is very far away in Venice; except the airport.  San Polo featured small winding streets with plenty of shopping and the occasional café.  We stopped at the first café we saw that had pizza and panini in the window. 

Good choice!  The huge slice of pizza we shared with a good glass of wine and a quality Italian beer was expensive but worth every centivo.  The pizza was properly warmed, oiled and spiced; it melted in your mouth.  Now that’s pizza!  The beer, the wine and the slice of pizza each cost about 7 euros; Venice was looking like it would be expensive.

We decided to wander around our neighborhood for a couple of hours before dinner.  Our host had suggested a restaurant in the area and we noted its’ location while we strolled.  The best way to really see Venice is to attempt losing yourself in it while walking.  The city is flat and although there are stairs on the canal bridges they are not steep as a rule.  It is next to impossible to get truly lost in Venice but the small streets and canals make for some wonderful walks, in which you may think you are lost for quite some time.  You can run across a dead end or find yourself on a street that ends at a canal occasionally but it is a very simple matter to adjust your route around it.

Wandering the narrow streets of San Polo is a medieval experience, especially as it becomes dark and the occasional lamps are lit in the streets.  The buildings are uniformly old and as you walk the alleyways open up into one square after another almost all featuring a church of other building of historical note.  It had been a long day so we stopped at the recommended restaurant (Osteria Trattoria) and had dinner with a carafe of house table wine.  The food and the wine were a little disappointing considering the recommendation and the price but we set out for our hotel looking forward to a full night’s sleep with full bellies.

Early the next morning, well okay it was around 10 but hey, we’re in southern Europe, we struck out with big plans starting in the famous San Marcos neighborhood; but first, some coffee and sweets at a lovely little sidewalk café with a gorgeous morning view of the Rialto bridge. 

Thus fortified we crossed the bridge and entered the fabulous San Marcos where we almost immediately ran into an Irish Pub!  It was already 11 o’clock so we stopped in to evaluate the place and partake of an adult beverage; more on that later.

It’s hard to miss San Marcos plaza because there are signs with arrows on every corner in the San Marcos neighborhood. 

After walking through the very expensive shopping district we found ourselves in the square and it being November, the square only had a few thousand people in it.  We snapped a few pictures and headed to the Ducal Palace which we had been told was a “don’t miss it in spite of the cost” place to see. 

32 euros poorer we entered the palace courtyard and climbed the “passage of gold” to the open entrance.

This place is enormous and each room has a placard, in several languages including English, explaining what the room was used for.  The first room we entered had ancient maps painted on the walls and two incredible globes, one of the earth as it was viewed in the 15th century and one of the heavens.  We were fascinated and stayed in that room for nearly an hour.  Unfortunately, there were security guards in every room enforcing a strict “no photographs” policy so we are only allowed to keep our memories in our minds.

This museum provides an incredible education about the history of the Venetian culture and their unique structure of government.  The public rooms were first on the tour and each was filled with priceless artwork and artifacts.  The ducal private quarters were even more lavishly decorated and ultimately began to overwhelm the senses. 

Working our way towards the exit we found ourselves in an enormous hall with incredibly detailed paintings on the walls and on the ceilings and, upon exiting we entered an even larger, more ornate hall.  Wow!  I wish I could have photographed even a little part of the interior of this museum.  Go there!  It is worth the trip.

Exiting we found ourselves next to the San Marcos cathedral and immediately paid the small entrance feel and stepped inside.  The cathedral is rather small, as cathedrals go but is intricately and elaborately decorated.  Again, there was a prohibition against taking photographs so I cannot show here what we saw.  Unusually, the exterior of this cathedral has a number of vaults that contain paintings of biblical stories and we were able to photograph a few of those. 

Suddenly we realized that it was late afternoon, we were hungry and thirsty and it had been almost four hours since we entered the Ducal Palace.

After a quick wash up at the hotel we decided to walk deep into the San Polo neighborhood to a restaurant we had noticed (Pane Vino - since closed).  Upon arriving we were seated, handed menus and told about the special.  The ambience was nice and the waiter was very friendly and after perusing the menus we decided to order the specials.  What a mistake! 

The food was poorly prepared (I had rubbery ravioli with an uninspiring sauce), of small quantity and we were shocked when the bill arrived.  We thought there had been a mistake but as it turns out, the special cost more than if we had ordered a-la-carte and we had been double charged for the small appetizer that we had split!  Further, even though we had ordered food we had been charged for a cover.  The waiter and the owner insisted that the pricing was correct and that we had received fair value for our 120 euros (before the overpriced wine).  They made no attempt to satisfy their well behaving but increasingly irritated customers.

Great day….lousy evening,  With a full day planned for tomorrow we headed back to our little guest house for a good night’s sleep.

General strike in Spain, on the day you are scheduled to travel....

Suddenly we were going to be leaving in less than a week.  We had carefully packed in our single bag in case the baggage delivery service became confused and we would be without our bags for a few days.  All of the instructions had been in Italian.  We figured that we had a few days in Venice for our bags to catch up with us and we refused to consider the nightmare of our bags trying to chase us to South America, or not.

Granada was absolutely being inundated with rain on the Friday before we left.  The Carerra del Darro was flooded as was our little patio.  Because Baggage Express required 5 calendar days to deliver bags from Spain to Italy we stayed home all day waiting for the Bags Express person to pick up our bags.  The pickup had been scheduled for the morning and he showed up a little before 7 in the evening.  Was this Spain, Italy or the weather?

Our landlady Lourdes came by to settle up our deposit and the utilities usage and asked if we had heard about the huelga (strike).  We hadn’t.  She told us that on the following Wednesday, for 24 hours, all of the transportation workers were going to go on strike to protest the austerity measures that effected them and that all transportation would be cancelled except for that which was absolutely necessary. 

Wow, we had scheduled to leave on Wednesday afternoon and have a nice easy bus ride to Madrid, stay overnight and leisurely catch our flight the next morning.  It was time to make a new plan.  We’re going to have to evaluate the benefit of planning.  I think we’re on the verge of understanding something about the Spanish mentality here …….

We didn’t want to leave a day earlier and stay two nights in Madrid but if we caught the overnight bus to Madrid we could miss our flight if there were any significant delays and Easy Jet only flew this route a couple of days per week.  After figuring the alternatives (Ok so I’m a little obsessive) we ultimately decided to catch the 1 a.m. bus to Madrid on Thursday morning (the strike was over at midnight Wednesday) followed by a 45 minute metro ride to the airport.  This would make for a long travel day but …….

We caught our Easy Jet flight to Venice and were glad we paid a few euros extra for priority check-in.  Our flight was on time and uneventful, we even managed to sit together.  The airport in Venice seemed kind of ratty and the plane parked beside other planes away from the terminal and we passengers deplaned directly onto the apron and were directed to a waiting bus.  The bus took us on a winding 10 minute tour of the airport finally depositing us near some stairs.

Luggage collection seemed quick, probably due to the tour of the airport, and we walked out of the terminal to a cold, windy but sunny day and spent the next 10 minutes figuring out how to get to the water coach.  The airport in Venice is a very long way from the city.  Your options are to take a water taxi (very expensive) or to catch the water coach which is like a water bus. We had saved a couple of euros by purchasing our water coach tickets online (fully changeable) at Alilaguna.  The water coach is significantly cheaper (about 14 euros each) than a water taxi (80 euros for the taxi).  Of course the taxi can drop you exactly where you need to be dropped; an important feature we were later to find out.

A water taxi works on your schedule as well. 

After asking some questions we began walking to the local transportation pier that turned out to be another 10 minute walk; some of it over bumpy cobblestones which made rolling luggage problematic at times.  The water coach functions like a bus so you need to know your stop and they are limited.  You tell the pilot/driver/skipper which stop you want and your bags are piled accordingly.  The bus is generally very crowded and during the day they run about every hour.  We were crammed into the cabin of the boat and had limited views out the portholes so the 45 minute trip was rather boring.

The hotel had been trying to contact us and we were worried that there might be a problem but our Spanish cell phone had run out of minutes so we couldn’t return the call.  Just before our stop he finally reached us and we told him we were almost there.  When we reached our stop near the Rialto bridge and upon landing we realized that our hotel was on the opposite side of the Grand Canal.  We crossed the bridge (picture two tired travelers with backpacks each holding one end of a 23 kilo bag climbing and descending stairs that are very crowded) and were really glad that we had sent most of our luggage ahead.  It is impossible to wheel luggage around in Venice, you must carry it because there are many, many bridges over canals, all with stairs. 

Finally, just past the fish market, we turned a corner and found our hotel with our host standing outside waiting for us.  We stayed at Le Repubbliche Marinare which was reasonably priced and excellently located.  Our room was nice and clean and the cost of 190 euros for three nights included breakfast which was basic but good.  Our bags had arrived and we carried them up the steep flight of stairs to our room.  After checking in we bounded down the stairs, camera in hand, eager to explore this famous city, find some good Italian food and perhaps, an adult beverage.