This is the 3rd page of the travelogue of our May/June 2004 trip to Northern Italy. If you somehow missed the first page, click here: 1st Page.

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The next morning, we were transferred to Venice with two other couples for our cruise on the Po River. We had a harrowing ride to say the least. We were held captive in a 10 passenger van with one of those crazy Italian drivers who insisted on tailgating every car or truck in front of him. After a two-hour white-knuckle ride, we arrived in Venice shaken, but in one piece.

The pictures below are of our room and of the grand salon. The piano player, Jozef, was very talented. I just realized that I only have a few pictures of the ship's interior, so you'll have to trust me when I say that the ship interior is beautiful and very comfortable.

The MV Casanova is 335 feet long and 31 feet wide (Longer than an American football field). It has two main engines, and three auxiliary engines. Its average speed is 8.5 miles per hour going upstream and 12.5 miles per hour going downstream. In canals, its average speed is 4.5 miles per hour. During our seven days on the ship, we cruised from Venice to Cremona, then back to Venice. The ship no longer cruises in Italy.

At the beginning and end of the cruise, the ship docks in the port area of Venice, where large cruise ships also dock. Busses, vans and taxis are able to drive right up to the ship. (You don’t have to take a gondola or water taxi.) The drawback is that you’re in an industrial area, far away from the main part of Venice. The last day of the cruise includes one day in Venice when the ship docks close to St. Mark’s square. Unfortunately, the ship doesn't stay there all night; it relocates to the port in the early evening.

All passengers were on board by late afternoon, and the ship departed. The crew served champagne on the top deck as we cruised past Venice. It was a sight that I’ll remember for a long time.

Dinner was served at about 7p.m. as we cruised the Venice Lagoon to the Po River. The ship is a true river ship, and it doesn't’t cruise on the Adriatic Sea. It reaches the Po River by cruising on the Venice Lagoon and by traveling through canals. The ship cruised all night, and it reached Polesella, our first stop, early in the morning. Polesella is a small town, next to the river. Most of the passengers don’t even see the town. Polesella’s dock is only used as a transfer point to a bus that takes passengers to Ferrara.

The d’Este dynasty left an indelible mark on Ferrara, which is one of the regions greatest walled towns and one of the great cities of the Renaissance. This family took control in the late 13th century and held control of it until 1598 when the Pope forced the family to move to Modena. The town center seems untouched by time, and the flatness of the entire region makes the town ideal for bicycles.

Our ship, which has a passenger maximum of 85, only had 65 passengers on our cruise. And, only about 15 were English speaking. This meant that our English-speaking walking tours only averaged about ten people in each city we visited.

The majority of the other passengers were German, and just a few of them spoke English. Although we couldn't communicate with them very well, we all got along just fine.

We returned to the ship in the afternoon. After lunch, I took a walk into Polesella, pictured below.

Roberta on the sundeck of the Casanova.

A word about the poppy border that I'm using...

These bright colored poppies bloom all over Italy in the Spring.

I make all of my own page borders. I picked this bunch of poppies one day near our dock, then photographed them.

Our seat mates at dinner. On a ship like this one, assigned seating is normal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You never know who you’re going to get stuck with for seven days and nights. Lucky for us, our seat mates were very interesting and very nice people.