Towns Along the Po River - Page 3 - The Venetian Lagoon
  

This is the 5th page of the travelogue of our May/June 2004 trip to Northern Italy, and the 3rd page of our cruise on the Po River. If you somehow missed the first page of the travelogue, click here: 1st Page.

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The next morning we woke up and found ourselves cruising the Venetian lagoon and on our way to Venice. After breakfast, we went up to the top deck for our arrival at our temporary berth about a half-mile from St. Mark’s square. Our arrival was spectacular. The sky was so clear that we could see the snow-covered Alps.
 
 
 
 
 

As soon as we docked, we transferred to a small tourist boat for a tour to Murano, Torcello, and Burano.

The picture to the left is of the entrance to the Arsenale. It was founded in the 12th century, and by the 16th century it had become the greatest shipyard in the world.
 
 

Our first stop was Murano, where we were whisked straight into a glass factory as soon as we docked. There was no pressure to buy anything, but it was very hard to find the exit.

Murano has been the center of the glass making industry since 1291, when the glass furnaces and craftsmen were moved from Venice because of the risk of fire. Aside from glass, we really didn’t find anything interesting to see.

 
 
  Established between the 5th and 6th centuries, the island of Torcello has the oldest building on the Lagoon, the cathedral of Santa Maria. We had lunch at the Cipriani, which is the yellow building in the lower left picture.
 
 
  Burano is the most colorful island in the Venetian Lagoon. It's a very popular destination for day trips from Venice.
 
   
   
 
   
 
 
         
 
       
 
   
   
 
   
 
   
 
       
 
 
 
Murano was our last stop during this long tour day. This is a picture of the Lido as we made our way back to Venice.
 
The picture below is of our ship at its temporary dock which is fairly close to St. Mark's Square. The tower in the background of the picture is the campanile in St. Mark's Square. Unfortunately, as I said before, the ship leaves this area and docks in the port overnight. At one point, we were planning just to stay in the main part of Venice for dinner, then find our way back to the ship at night. Luckily, we decided not to do this. The ship docked in an area that would have been very hard to find.
 

Although it really was disappointing for us that we weren't close to the center of Venice during our last night on the ship, we really enjoyed the on-board entertainment. The Quattro Gondolieri (one is missing from this picture) were surprisingly good. At one point, I thought Roberta was going to run off with the guy on her right.

We both thought that our time aboard the Casanova was very relaxing. The food was good and the ship was well run. It was a great way to see this part of Italy.

The next morning we left the ship for our hotel and a two-two-night stay in Venice.
 
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