24 Venice and Verona

Who would ever have thought that this sail into Venice would be our last... No longer can these large cruise ships grace the canal that takes us pass so many beautiful icons that make Venice what it is...

We were supposed to sail into Venice at 7 a.m., but alas, "somebody" decided that we needed to sail in at midday. That threw a spanner in our plans, as we had booked 11 a.m. train tickets to get us to Verona for our overnight jaunt.

 It was a win/lose situation. We lost time in port while Princess benefited from reduced port charges, and the $25 Vaporetto cost remained the same but for only half a day. To avoid the $25 daily cost, the best way to reach Venice is to walk to the port gates and take the People Mover, a monorail that transports people from the major carpark and port area to Piazzale Roma. Here, you find the train, bus, and Vaporetto stations all nearby.

With a trusty map and a sense of adventure you can weave your way through the laneways until you get to the Rialto Bridge and St Mark's square.

We headed straight to Santa Lucia train station. We had well and truly missed our fast train, but a lovely gentleman in the ticket office helped us use the vending machines to purchase a nearly as fast ride on the Regional train that was sitting on the platform waiting for us. It was a very easy and comfortable ride to Verona taking only 1 hour and 27 minutes.

Once in Verona, we set off to find our hotel, Albergo Trento. Not a flashy hotel, but a very comfortable and quaint bed-and-breakfast style of accommodation. Perfectly positioned between the station and the Verona Arena, where we had tickets to the opera that night.

Dropping our bags in our room, the hotel recommended a restaurant where we could enjoy a meal like a local and not the mass-produced tourist menu. La Bottega Del Vina was an excellent choice. At the time we arrived the dinner menu was not available, but the tapas on display were.

The lighting was intimate, with bottles lining the walls and antiques that gave you the sense of stepping back in time. We enjoyed the excellent wines and savored the prosciuttos and cheese delicacies that were available.

Staying there long enough we were able to move straight into the dining area. The food was fresh, filling and tasted amazing.

Nabucco by Verdi was the opera playing in the arena tonight. Knowing that the opera would run for over 3 hours we purchased cushions to avoid the dreaded numb bum syndrome. 

Comfortable seating?, not particularly as the seating rows were very close together, yet steep enough that everyone enjoyed an uninterrupted view of the massive stage. Acoustics, sets and stage effects were amazing. It was literally a cast of thousands as the stage was packed with actors on foot, actors on horseback and carriages that raced from one side of the stage to the other. All in Italian. don't worry
they did have a screen with subtitles.

Within the Arena it was hot and the smoke from the effects also had an affect on many of the patrons. During the first act, a team of orange first aiders were kept busy racing from one side to another tending those who couldn't cope.

 
I was also feeling the effects of the heat and smoke and at one stage I raced to the toilets to splash my face with a little cold water. Concerned staff made sure I was ok before I headed back to my seat. Sitting through 2 acts the symptoms were starting to return and Garry and I decided best to head back to the hotel.

We woke early the next morning as we wanted to explore as much of Verona as we could before our train back to Venice. Our hotel served a lovely continental breakfast of hams, cheese, pastries, breads and fruits.
A visit to Verona is not complete unless you visit the famous Casa Giulietta. Set back in a little alley a little of the ambience is lost as the Japanese Tourists are en mass and need to take every photo and every selfie at every angle with the bronze statue of Juliet.

Rub a nose, rub a toe, but for Juliet, it is rub a breast for good luck. A few euros will let you enter her home and head up to the balcony and play out your own love story.

A small market in the Piazza Erbe made for great entertainment as we drank our coffee and watched the shoppers move from one stall to another. We managed to spend the morning wandering the back streets, visiting the picturesque Ponte Pietra, the Duomo and the Castelvecchio. A quick lunch before it was time to head back to the station for our train back to Venice.

Step count = 494,947 Nearly halfway there