Our cruise around Italy, Montenegro, and Croatia ended in Ravenna, Italy on Sept 4. After we said our goodbyes to the ship and its people, we started the “rail” portion of our trip by taking a two-hour train ride to Venice, Italy. While we didn’t initially plan to go to Venice, we changed our mind when we realized how close the cruise port was to one of our favorite cities.
Hotel Carlton on the Grand Canal
While in Venice, we stayed at the Hotel Carlton on the Grand Canal. We stayed at this hotel about 15 years earlier, and we liked it because of its location – directly on the Grand Canal and across from the train station. While the rooms were simple, the breakfasts were awesome (Peter liked the bright yellow scrambled eggs), and the hotel was away from the wall-to-wall people of San Marco Square.
Walking and eating our way around Venice
Because we’d already done the touristy stuff several years ago, we were more relaxed in Venice this time. We spent a lot of time walking the unique pathways overlooking the canals and eating at quaint restaurants. (Monica did want to go back to San Marco square and Rialto Bridge one afternoon, and navigating the hordes of people in the heat was truly madness!)
Being the Clooney’s
The Venice Film Festival took place a week before our visit, and the internet was full of photos of George Clooney and his wife exiting one of Clooney’s’ favorite restaurants in Venice: Ristorante da Ivo. Of course, we had to do the same. We got dressed up and took a private water taxi to the water-side entrance of the restaurant like George and his wife. While one of us got on or off the water taxi, the other took pictures from the bridge above, just like the paparazzi. It was a lot of fun.
Laundry
On our last morning in Venice, we needed to do a lot of laundry, so we found a tiny self-service laundromat next to our hotel. Monica sat with all the locals, washing and folding. And folding. And folding. And folding.
When our time was up in Venice, we headed to Budapest.