Venice 03 -: Nun's on tour kick up a storm!

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Distance travelled: 674 nautical miles

Roisin and I have sailed away from Venice on 3 occasions. Passing across the Grand Canal and seeing St. Mark's square and the characteristic Palazzo Ducale otherwise known as the Doge's Palace and not as I've been calling it, the 'Dojo's Palace. As Roisin pointed out to me, for centuries this was the centre of the Government of the Venetian Republic and to her knowledge no Sumo tournaments ever taken place at this venue or are ever likely to in the future!!!

From our aft facing balcony, we watched the sun rise over Venice. Passing St Mark's it lay silent; the expectant tourists still in slumber; the occasional worker gliding across this famous square blissfully ignorant (and probably doesn't give a shit!) of the swarms that will soon converge on one of the most visited attractions in all of Italy.

Today, on board the magnificent MS-Chee Orchestra it is a turnaround day. For the majority of the passengers, their 3 day ‘taster' cruise is at an end. Bags are all packed and they have been given a colour code corresponding to the time to disembark - only another couple of hours before more cruise-hungry guests will arrive and the process will start all over again. For us though, we still have another 11 nights on board so a leisurely breakfast followed by yet another trip in to Venice. On our way to the dining room we passed the very busy accounts desk. This is probably the busiest time of the cruise for them when passengers are checking their final bill only to query an odd €2 debit they can't account for!!

Today we are in search of the lesser known Scala Continari del Bovolo. It lies about 10 minutes from St Mark's Square so we have a few choices. Either take the people mover back to Piazzala Roma and from there walk to our destination. This would probably take about 1 ½ hours or we could take the Vaporetto from the port. This is a public transport boat that stops at regular intervals around the islands of the Laguna. The Vaporetto was a direct service to St. Mark's Square and took 20 minutes. This cost €8 each. It was going to be a nice day. The sun was shining, what better way to spend it than on the water!!!

The Vaporetto took us down the Guidecca canal past the Stucky warehouse that is now a Hilton Hotel. The boat, which was practically full glided past the small palazzos and churches that lined this canal and soon we were crossing the mouth of the Grand Canal. At this point there was a distinct reduction in speed as several gondolas appeared from nowhere with early morning tourists experiencing the thrill of a lifetime before the canal became uncomfortably crowded.

The Vaporetto docked and as we all filed off, we were immediately hit by rows and rows of hawkers and souvenir stands. This was the gauntlet that led up to St Mark's Square. Welcome to one of the greatest tourist traps in the world where a glass of wine can cost as much as €14 and a cup of coffee anywhere between €6-10

We entered St Mark's Square and headed toward the Basilica. It was only 9:45am yet the square was already a hive of activity. The queue to enter the iconic cathedral took up most of the Piazza and those wishing to cross the Square had to push their way through. Amongst the crowds of general sightseers with their iPhones, iPads and small digital cameras were a group of nuns. Other than their instantaneously ‘stand out' black and white garb, acting like any other over enthusiastic, excited tourist. I was a little surprised to see some of the nuns with their own iPads and iPhones. Not because women of the cloth are not allowed such technologies but I was under the impression that anything to do with an apple is a sin since Adam took that first bite!!

On passing the ‘nuns on tour' (as Roisin christened them – and lost a few brownie points come judgement day in doing so!!) I turned around. I just wanted to check this wasn't just another ‘hen' party and that none of them had the ‘L' plate pinned to their back. That got me thinking: I wonder if nun's have something similar to ‘hen' parties before becoming fully ordained in to the faith. Perhaps they have an ‘L' plate pinned to their back with a sign that says: I'm getting married (to God) in the morning!!

The passageways and small thoroughfares do not run in any specific pattern and it's very easy to lose your bearings. The canals are a good way to calculate your position on the map and by using this method along with the ‘shape of the passage' we found our way to the Scala Continari Bovolo. This attraction is tucked away behind an obscure little alley (known as the Calle della Vida) and would be so easy to miss as it is not on one of the major tourist routes. The staircase (Scala) is part of a larger palace but it is the stairs that are the main attraction. The original palace was designed in 1499 and the family had the stairs added later. (Probably when they realised that there was no way to get to the upper floors!!) The spiral is often compared to the snail's shell (bovolo) and hence the palace got its name as snail house. Palazzo del Bovolo was chosen by Orson Welles as one of the main filming locations for his 1952 screen adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello and the staircase is prominently featured in the film.

The next part of our trek back toward Piazzala Roma was easy. We had to cross over the Grand Canal at some point. The nearest Bridge seemed to be the world famous Rialto Bridge. But how to get to it.

‘'Next stop, the world famous Rialto Bridge!' we overheard a nearby tourist guide say to his group of English speakers. Problem solved!!!

On the Rialto Bridge, we stopped at a souvenir shop that was still trading after all these years. It brought back memories when I was a teen with my mum and dad. The first time we had been to Venice and dad bought a large plastic Gondola on a stand. Probably only cost a few dollars (as opposed to €25 now) These Gondolas were (are) musical so for old time sake I wound up the display model and sure enough that plink plonk melodic sound so familiar to these type of musical contraptions started with that same old Italian favourite traditional ditty from all those years ago: ‘Tulips from Amsterdam!!' Still more minor bridges and canals to cross. Standing on one of these bridges we heard the distant and very distinct sound of a guitar and melodic singing. ‘o' sole meo'. Looking down, a gondola rounded a corner complete with an Italian singer, guitarist and of course customary gondolier. Did you know Gondolas are actually asymmetrical in shape to allow for the weight of the gondolier standing on one side of the boat??! Anyhow, I digress! We noticed that every one of the paying passengers had an iPad or iPhone and were busy holding them at arm's length, snapping randomly. Not one took a blind bit of notice of the serenade which seemed sad in a way. Relax and enjoy the moment. It's occasions like these where although the experience may only last 30 minutes the memories should be cherished for a life time. It was almost 1pm when we took the people mover back to port. The walk back to the ship took less than 5 minutes as it was in a berth nearest to the port entrance. Most of the new arrivals had already started to check in and many were queuing to board. There did not seem to be a special path for passengers in transit (i.e. Roisin and me!) So it was no surprise that we got stopped because we did not have our passports with us. The immigration officer disappeared for a nervy 5 minutes, taking our cruise card with him. On returning he said a quick ‘Va bene' then waved us through.

Once again we watched from the ship as it glides majestically passed St Mark's. This is becoming a habit. The number of times we have sailed past St Mark's Square. It seems less of a cruise these days – more of a commute!!

At dinner we were surprised to see an extra plate set at our table. It was now set for three persons. Who in their right mind would put a single person with a couple? We wouldn't be able to have a conversation. We would be restricted to the usual questions such as: ‘Where are you from? Is this your first cruise? Who else have you sailed with? What are they like?!!' Normally single persons are put on tables of 6 or 8. We queried this with Victor, our waiter, who was also confused as tables are normally set to accommodate an even number of diners. He immediately went away to ask his boss. Roisin said to me that she doesn't really want to share our table for 2 with a third person unless it is Sean Connery. OK, Roisin. I hear you. So while we're naming octogenarians I'll go for Thora Hird!!! On returning, Victor apologised and immediately removed the extra place.

The previous evening Roisin told me that the assistant waiter, Leonardo, was from Brazil. As this will be our destination in March 2015 and to make conversation I asked where about in Brazil he is from. He replied ‘Honduras!!' Roisin laughed and said, ‘That's not our assistant waiter!! That's the drinks waiter!!'

The evening quiz was an interactive film quiz. A clip of a film was shown and you had to guess the name of the movie. We don't like not knowing the answer!! Something we're not used to!! Only managed 3/10. The winner got 6/10.

During the evening we had noticed a storm in the distance. By 11pm the storm had caught up with the ship and was unleashing its full rage on the surrounding sea. The decks were windswept and the rain, swirling around smashing hailstones against the glass and Perspex wind breakers. Yet the ship remained reasonably balanced. However, it felt like we had just walked in to a disaster movie on deck. The Perfect Storm?? This wasn't part of the script.

Tomorrow is our first day at sea. There are 3 days at sea on this trip but none are consecutive. This gives us a chance to wind down and for me to catch up on my blogging!! Heidi and her pals are long since left behind in Venice and the clocks go forward 1 hour so we will be 2 hours ahead of the UK. That's if we're not blown off course and end up in somewhere like Mumbai!!

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Comments

[SnarkoPolo]

now that's a made-up name for a ship if ever there was one!

[Ragnhild]

You look a bit nervous.... ;)

[Roisin]

This ship departed Venice about 10 minutes before ours and was travelling a different route. We heard it got damaged by the winds and storm and had to divert to a nearby port.