Piazzetta San Marco

The streets on the approach to Piazza San Marco house the shops with no prices in the window...Fendi, Prada, Chanel and co...rather beyond our price range (and, indeed, interest!). The square itself houses the beautiful Doge's Palace and other museums that we visited last time we were here. Instead, we took the opportunity to do something new - the Campanile.

Last time, the queue was rather too lengthy but we were fortunate this time...so we made the decision to brave the stairs and climb the famous tower of Piazza San Marco for fantastic views over Venice. So it was a welcome surprise to find the short queue ended in a lift - hurrah!

The views from the top were superb - out over the islands of Murano and Giudecca as well as the numerous churches, towers and a sea of Mediterranean-orange rooftops.

From the Piazza waterfront, we grabbed a vaporetto back to the Piazza de la Roma up the Grand Canal and under the Rialto bridge. The Number 1 line was rather leisurely, stopping at every stop on the way, but gave us excellent time to enjoy the sights of the waterfront that cannot be reached on foot.

After checking in to the Costa Luminosa at the cruise terminal, our departure took us south of Giudecca and have us lovely views from our balcony of Venice at night.Okumaya devam et