Day 2 (Jewish Venice) and Day 3 (Burano and boarding the ship) Hello again! Here is my continuation of Venice.... Day two was similar in many ways, but had a super-special extra -- we visited the historic Jewish section, known as Il Gheto (The Ghetto). The word gheto in the Venetian dialect means foundry, and hundreds of years ago the Jews of Venice lived on this island where the foundry was. The Christian soldiers locked the gates of the island at night. While the Jews were restricted to this small area, they were allowed religious freedom (Venetians were not fanatical Christians like you found in Spain and other areas -- the Venetians were more interested in money). The Jewish population grew, but their area was very small, so some of the buildings are 7 and 8 stories high but with very low roofs. This is a fascinating and quiet part of Venice. It is not on the radar of the hordes that visit St. Marks Square. It is a very special area, with little canal, these high buildings, and a small but thriving Jewish community. I should mention that during WWII more than 250 of the Jewish citizens of Venice were sent away, never to be heard from again. There are a few memorials in this area, one of them that moved both of us to tears. Im a little fuzzy as to what we did after visited the Jewish area of Venice....thats what I get for getting so far behind on my journal!! I think we took the vaporetto clockwise around the outside of Venice and looped around to our hotel area from the opposite direction. So I will now skip to Day 3!! Day 3 in Venice After breakfast, we boarded the No. 42 vaporetto and headed for a transfer point (Fondamente Nove) where we then met the 13 for the lagoon islands, with our destination as Burano. Taking the vaporetto felt like old hat to us at this point! Once you get used to it, the vaporetto system is pretty easy to figure out. Burano is a colorful island community in the far north of the lagoon and its about a 30 minute vaporetto ride from Venice itself. Once there we walked into this charming town. All of the homes and businesses are painted in bright colors, and there are very narrow canals winding through, which leads to many great photos -- you will see them once I am home! Mom and I had lunch at a little pizzeria right on a canal. A very pleasant spot. We then headed back to Venice, where we had already checked out of our hotel, put our bags in storage, and had done a dry run to see how to get to the ship. Mom stayed at the Ferrovia vaporetto stop while I walked to the hotel to pick up one of three bags, then wheeled the bag to mom, then BACK to the hotel for our last two bags, then BACK to Ferrovia where we boarded the No 1 for Piazzale Roma (one stop) where we disembarked and walked to the Venice People Mover, which is a monorail-type tramway that connects Piazzale Roma (bus stop area) to Stazione Marritima (cruise/ferry port) and Tronchetto (gigantic parking structure built on a island that was created in the 1960s). We were under the impression that this would be an easy task, and it was about 5pm by this point. We figured that we would be on the ship in plenty of time for dinner at 6pm. Boy were we wrong! Let me remind you that mom walks with a cane, and has an artificial hip, artificial knee, and just cant move like she used to! After our 1 Euro per person trip on the Venice People Mover (which is super-cool) we got off the stop, and the realization came to us that it was going to be QUITE a walk to the cruise ship. Luckily there were some Jersey barriers (maybe called Napoli barriers in Italy???) that mom could sit on from time to time. We came to a young gal with a Princess Cruises sign that called for a wheelchair, and we waited for 30 minutes -- none never came. So we continued to walk...and walk....and it got dark....and this was a creepy, dark port with the ship WAY in the distance....and we walked and walked and walked....and mom sat on Jersey barriers, and I hauled two rolling bags, my backpack, and moms tote bag. We finally got to a spot where we could leave our large bags to be brought on the ship, then we walked and walked until we reached the cruise terminal. It was still quite a walk so mom sat on a Jersey barrier while I walked the length of the building, up an escalator, and then BACK the length of the building to the check in area, and was FINALLY able to get somebody with a wheelchair. Once mom was in the wheelchair, we sped through the check-in process (we were probably the last two to board). From the time we exited the Venice People Mover to being checked in it had been over an hour. Mom did such a great job, and I know it really did her knees in....... We got to our cabin (we had booked an inside, were upgraded to an oceanview with the tiniest porthole ever [but I am thankful to have daylight]) and then went to dinner at the casual buffet restaurant on Deck 9. And this is where I will leave you for now! Jared
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 21:59:51 +0000
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