Today marks the start of cruise number two. More than 400 customers leave today, only 160 are left, and we-who-remain are offered a transfer from the new port to the centre. Cruise liners are no longer permitted to use the old port on the Giudecca Canal, we have to keep well away from the ancient old city of Venice, and quite rightly so, goodness knows it should have been prevented decades ago.
So 30 minutes later we are disembarking just yards from the Doge’s Palace, but instead of wandering into the madness (and it always is!) we walk east and head towards an area that we have never explored before. Soon enough we find some lovely artwork which is part of the Venice Biennale, including a particularly fabulous alien scream.
We carry on as far as we can, passing the Venice FC ground, but fail at the last section because it’s a naval college and we’re not welcome. We head back a different way, passing the Giuseppi Garibaldi monument (arguably one of the founding fathers of modern-day Italy,) and slowly finding more and more tourists, until we approach, and then join, the maddening (I’m not suggesting they are madding) crowd at Rialto.
From Rialto we pop past the theatre, quite aptly named La Fenice, The Phoenix, given that it has risen from the ashes on three separate occasions. Astonishingly we’ve never actually attended a performance. Then we’re in St Marks, where it is quite quiet considering how busy other areas are.
We’ve been here many times, and don’t need to pay another fortune to dine at Florian’s – probably the most famous cafe on the square. Instead, we enjoy the atmosphere, walking around these most iconic buildings.
Finally we pass the Doge’s palace and bridge of sighs, before finding our transport back home. Another 30 minutes and we are sat poolside ordering luncheon.
I spend my afternoon debugging a traumatic WordPress problem, getting nowhere but not disheartened, I know I will eventually fix it.
Meanwhile the pool and various cocktails, as well as husband, beg my indulgence so I succumb to some R&R before returning to the matter in hand. A praying mantis captures our attention at some point.
We have a booking at Solis again tonight, so after cocktails head to deck eight after to enjoy the evening. Here’s how I reported it:
“One could easily pretend Solis was perfection, the staff are delightful, the food is excellent, and the ambiance overlooking the departing sun is simply devine.
So i’m going to ascribe all the exccentric issues we had to Seabourn’s infamous IT systems and not mention them again in this post, for fear of the slagging I got after my last post.
After the usual incredible bread and breadsticks, our starters are seafood risotto and seared scallops, both are fabulous. Amazing tastes completely befitting their descriptions.
For main we choose the chicken, which is cooked in a pastry-sealed casserole just like Grandma used to – except mine didn’t, did yours? – but the idea is a good one. And the result is also a very good one, such tasty thigh meat, ample lovely vegetables and unctuous jus.
For pudding we go for peach Melba and Amaretto gelato, both are lovely.
An excellent evening at Solis again.“
