Venice
We had one final day at sea, so Connie and I had decided to get up early and have a swim in one of the ship's pools before the hordes woke up and descended.
It was delightful. The water felt wonderfully cool and refreshing compared with the bath-temperature experience later in the day, and the early morning light gave everything a soft, golden glow. The sea was calm, the ship was almost silent and, for a few minutes, it felt as though we had the whole place to ourselves.
Of course, we promptly ruined the tranquillity with our giggling.
A final sea day is actually a very useful addition to a two-week cruise. It gives you precious time to pack up all the goods and chattels that have somehow spread themselves across every available surface of your cabin. By the end of a cruise, it is remarkable how much stuff two people can accumulate. Clothes that began neatly folded in drawers are now hanging from hooks, shoes appear to have multiplied and there are mysterious objects that you have absolutely no recollection of buying.
I worked on the theory that the quicker I packed, the sooner I could have my first cocktail.
John, on the other hand, worked on the perfectly reasonable theory that he had all day.
Somehow, we were both packed in time to sit back, relax and enjoy our final sail towards Trieste and the end of our cruise.
Disembarking in Trieste was an absolute breeze. Well done, Cunard, and bravo to Imagine Cruising again. Their organised transfers had worked beautifully throughout the trip, and this one was no exception. A comfortable bus whisked us from the port towards Mestre, with a coffee stop conveniently included halfway along the way. By this stage, coffee was less a beverage and more an essential travel document.
All of us who had booked through Imagine Cruising eventually turned up at the same hotel at roughly the same time. This was the one and only scheduling hiccup of the entire trip. Given everything else had gone so smoothly, we weren't about to complain.
Instead, Connie and Alan joined us for lunch before we settled into our rooms, changed into something more suitable for Venice and headed straight back out. Fortunately, there was a bus stop right outside the hotel and, for the astonishing price of €1.50, it took us into the heart of Venice.
And suddenly, there we were.
Venice is often described as the jewel in the crown of European travel. I actually think of the trip as more of a tiara, with every port we had visited along the way representing another individual jewel. Split, Kotor, Korfu, Kefalonia, Rome, Salerno, Messina, Cagliari, Ibeza, Barcelona, Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Arhnam, Kampeen, Amsterdam and Budapest - each had their own character and sparkle. Venice was simply the rather spectacular piece that brought the whole thing together.
There really is nowhere quite like Venice. Built across a collection of small islands in the Venetian Lagoon and connected by hundreds of bridges, it has spent centuries defying the basic rules of urban planning. There are no ordinary roads through the historic centre, no cars and very few things that could be described as straightforward. Instead, there are canals, narrow lanes, grand palazzi, tiny squares and bridges that seem to appear exactly when your feet are begging you not to cross another one.
Connie and Alan had been to Venice before, but they were happy to join us for our usual style of sightseeing – which is to say, wander around with only the vaguest idea of where we are going and call it an adventure.
We wandered through the maze of streets, over bridges and along canals, stopping whenever something caught our eye. Venice is one of those places where you can turn a corner and suddenly find yourself looking at a magnificent building, a tiny canal or a scene that looks as though it has been arranged specifically for a postcard.
Eventually exhaustion won.
We found a delightful little bar right on the edge of a canal, only about 100 metres from the Bridge of Sighs, and decided there was absolutely no reason to go anywhere else for a while. We sat for a couple of hours, enjoying the local drinks, watching the gondolas glide past and observing the never-ending stream of tourists.
There was something wonderfully Venetian about simply sitting still and watching the world go by.
As the afternoon slipped away, we realised we should probably make our way to Piazza San Marco before it became too dark for photographs. In fact, leaving it until late turned out to be a stroke of luck. The harsh heat of the day had softened, the crowds had thinned considerably and the evening light was beginning to give the square an almost magical quality.
Piazza San Marco is one of those places that photographs really don't do justice. St Mark's Basilica, the Campanile and the surrounding buildings create an extraordinary architectural ensemble, and the sheer scale of the square makes you understand why Napoleon apparently called it the “drawing room of Europe.”
We wandered around taking photographs and soaking it all in, grateful that we weren't having to fight our way through the daytime crowds. Venice at this hour felt altogether more graceful and romantic – although our feet were becoming considerably less graceful.
Eventually, we dragged ourselves away, made our way off the island and found a taxi back towards the hotel. We were particularly grateful to Connie who stepped into Concetta. Her Italian negotiation skills saved us from either being hopelessly overcharged or spending the evening arguing about the fare using a combination of English, hand gestures and increasingly desperate facial expressions.
With only one full day left in Venice, and none of us particularly keen to spend it elbowing our way through another crowd of tourists, we had booked a tour through GetYourGuide to Murano.
It turned out to be, without question, the best tour we did during the entire month we spent travelling around Europe.
Murano is famous throughout the world for its glassmaking. Venetian glassmakers were moved to Murano in the late 13th century, partly because the furnaces posed a fire risk to Venice's predominantly wooden buildings and partly because the authorities wanted to keep the secrets of the trade under tight control. Over the centuries, Murano's glassmakers became renowned for producing extraordinarily delicate and elaborate pieces, and that tradition is still very much alive today.
Our day was beautifully curated. We toured a glass factory and watched the extraordinary skill involved in turning molten glass into beautiful objects. Seeing the process close up made you appreciate just how much experience, precision and nerve is involved. It is one thing to watch someone make a glass ornament; quite another to watch them casually handle glowing, molten glass as though they are making toast.
From there, we cruised around the Venetian Lagoon, seeing Venice from the water and experiencing the city from a completely different perspective.
And that is something I would strongly recommend to anyone visiting Venice.
You absolutely must see Venice from the water.
After spending days wandering through its narrow streets and admiring the buildings from ground level, suddenly seeing the grand palaces and churches from the lagoon gives you a completely different appreciation of the city. The façades that seem enormous when you're standing beside them become part of an extraordinary panorama when viewed from the water. You also begin to understand how Venice became such a powerful trading centre – its relationship with the sea is not simply picturesque; it is fundamental to the city's history.
The day itself was almost ridiculously enjoyable. There were beautiful views, fascinating places to explore, delicious snacks, plenty of refreshments and lots of laughter.
And then there was Captain Daniel.
Daniel was exceptional. He was incredibly skilled, professional and knowledgeable, but also great company, which made the whole day feel relaxed and personal rather than like being herded around on a standard tourist excursion. He clearly knew the lagoon intimately and seemed to have exactly the right combination of competence, enthusiasm and humour.
By the end of the day, we had decided that Captain Daniel was practically part of the family.
There really is something magical about Venice from the water. Once you've walked the streets, crossed the bridges and admired the architecture from inside the city, you absolutely have to get out onto the lagoon. The perspective is completely different, and somehow the city becomes even more beautiful.
Add Murano, spectacular scenery, delicious snacks, plenty of refreshments, good company and a brilliant captain, and we couldn't have asked for a better final day.
And then, suddenly, that was it.
The bags were packed, the cruise was over, the ports were behind us and our European adventure had come to an end. We headed back to the hotel, exhausted but happy, knowing that the next morning we'd be collected for the long journey home.