What a wonderful cruise itinerary!  It's 11 days starting in Venice and ending in Rome on Celebrity Constellation.  This cruise will embark and overnight in beautiful Venice!  The Merrytimers will enjoy spritz con aperol, gelato, pizza, pasta, seafood, gondolas, murano glass, burano lace, handsome gondoliers flexing their muscles, water water everywhere... and this is just day one!!!

Cruise Itinerary

11 Day Cruise August 30 - September 10
   Celebrity Constellation

Sun. Aug 30 Venice, Italy – embark and overnight on the ship
Mon. Aug 31 Venice, Italy – depart 5 pm
Tue. Sept 1  Koper, Slovenia 7 am – 6 pm
Wed. Sept 2  Ravenna, Italy 7 am – 7 pm
Thur. Sept 3  Split, Croatia 8 am – 6 pm
Fri. Sept 4  Dubrovnik, Croatia 8 am – 6 pm
Sat. Sept 5  Kotor, Montenegro 8 am – 6 pm
Sun. Sept 6  Relaxing Day At Sea
Mon. Sept 7  Valletta, Malta  8 am - 6 pm
Tue. Sept 8  Catania, Sicily, Italy  7 am - 5 pm
Wed. Sept 9  Naples, Italy  7 am - 6:30 pm
Thur. Sept 10  Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy  arrive 5 am & disembark ship

Ah, Venezia! City of Love, City of Light, City of Water, City of Bridges, Queen of the Adriatic... so many wonderful nicknames for an enchanting city. Click here for a wonderful Youtube video of Venice.

The Merrytimers embark on Celebrity Constellation on August 30th and overnight in Venice so they get to spend one night in this beautiful place!  If anyone wants to stay a night or two before the cruise embarks, I highly recommend the Papadapoli Venezia located in Santa Croce on a canal and not far from Piazzali Roma. Ken & I stayed here for the second time two years ago and found it be very lovely and convenient.  You can take a bus or a taxi from the airport to the Piazzali Roma (which is the land closest to the island & the transportation hub for Venice).  From Piazzali Roma, it's about a 5 minute walk to the hotel; but be aware that you do have to drag  your luggage over a canal bridge which has perhaps 10 steps to the top of the bridge and ten steps down. The Papadapoli is about a 20 minute walk to St. Mark's Square or you could walk to the vaporetto station for the water bus, which is very close. It's easy to take the water bus to anywhere in Venice; the vaporetto takes about as long to get to St. Mark's Square as walking, but it offers some nice photo-ops of the grand canal.  There are standard rooms and deluxe rooms; if you get breakfast included with your rate, you won't be disappointed!  There are a couple of other hotels located in this area that get good reviews on Tripadvisor, but I have not stayed in either of them:  The Best Western Olimpia and the  Hotel Antiche Figure.

Most areas of Venice, including the San Marco area, will require a water taxi to get you there and then you will be dropped at the hotel’s dock (if it has one) or a dock where you may have to walk a few minutes to get to your hotel.   You would also need a water taxi to get from the hotel to the ship; they run around $120 Euros (more or less) per trip; two couples could share one or possibly 3 couples depending on amount of luggage. Here’s a website where you can book the transfer http://www.venetoinside.com/en/transport/

Travel by water is indeed a Venetian experience!

Want to avoid queues and get tickets in advance? Click here and you can purchase tickets for the Doges Palace, Doges Palace Secret Itineraries Tour and other museums. On the Secret Itineraries tour, you will see the secret passageways and offices of the Doges, where Cassanova was imprisoned and much more. Go to the fish market near Rialto for lunch, the Jewish Ghetto (at the museum they will give a guided tour) At night sit down in St. Marks Square for the most expensive cup of caffe you have ever had, but listen to the most wonderful violin music. Stop and have a gelato….feed the pigeons and visit the bell tower, the church, take a gondola ride, especially an evening gondola ride with serenade!

Shopping in Venice? How about Murano glass? Glass cherries and glass candies make a beautiful display in a glass vase or bowl on a coffee table, Murano glass wine bottle stoppers, glass jewelry, glass beads (also known as Venetian pearls)… Walk into the back areas of Venice (with a map!) and just wander; you'll come across many lovely smaller shops with the most spectacular pieces in their shop windows (i.e. get further away from the Grand Canal) and perhaps be able to negotiate a little if you pay cash and come away with a stunning piece (or more)! Venetian Carnevale masks are also beautiful souvenirs! Don't miss the fabulous jewelry shops surrounding Piazza San Marco; if you like fine jewelry....some of the most beautiful and original design and interesting stones in the world! Also if you like fine linens, the table and bed linens are wonderful!

Italian tenors interest you? How about this for a nice Venetian evening: An opera performed in a historic Venetian Palace, Musica Palazza. Here's a youtube video for an online experience of the performance and palace. 

Venice's Top 11 Free Sights
From: Venice for Visitors

1. Piazza San Marco

2. Basilica di San Marco

3. Venice Waterfront (St. Mark's Basin)

4. Grand Canal

5. Rialto Bridge

6. Rialto Food Markets

7. Venetian Ghetto

8. Canali, campi, calli (canals, squares, and back streets)

9. Churches (Salute, Carmini, and others that don't charge admission)

10. Shopping Streets

11. Islands of the Lagoon (San Michele cemetery, Murano, Burano, Torcello, Lido)

Concerning WCs in Venice: There are public wc's and the cost is generally 1.5 Euro. As in any European country, be sure to bring some toilet paper in your bag or backpack. Of course, you can always stop for a glass of vino or a cup of caffe and use the restaurant wc!

Here are a couple of notes about our most recent time in Venice:  Transportation from the cruise terminal to Venice proper is now convenient and inexpensive via the "people mover".  It's about a ten minute walk from the ship to the people mover monorail train.  Fare is one euro and the ride takes about four minutes into the Santa Croce area.  We happen to love Santa Croce, but you can walk to Rialto and San Marco in about 15 to 20 minutes.   Be sure to take your camera along as you can snap photos of Venetian doors & door hardware, laundry hanging and dangling from windows and verandahs above the canals, flowers, gondoliers flexing their muscles, and of course food and wine!  Pizza, pasta, wine, and gelato in Venice did not disappoint.  We shared a pizza at Trattoria da Silvio, the Venetian pizza - tomatoes, mozzarella, olives, ham, and artichokes.  It was yummy.  We had fun in a little glass shop and got to know the owner and his daughter.  Then it was off to the Coop grocery store near Piazzali Roma to get those provisions that I didn't pack trying so hard to stay within the allowed airline luggage weight limit.

Some links to helpful website:
Venice Connected
Port of Venice Information for Cruise Passengers
Venice for Visitors

Koper, Slovenia

“My Homeland, when God created thee, he blessed thee with both Hands and said, Merry People will live here.” –Ivan Cankar, Slovenian poet and writer

Your second port of call will be Koper, Slovenia. Here's a photo of Celebrity's Silhouette docked in Koper.

Your ship docked in Koper will be a sight to behold! A beautiful modern ship rising out of the Adriatic Sea against the backdrop of the ancient walled city provides a perfect photo op. Slovenia is officially and culturally bi-lingual; Slovene and Italian are the official languages.   While wandering around Koper's Old Town, all narrow streets and Venetian-style houses, you could be forgiven that you had indeed crossed the border into Italy. You are as likely to hear Italian spoken as Slovenian, there are Italian signs everywhere.  Koper is clean and non-touristy.

Ken and I had a do it ourselves day which was perfect as we like to be "unstructured" and unherded. Our self-guided Koper Stroll was fun. We saw the ancient 7th century Cathedral of St. Nazarius with its 5th century bell tower dominating Tito Square. The architecture is primarily Venetian. I discovered an interesting local handicraft shop with a lovely owner/ artist where I purchased a couple of treasures. In my opinion, Atelje Terracotta was the best shop in old town! 

 Here are a few of the terra cotta treasure that I purchased, wrapped quite nicely!

As we were in town on Saturday, the flea market, fruit & vegetable market, and antique vendors were in full swing. I found a beautiful antique wooden bread board but it must've weighed 5 pounds & was large and bulky so I had to sadly leave it at the antique market for someone else. 

There was a HoHo bus that took you from Koper to Izola, Piran, and Potoroz and back to Koper. Some of our group went to Lake Bled and some went to the Capital, Ljubljana.

Koper, like all of the Slovenian coast, is blessed with some wonderful fish and seafood restaurants. Look out for Koper style fast food too, Okrepčevalnica bars: small, Italian-style places which serve great food of the primo, secondo piatti variety at lunchtime. You can usually eat very well here for a fraction of the cost of a restaurant. 

Ravenna, Italy

Ravenna, Italy, will be your third port of call.  You will see some of the finest mosaics in the world in some of the oldest churches.  Most everything, from Dante’s tomb to the best fast food around, is within walking distance in a pedestrian center, Piazza del Popolo.  You will be able to enjoy the best of what Ravenna has to offer… the Early-Christian and Byzantine mosaics of the fifth and sixth centuries featured in the Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Museo Orcivescovile, Battistero Neoniano, Basilica di San Vitale and Mauseleo di Galla Placidia. 

A bit of trivia that I learned is that the mosaics at the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia inspired the American songwriter, Cole Porter.  In the   1920’s while honeymooning in Ravenna he wrote “Night and Day” remembering the beauty of the starry sky mosaics of Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.

Ravenna is in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and is sometimes dubbed “Italy’s Food Basket”.  This region is home to many of Italy’s most renowned foods:  Prosciutto di Parma, Mortadella, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and balsamic vinegar are a few.

Click here for a Rick Steves YouTube video of Ravenna.

We hopped on the shuttle bus (14 usd round-trip per person) and soon after a scenic drive along the coast, we were on the streets of old town Ravenna.  Ravenna is considered the gateway to the Emilia Romagna region. 

If you know me, then you know that I’m usually on a mission to sample the local cuisine!  Where to have lunch in Ravenna?  Why Ca’ de Ven of course!    According to Lonely Planet, it’s a wonderful cavernous enoteca-cum-restaurant in a 15^th century palazzo with frescoed domes, vaulted brick ceilings and checkerboard marble floors.   

As I mentioned, I was on a mission to find Ca’ de Ven & just as Ken was ready to give up & opt for a cute outdoor café, I finally found it.  And I must say that it was worth every moment of the search!  It's in an ancient building..enoteca vine di romagna .. Ken opted for the seafood pasta which he declared as the best he has ever had!!  Tagliatelli with clams, mussels, shrimp, calimari, langostino in a light tomato sauce.  I ordered another regional specialty, ravioli!  Yes, both seafood and stuffed pasta are both superb here.  Ken ordered local red and I had local white wine.  Oh me oh my… I was smiling big time!

If, however, you are in Ravenna on a Monday and Ca’ de Ven is closed, then Bizantino, located in the Mercato Coperto (covered market) in the historic centre, has been recommended.  If you’re still hungry or want just a bite, make a stop at a piadinerie for piadina.  Piadina is thin Italian flatbread and it’s served with cold cuts, jam, Nutela or regional cheeses.  Tortellini and Cappelletti, Bolognese sauce, and local wines such as SanGiovese should not be missed!

Ready for a quiet reflective moment?  Dante’s tomb is a quiet & restrained resting place for the author of “The Divine Comedy”.  Don’t miss the little oil lamp hanging above the tomb.  Burning permanently, it is paid for by the city of Florence in penance for ejecting the poet in 1372!