Our final morning in Venice was due to end fairly early. We needed to find our own way back to the ship. If we had known where we were docking before we left home, I would have arranged transportation before we even left the USA. But since they decided at the last minute to switch from Fusina to Chioggia, I had to scramble. And I scrambled to no avail. I was on my phone trying to book us a van back to the ship for a reasonable price for quite a while. What we finally decided to do was just get a cab and have them drive us around.

Speaking of them driving us back to the ship, we had new friends we met on board who had originally planned a train trip from Venice to Tuscany with a private tour at the other end but the Viking Customer Service people told them that taxis were not allowed to enter the port at Chioggia. So when we got our cab, we were a little worried if we would be let into the port or have to walk quite a distance to get in. More about that later. I am getting ahead of myself.

Let’s go back to the early morning…you know before the sun came up. I was up and heading out with my camera in hand. Yesterday I made my way to Piazza San Marco via the Rialto bridge. Today I wanted to cross the Rialto again, but this time, I wanted to get back to the Accademia bridge, which is at the very beginning of the Grand Canal. When we came to Venice for the first time, way back in 2002, we stayed at the Galleria Hotel right next to that bridge. The bridge is the only wooden bridge across the Grand Canal, so I really wanted a couple of more shots from that area. It also provides a great place to shoot the beautiful Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. So here are the pics from that morning. I hope you like them. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

Early morning and looking for some great artificial light

Looking into Campo San Polo

I took two shots here because I loved what I was shooting but not sure whether to leave in the closeup stuff on the left.

As my friends know, I consider an early morning shot I took in New Orleans the best photo I have ever taken. I think this one is in that same vein.

Let me know which crop you like better.

I kept on walking.

and walking

and walking

Just as the blue hour ended, I got to Rialto and crossed

Before I continued my quest for the Academia

I took a few shots from the Rialto

As the sun was coming up.

And other, minor canals on the way

I love taking these. They are like nothing else iin the world.

I discovered this placque celebrating the first woman to ever graduate from a university. Had to post it to honor her.

I also found the ugliest building in all of Venice. Just plunked into a pretty Campo. Of course it was a government building.

See, even the statue thinks the building is ugly.

But the churches nearby were classic

I saw this COLORFUL children’s shoe store with VERY clean windows and had to shoot it.

Finally, Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute

A most photogenic church

See what I mean? I shot all these from the Accademia Bridge

The Hotel Galleria where we stayed in 2002. We would have stayed there on this visit but they had no AC.

Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute again.

Back on the Number 1 Vaporetto heading to St. Stae

Lots of great places still to shoot

This was a long golden hour.

And I was happy with the result.

The Rialto Bridge from the canal’s surface.

Adornment on the Rialto

The love of my life on our balcony upon my return.

When we went to breakfast we walked through Campo San Polo and saw old Italians with their old dogs.

This one is Nona with dog.

And a final Venice photo to cap the morning.

After breakfast, we grabbed our luggage and hit the good old Vaporetto #1 and headed up the Grand Canal to Piazzale Roma, where we hopped off and headed to the taxi line and found a driver willing to go to Chioggia. We also asked him if he would be able to get into the port. He wasn’t sure but said he would get us as close as possible. That was good enough for us. He also quoted us 150 euros for the ride. Whew! But we had to get back. And unlike our favorite Lyft/Uber rides, this would have a meter running, so we had to sweat that out as well.

He headed out, and we drove for almost an hour. The meter ran up, and when we finally got there, it was 147 Euro. This man knew his pricing. And could he get into the port to drop us off? Let’s just say when we got out of his cab; we were inside the port and less than 10 feet from the terminal. From the time we got out of his cab, we were in our staterooms on the ship in less than seven minutes.

We grabbed a mid-afternoon dunch (dunch = dinner and lunch—or linner—take your choice 😜) and just collapsed in our stateroom for the evening. Those three days in Venice took a lot out of us.