Blog of the Dawn Princess: I’ve got to admit it’s getting better ...

So, leaving Santorini and Greece behind, we headed west out of the Cyclades Islands and into the Adriatic Sea for our next two stops – Venice and Dubrovnik. The Adriatic Sea is a north west arm of the Mediterranean with Italy to the west and Albania and Croatia to the east.

Venice
I hadn’t appreciated that the ship would sail straight through the middle of the city of Venice passing only metres to the south of St Mark’s Square! It was quite an experience and gave a view of Venice not available on land at ground level, It was my first visit to Venice and hadn’t really given much thought to it except the comments from others that it was like an open sewer!

I was overwhelmed by the experience - a total sensory blitz. Some stats – Venice comprises 118 islands separated by 150 canals connected by 400 bridges! Puts the Gold Coast and our other canal developments in the shade! I abandoned my two pre-booked excursions (the ship stayed in Venice overnight) and took to the streets on my own.

From St Marks Square I meandered around the city streets and canal ways for over 5 hours. Throngs of people at the main venues, but quiet beautiful side streets and laneways with fewer people. The canals are beautiful and the little bridges with their raised tops to allow gondolas under them are perfect. I was struck by the cacophony of voices and their many languages. The Italians seem to always be on stage as the men strut round like cocks of the walk and their women preen themselves and chatter incessantly. In St Mark’s Square I felt I was in the centre of the earth. Apart from the crowds (of which I was a part) the. main downside of and for Europeans is that most of them smoke – a fact glaringly obvious to Australians who have mainly kicked the habit.

Of course prices for anything are sky high – wine $15 per glass, beer about the same – but most of that is for the location, not the product.

I went ashore at 3pm and arrived back on board at 9 pm after a delicious fish dinner on the waterfront adjacent to where our shuttle boat service operated.

As well as the smoking – two other things struck me in my time ashore. First, despite the league of nations, including many Americans in Venice, Australian women were by far the largest women I saw. This is a first for me as American women have normally taken this title. Secondly – OK maybe I’m suffering cultural cringe or my inner European person is emerging – the Australians ashore, men and women, were by far the loudest and sloppily attired tourists of all. In addition to which, overhearing conversations, I believe we have also taken the title from the English of being the world’s greatest whingers.

A final observation – once again, even though I was surrounded by marauding hordes of tourists I was a loner amongst them. However on a happier note – in Venice I could have happily stayed there and not returned to the ship =- I was under its magic spell. A few photos to give you a taste.

St Mark's Sq from the ship