Adriatic Trip, Day 2: Self-guided Venice

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

We treated ourselves to a bit of extra sleep this morning, but not too much so that we could adjust to the nine-hour time change. The hotel buffet breakfast was terrific — many familiar choices and some local items as well.

Since we arrived a day early for our tour, we were on our own until late in the afternoon. We took the shuttle boat from the hotel to St. Mark’s Square and noticed that there was only a short line for the campanile tower. The view from the tower was a great introduction to Venice. We got our bearings by looking out in all directions from the tower, and also noticed a plaque stating that Galileo had conducted some of his experiments from the tower. So many things in Europe are far older than anything we have at home.

After the campanile, we decided to walk to the famous Rialto Bridge across the Grand Canal. The bridge was, as usual, jammed with tourists like ourselves, as well as with the shops that line either side of the bridge. It was good to see, but too crowded to really enjoy, so we continued to the Basilica of the Frari, one of the many churches with notable Renaissance artwork. We then retraced our steps to St. Mark’s Square, stopping to share a quick pizza for lunch at one of the many small squares along the way.

After resolving a bit of confusion about shuttle schedules and where to board the return shuttle, we returned to the Hilton on Giudecca Island. We spent a little while relaxing and getting cleaned up, and then set out for the initial meeting with our Tauck tour group. In the hotel lobby, we found another member of the tour who appeared to be lost, and together we found the tour leader, Alexa, who checked us in for the tour. Additional members of our 17-member tour appeared, ranging in age from a young couple to several retirees, mostly in their 60s and 70s. One of the retirees brought his grandson and granddaughter, who had just graduated from high school, and another brought her granddaughter, who had just graduated from college.

Alexa introduced herself to the group. She is a native of Rome who has lived in Venice for about 10 years. She has excellent English, which we later learned was partly due to her experience working as a cast member at Disney World (she is a “friend of” Snow White) for a couple of years. She also distributed “whisper devices,” which are wireless receivers used by groups to hear their leaders when out on a tour without bothering others nearby.

After a while, we went to the hotel’s rooftop bar for drinks and hors d’oeuvres to get to know each other, followed by dinner.

This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Italy, Greece, Albania, and Croatia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.