Disembarking in Venice

We arrived into Fusina, the commercial port of mainland Italy. All of our trip documents mentioned disembarking in Fusina so we had planned a hotel on that side of the water. However, staff onboard had let me know the day before that we would all be bussed from Fusina to the island of Venice to clear customs there. Thankfully I found out in time to change our hotel and we hastily rebooked to a hotel on the island. 

Silversea divides travelers into several disembarkation times based on their onboard plans. They were well organized and the process went very smoothly, but it's worth leaving plenty of time to disembark, board buses to Venice, and then go thru customs there (could take 5 minutes or an hour, ours was relatively quick). After clearing customs, we could have booked a transfer but opted instead to walk the 15 minutes to our hotel. The only challenge were the frequent walking bridges across canals as we had to carry our suitcases up a staircase on one side and down the other. Intrepid teens offer to porter bags for travelers along the way, but it was still a reasonably cool morning so we opted to make the trek ourselves.

After checking in, we headed to meet our pre-scheduled private gondola ride. Our gondolier was nice enough, if a bit disinterested. I'm sure singing to tourists along the same canal route hour after hour gets tedious and it showed. 

From there we went for a walk on our own to San Marco's square. Old Town Venice is perfect for walking as everywhere you turn is a scenic mix of crumbling old architecture and picturesque canals. The narrow alleyways created plenty of opportunities for shade and we purchased an all day pass on the Vaporettos, the local water transit system. The Vaporettos allowed us to see various parts of the city from the perspective of the water and also made for easy transit to our evening cooking class on nearby Giudecca Island.

Our cooking class, in a backyard of a local woman, was another highlight of the trip. The chef, Rosa, was a warm and welcoming Italian mother with a great sense of humor. Her adult daughter was a sommelier by day and helped pair wine to our courses and translate for Rosa, who spoke half in English and half in Italian, but left us feeling like we had known her for decades. Her approach was so unexpected as she laid out 4 different kinds of flour and had us try making pasta with all 4 types, emphasizing that there was no  one 'right' way to do anything. Use what you have. Similarly her signature dish, 'Rosa's Rainbow' was a hodgepodge of any vegetable or fruit (no citrus or berries though) that she had around. I adored Rosa and her daughter and she seemed to relish having her backyard full of hungry travelers, free flowing wine, and good food. 

As we departed to head back to Venice, Rosa said that we might be able to walk across the canal to Venice. Once a year, a  pontoon bridge is built to connect Giudecca Island to Venice  to celebrate the Feast of the Redeemer. Dozens of locals had gathered with lanterns lighting the path to walk across the bridge and we felt blessed to be part of this unique procession.