I’m starting my cruise to Cape Town in Venice – it’s a repositioning trip to move the ship to South Africa for their summer season. I decided to arrive 4 days early to add some leeway in case my luggage went astray and to sightsee the bits of Venice I missed on previous visits.

My hotel is located in Mestre, on the mainland side of the Venetian lagoon. I’ve a “suite” with a fully-equipped kitchenette and a lounge area with comfy chairs and dining room, unfortunately it only lacks some character, lol. Around the corner is a huge hypermarket so I stocked up this morning with some breakfast and dinner goodies and a nice bottle of Veneto wine for tonight.

Off to sightsee Venice! I had loose plans for today: wander the canals and alleyways for a time, then meet up with a walking tour at 2:30pm. I meandered south and east of the train station, eyes swiveling between the fun, touristy shop windows and the fashionably (and uniquely) dressed tourists. The one palazzo I had earmarked to see was unfortunately closed for renovations so I contented myself with the Basilica dei Frari, the largest church in Venice.

Dating back to 1330 this church was the 3rd on this site as the 1221 and 1250 versions were too small! It’s now truly vast and hosts several masterpieces by Titian, a Bellini, a 1488 sculpture by Donatello, and more, all in a soaring, airy venerable space. I do wish I had splurged on the audio guide as I’m always so curious about what I’m looking at….

At 2:15pm I met up with two of my fellow cruise passengers (arranged via Messenger) and 10 strangers for my Backstreets of Venice tour. Francesco is a local with a love of the city and a strong antipathy of mass market tourism who subcontracts with GuruWalks. His tour led us through the Jewish Ghetto (1st in Europe), past old and new churches, a traghetto hop across the Grand Canal, along the closing Rialto fish/vegetable market, a 30 minute glass of wine respite, snaking thru the narrowest of alleys (measured in centimeters!) to try to shock us with tales of the underbelly of the city, past my Frari church to end with the World’s Largest canvas mural. It was educational, eye-opening, and by the end, rather exhausting! My mates and I agreed we were too tired and cold to worry about dinner plans so I threaded my way back to the bus stazione to head home to my aparthotel and restorative glass of vino.