Venice in Spring and Winter

A water taxi  transports tourists last Spring during our visit to Venice.  

Two Sides of Venice

Venice is known for its lagoons and canals that connect the city on water.  We visited Venice during our Mediterranean & Greek Isles cruise last June.

In the first picture, we see a water taxi moving freely in rushing waters with the city in the background.  

The second picture paints a different image of Venice as ice hampers the movements of this small boat.  Venice has not been exempt from the current freeze that has brought record cold temperatures, snow, and ice to parts of Europe snarling transportation and even causing deaths and injuries.

A vaporetto ferries passengers across the frozen Venice lagoon 
CREDIT: REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri

For more images of Venice in present day, see the following photo gallery: 

Frozen Venice: the lagoon and canals ice over as Europe's big freeze continues

Getting Around Venice

It is crucial that the various small boats and gondolas  are able to navigate the lagoons and canals of Venice.  This is the primary means of transportation through the system of canals.  While you'd see a box truck on your city streets making a delivery, that same merchandise is transported by boat in Venice.

Our ship was docked on the outskirts of Venice at the cruise ship terminal.   In order for us to tour the heart of the city, we needed to take a water taxi from the ship to St. Mark's Square.  We purchased a shuttle ticket from the ship which allowed us to take unlimited water taxi rides between the two locations during our overnight visit to Venice.   We also took an organized tour which met on land following the water taxi ride.

We've posted some more springtime images on our Facebook Page:  Venice - Water Taxi. 

We will continue our story about Venice in future posts.   When we saw these pictures of frozen Venice, we wanted to show you the other side of the city, when the waters were running freely with boats of all sizes darting along the waterways.

Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Connect With Us On

        

Sign-up for Exclusive Email Offers


Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us every Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat