New Year's Eve in Venice and on the islands of the lagoon

Remember to check in your luggage when you arrive in Venice because we will not pick it up until the end of the afternoon to go to the hotel.

Reception at 9.40 am at the Venice Santa Lucia train station. First discovery of Venice through the districts of San Polo and Santa Croce, the Rialto, the Church of Frari and the famous Assumption of Titian. A crowd of small squares, churches, canals... In the late afternoon, transfer by vaporetto to our hotel*** located in the lagoon and installation at the hotel. 

Walking time: about 4 hours. Accommodation: hotel***. Meals included: dinner. Meals not included: breakfast - lunch.
 

Boat to the docks of San Zaccaria. After a quick look at the famous "Bridge of Sighs", we will go up the quays towards San Francesco della Vigna to reach the Arsenal district and its famous Lions of the Gate of Honour. Visit of this quiet area away from the crowds of St Mark’s Square. Detour by the small island of San Pietro di Castello. It was the first inhabited, because it was at the entrance of the Lagoon, near the sea. The island has a cathedral, built in the 8th century, which hides the mysterious "Throne of Saint Peter" dear to Corto Maltese.
Then board for Murano, the island of Verriers where we will picnic and visit among others the glass museum as well as the magnificent church of Santi Maria and Donato. Glass blower demonstration if possible. After a short tour by vaporetto, we will embark for the island of San Francesco thanks to a small private boat. We will visit the cloister and the church of the Franciscan convent. The boat trip offers us a unique vision of the Lagoon, its swampy land outcrops populated by myriads of birds. Back to the hotel.

Walking time: about 5 hours. Accommodation: hotel***. Meals included: breakfast - lunch - dinner.
 

We begin this second day of visit of Venice by the San Marco district which holds the prestigious buildings that make visitors keen on art and history, the unconditional lovers of this exciting sestiere.
The admirers of this unique city may not leave the heart of the city, hypnotized by the architectural magnificence of the ducal palace, the Basilica, Piazza San Marco, the alignment of the Procuraties, the Marcciana Library, of the Correr Museum... without pinching in the heart.

However, this favourite district of the Gods, the most frequented in Venice, has other wonders, other secrets, such as the Fenice theatre or the magnificent staircase of the Palazzo del Bovolo. Visit of Basilica San Marco and its beautiful Mozaïques of the XIIth and XIIIth century.

Then we return to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore and its superb Palladian church before continuing through the island of Giudecca for lunch. The island of Giudecca belongs to the district of Dorsoduro from which it is separated by a canal of more than 300 meters width. It is the meeting of eight small islands connected by channels. Its position in front of Venice makes it a magnificent balcony away from the hustle and bustle of San Marco. Then we reach the Dorsoduro district in the early afternoon. It is an old area where it is good to stroll. It occupies the southwest part of the city.
The Dorsudoro is an elegant area, full of museums, surrounded by many welcoming quays, with delicious campos and beautifully decorated churches, giving the impression of offering only wonders, especially if one has "the eye of the soul". It is on the Trovaso River that crosses the Dorsoduro, that the gondolas are repaired and repainted for the coming season... The day will end with the vista of the palace Rezzonico to realize the splendour of a patrician residence on the banks of the Grand Canal. Return to the hotel via vaporetto n°1 along the Grand Canal.

Walking time: about 5 hours. Accommodation: hotel***. Meals included: breakfast - lunch - dinner.

After a short stop on the island of Lido famous for the Venice Biennale which organizes, among other cultural events, the international film art competition of Venice (the Mostra), rewarded by the famous Golden Lion, we will reach the island of Pellestrina (by bus and boat). Magnificent walk between sky and sea on the narrow lagoon and its fishing villages with the peaceful atmosphere, far from the hustle and bustle of the Serenissima. Advancing into the vast expanse of water of the Venetian Lagoon, the silhouette of Pellestrina, loved by Thomas Mann, appears before our eyes.  A ribbon of 11 kilometers, protected by the Murazzi, backdrop of Venice, punctuated by small villages like Portosecco, San Pietro in Volta and Santa Maria del Mare, with the churches of Santa Maria, San Vito and Sant Antonio, the Zenetti district and its square.

Then discover Chiogga at the southwest end of the Lagoon. Chiogga is a miniature replica of Venice, with some canals, the main one being the Canale Vena, and characteristic narrow streets, the "calli"; the other three canals are the Lusenzo canal, the Lombardo canal and the San Domenico canal. Return to the hotel by vaporetto.

Walking time: about 5 hours. Accommodation: hotel***. Meals included: breakfast - lunch - dinner.
 

Morning boarding for the most northern islands of the Lagoon: Burano and Torcello. The Lagoon of Venice has several dozen small islands, but also sometimes of significant size. Before settling in the Realtine Islands which now form the historic centre of Venice, from which the name of its most famous bridge, the Rialto, the heart of the city was located in Torcello, the ancient Venice. There are also some architectural remains, including an imposing church with its campanile. For the rest, nature has totally taken back its rights and "swallowed" what men had hard built there over the centuries. According to historians, Torcello’s abandonment is linked to mosquitoes. So it was these small animals and the diseases they carried that got the inhabitants of this ancient Venice and pushed the Venetians to settle permanently in the Realtine Islands. Venice is still a city that beats to the rhythm of its Lagoon, its tides, its moods.

It is this maritime character that has long forged the destiny of the Serenissima, a republic of sailors, warring and trading throughout the Mediterranean and beyond, but also, more modestly, a city of fishermen. And this history, these privileged links with water have formed over the centuries the particular character of the Venetians, have given them this peculiarity of the isles to feel different and to protect at all costs their independence from those of the "continent", of the "Terra Ferma" as we say here.

On this day, even more than on the day dedicated to Murano, the city of the Art of Glass, you will be sensitive to the particularism of these islands with Torcello the ghost town evoked above but also with Burano, the city of lace with discreet charm, a city where women, from the "maestra" to the worker, have forged the whole history and reputation. 

On the way back from the islands, in the early afternoon, after having docked at the Fondamente Nuove, we will separate until dinner time at the hotel. You can take advantage of this free time to shop in Venice before departure the next day. There is no shortage of souvenir shops: Burano lace, Murano glass objects, Venetian masks... but beware of imitations "made in China".

Walking time: about 3 hours. Accommodation: hotel***. Meals included: breakfast - lunch - dinner.
 

After having checked in our luggage at the Santa Lucia station, we will get the Rialto Pescheria by vaporetto. After a short tour of this colourful and lively market, we will cross the Grand Canal by gondola for our last visit to Venice with the north of Sestiere de Castello and Cannaregio.

To take full advantage of all the Venetian life that abounds here and the beauty of the stalls of Pescheria, we will go directly there. And as the Venetians say, "the fish has 24 lives and loses one per hour". After 11 am, even if some merchants are still there, the stalls are already half empty and the atmosphere is already not the same.

Cannaregio is limited to the north by the Lagoon to the Canal des Mendiants. The boundary with the Sestiere de Castello is determined by this channel southwards to the Rio de Santa Marina. Heading west, the boundary then follows this last channel, then the Rio de San Lio and the Rio del Fontego dei Tedeschi, which separates it from the Sestiere de San Marco, up to the Grand Canal. The main waterway serves as a boundary with the Sestiere of San Polo and Santa Croce.

The main canal is the Cannaregio Canal which connects the Grand Canal to the Church of San Geremia, with the Lagoon. Two bridges cross this canal: the Ponte delle Guglie, whose four corners are decorated with obelisks, hence its name, and the Ponte dei Tre Archi. This last building with three arches is the only bridge of this style in Venice.

From Campo San Geremia it is easy to pass on the slender Guglie bridge, and to reach the Ghetto. Settled in residence for more than five centuries, the Venetian Jews founded their synagogues and university there by building "a city in the city". It is a rather dark area where the inhabitants seem to have retained a reserved attitude.

Venice is both a western city and one of eastern influence. The domination it exercised over its colonized territories has had the effect of mixing different populations of origin. Various traditions have been established in the social and cultural life of the Venetians over the centuries. Of all these people of various origins, the Jews were certainly the most troubled.

Walking time: about 4 hours. Meals included: breakfast. Meals not included: lunch - dinner.