Venice
Travel Advice for Seniors: Venice
The first stop on our small group tour to Italy was to Venice. Note that in the article below, some tours were included and others were activities we arranged ourselves. It was rainy when were there, but the tour must go on…
A word on Venice. I had been to Venice previously during the acqua alta, a type of seasonal flooding that occurs with regularity late in the year. The city is used to this, so sets up scaffolding for tourist to continue touristing that are about 3-4’ up in the air in St Mark’s Square. The water usually recedes a good bit in the afternoon, but mornings the water is pretty high. Be sure to take proper rain gear, including shoes for wet weather or you will be very uncomfortable.
Also, if you aren’t good with directions you may want to go with a guided tour. It’s not easy to get around in Venice when you are off the tiresome tourist track around St Mark’s square and the Rialto Bridge. These areas are usually so packed with tourists even in the off season that it isn’t a lot of fun. However, you can find a map of Venice if you want to go exploring, which we have done and is actually a lot of fun, but be warned, escaping the main touristed areas can get you very lost.
St Mark’s square is the starting point for any tour and includes the beautiful gothic façade of the Doge’s Palace and the close by Bridge of Sighs so named as prisoners were transported over it to jail. We took the tour of the Doge’s Palace, but there are other more impressive things to see in Venice. The Basilica de San Marco is at the opposite end of the square and is the main basilica of Venice. Santa Maria della Salute was ordered built by the Doge after two years of plague and is a fantastic building in itself with important works by Titan and Tintoretto inside.
The afternoon featured a water taxi ride for an overview of the City. It is much nicer to view the city in a boat than trying to get through the throngs of tourists clogging up the main sights.
Second day we began with a stop at the Gallerie dell’Accademia. A must-see for Italian art lovers and featuring works by Veronese, Bellini, Canaletto, and Titian. The most famous work being Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze in Florence as well as this gallery in Venice should be on any art-lovers list of top museums in the world. Spend some time here soaking it up.
We filled out our afternoon with the Tintoretto Scuola Grande Di San Rocco with its rooms of fabulous Tintoretto paintings, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari and a water taxi ride to Murano, home of world-famous glass artists.
Venice features fabulous history phenomenal architecture and artwork, but is not a favorite of ours because of the sheer volume of tourists, even in off-season. If you are looking for a quiet getaway, this is not your city.
Where we stayed: Hotel Riviera. Breakfast included. Nice hotel, convenient location.
How we got there: Flew from US to Venice. This was part of a 10-day small group tour through Italy, starting in Venice with a stop at Florence and ending in Rome.
General Accessibility Information: Major tourist sites, newer hotels, transportation and most major cities are accessible. Older buildings and some historic sites may be less accessible. Call in advance to verify and make specialty arrangements. See our sections on specialty apps and accessible travel for more on accessibility assistance.
