View from the Inside: Italy Tours

Written by Gary Hamilton, Senior Sales Consultant at Voyages Jules Verne who recently travelled to Venice, Italy.

"Arriving on a British Airways flight from Gatwick and staying in a nice warm comfortable cabin on board the MS Michelangelo was a bit of a change from my previous visit during my backpacking days in 1985 when I arrived from a 12-hour overnight train journey from Brindisi at the heel of Italy.

MS Michelangelo's well-located mooring allows for easy access to Castello and St Mark's Square, and although passengers are given a map onboard to help you navigate the streets and canals of Venice, it was very enjoyable just to wander without having a set route to follow. Virtually every turn brought me to a new place of interest, whether it was a small canal, a Piazza, a market or a historic building. The areas around St Mark's Square & the Rialto Bridge are busy with tourists and shoppers but walk a minute or two away from these and you'll find a different world. Most streets or canals have signs pointing in the direction of St Mark's Square or the Rialto Bridge so it's unlikely you would get really lost. The meals provided on the MS Michelangelo are very filling, so walking the streets of Venice is also a good excuse to burn off a few calories.

A visit to Venice would not be complete without a trip on a Vaporetto. If you purchase a day pass you can travel to all parts of the city and its surrounding islands, which will give you a different outlook of what the city sights have to offer. Two of the highlights of my trip were the music concert at the Palazzo Zeno, which even as a non-opera lover I found enjoyable and the other was the spectacular view of Venice I had upon opening the curtains in my lagoon view cabin on my first morning. The view just got better every day and a lagoon view cabin would be a must for me." (April 2009).

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