At 6:00 a.m. we were on deck for an incredible sail in to the inner harbor. Prinsendam glided into the Venetian lagoon while the city was still asleep, closely past the Piazzo San Marco and the Doge’s Palace. A few hours later, after picking up a map and phone card at the railroad station, we continued our meander through mazes of streets to the Jewish ghetto (Italian for quarter). In a small plaza, we found the community that dates back to the 1600s. Our walking tour guide led us into three of six restored synagogues; each used on a rotating basis by a multilingual Miami Rabbi. Although most of the 450 Venetian Jews no longer live in the Ghetto, there is an active Jewish Community Center with nursery and part time religious school. There is a Jewish Seniors home with 9 “grandmothers”; the top floor recently being converted to a hostel. There is a kosher restaurant nearby. We stopped to chat with a visiting student at the small Chabad center and yeshiva.
Continuing our day in the brisk 60 degree weather, we crossed tiny bridges losing ourselves down streets as narrow as outstretched arms, only to find ourselves back on broader walking streets. Down one narrow walkway, we discovered the just renovated Palazzo Grimani. We walked from one grand room to another, not being able to imagine the wealth of the upper class centuries ago.
Italian school groups and many European tourists filled the streets. Like most of our stops, we were in advance of the cruise season as well. We couldn’t imagine summertime when the crowds increase dramatically.
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” –William Arthur Ward
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