Venice & The Po River Luxury Cruise

Depart from the hotel with an English speaking escort on a private taxi boat to the Venetian Lagoon’s most enchanting islands, Murano and Burano. Visit a glass factory on Murano, known for hundreds of years of glass making tradition, and a unique style. A private guide will lead you on a tour of the factory, where you can see a glass blowing demonstration and later purchase items from the display room if you are so inclined. You will then depart and transfer to the island of Burano, featuring cheerful houses painted in bright colours. Known for lace making, you will visit a Burano lace factory for a demonstration of the craft before having some time to stroll the narrow streets and barter with vendors. Return to Venice.

Take a private water taxi for a port transfer.

Welcome aboard!
Take some time to get settled in to your stateroom, and to explore the length of your ship. Your cruise experience begins this evening with your first dinner on board; perhaps an ideal time to meet some of your fellow cruisemates.

Port charges are included in your itinerary pricing.

Today you'll set out on a group walking tour of historic Venice, as well as a Grand Canal cruise, and an exclusive evening opening of St. Mark's Basilica. Venice, founded in the sixth century, rose up on 118 islands in a lagoon of the Adriatic Sea. It became a great political power that controlled all European trade with the East throughout the Middle Ages, and its citizens lavished their wealth on their home town. You’ll stand in Piazza San Marco, perhaps the most famous plaza in Italy, where every view has been re-created by painters through the ages, and be awed by 11th-century San Mark’s Basilica, adorned inside and out with treasures Venetian traders brought back from their voyages. The Palazzo Ducale, the Doge’s Palace, reflects the wealth and the security of Venice’s rulers—it contained both the doge’s private quarters and the council chambers where the elite 1,000 met to make major political decisions. See the city as voyagers have always seen it, from the water, as you cruise along the Grand Canal, lined with palaces that reflect the history of the city—Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque—and spanned by famous bridges.

A full-day group excursion today takes you to Padua. The 13th and 14th centuries were glory days for Padua. At the Scrovegni Chapel you’ll see the astonishing and moving frescoes painted by Giotto around 1300, but Giotto was not the only artist to shine here; Mantegna and Donatello also gave Padua extraordinary artistic treasures. Your walking tour will take you from the Basilica del Santo to Caffè Pedrocchi, which writers, poets, and artists have frequented.

Your full-day shore excursion today will have you traveling by coach to Ravenna, a vital seaport and Italian capital of the Byzantine Empire, is celebrated for the fifth- and sixth-century mosaics that adorn its churches. You will see the UNESCO-designated Basilica di Sant’Apollinare and the mausoleum of Galla Placidia; the buildings are sheathed in spectacular mosaics. Spend the afternoon rambling through the lovely historic downtown on your own, and enjoy artisanal foods tasting.

Spend the whole day in Bologna, called la grassa, meaning bountiful. Does it have the best food in Northern Italy? You be the judge. There’s more to the city than Bolognese sauce, that’s for sure—there’s Parma ham, Parmegiano (parmesan), and perhaps the best tortellini in the world, all on lavish display at Bologna’s amazing food markets. Join in on a pasta workshop and discover how to make your own fabulous pasta.

Your full-day excursion today begins with a coach drive to Verona. Shakespeare endowed Verona with fame through the ages when he wrote of two local star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, but Verona’s wealth comes from its role as a center of trade; today it hosts Italy’s biggest wine fair. You’ll see architectural treasures ranging from an ancient Roman amphitheater still in use to Medieval palaces and the Piazza d’Erbe, with its 14th-century fountain. And, of course, you may stand below the Juliet balcony just as Romeo did.

Explore Venice at your leisure. You can take a vaporetto to Murano for the world-renowned glass studios. Of course, you must take a gondola ride! Go to the Gallerie dell’Accademia for the greatest collection of Italian masters in one place; you’ll find Titian, Tintoretto, Tiepolo, Veronese, Canaletto, and Guardi, to name only a few. Lounge beside the Grand Canal with an aperitivo. Take time to see some of the quiet back lanes where tourists rarely go and get a sense of daily life in the enchanted city.

This morning you'll disembark from your ship, bidding farewell to your fellow cruisemates.

Board the coach transfer to the airport for your outbound flight.