We had time to eat a hearty breakfast in The World Cafe before heading out for the day's excursion.
Checking in to find our group. We signed up for the included excursion, a short walking tour of Chioggia.
We tried out our QuietVoxes for the first time.
Waiting to get aboard the shuttle
It was a quick 5 minute ride into Chioggia. The wooden interior of the boat was retro, vintage, and really cool.
Ricky peeled off from the group and found a nice Cafe while I took off with the tour guide, Monica. We walked over Ponte di Vigo first thing.
Monica gave us some facts. Venice is the grand queen, and Chioggia is the little sister. Venice has a Winged Lion on a column. Chioggia has a cat on a pole. Chioggia is older, but Venice is much bigger. This is a fishing village with about 10 Catholic churches.
We only saw a small bit of the main part of the town on our hour and a half tour.
View from the bridge. Chioggia is built on 5 islands.
Cars and people share the narrow streets.
We saw lots of laundry hanging out to dry.
Next week crossed the Ponte S. Domenico
Looking back from the top of the bridge.
The church of Saint Domenico was built in the 13th century.
This is an important work of art: St. Paul Stigmatized, painted in 1520 by Vittore Carpaccio. It is his last signed work.
Standing at the foot of the "Christ of the Fishermen"
There are many folk traditions explaining the origin of this work of art. One tradition is that it was pulled from the sea.
This wooden Christ probably dates from the late 14th to early 15th century. It was restored in 2004. It is the most revered work of art on Chioggia. Fishermen paint pictures of it on their sails.
We left the church for more exploring.
The Grey building on the corner was once Palazzo Grassi, built 1703 - 1714 for the wealthy Grassi family. Now it's a museum of Adriatic Zoology.
There were many inviting sidewalk cafes!
I spotted this nod to Hawaii on a building
This is a very popular restaurant, El Gato. (In reference to the cat on the pole.)
The Cafe is squeezed right next to an important landmark.
Notice the Cafe umbrella almost touching this building. Their close proximity made it difficult for me to see. I didn't know until later the importance of this building.
The Torre dell'Orologio is the oldest standing watch tower in the world. Dating back to 950 AD and maybe to the 7th or 8th century. It may have been a Roman age lighthouse. At the top (inside) is the second oldest known medieval clock and it is still working. It dates to 1386.
The tower now serves as the bell tower for St. Andrew's church which is next door.
I would have expected such an ancient and important building to have more fanfare about it. I didn't climb to the top.
We did visit St Andrew's church.
Our guide stated this church is styled around happiness, good fortune, and prosperity, so it is favored by the young people.
Very large organ!
Back to Ponte di Vigo
Here's the "cat on the pole." Actually a very small winged lion.
I gulped down a refreshing lemon tea
This Cafe was next to where our shuttle boat docked.
Market in the dock area
Ponte di Vigo (again)
The market had a bit of everything
The statue of the winged lion was so small I could barely see it.
We sailed past the two bridges again going back to the ship.
Mural in the port terminal depicting Chioggia.
Neptune rules over all things aquatic
We settled in at Aquavit Lounge at the aft on deck 7 to watch sail away.
Tug boats helped at front and back.
Arrivederci Chioggia!
We enjoyed some live music by Chanel in Explorer's Lounge. Although I think Ricky's not as big a fan as I am. She plays girl-centric tunes.
We had Mediterranean night in the World Cafe! I did not leave hungry.
This was called Fruit Deguise. After tasting, I still don't know what it was. Not that good.
I didn't know baklava could (or should) be green. Not a fan.
I really enjoyed Chioggia and I'm glad we decided to explore there today, although it was super hot!
So ends this day of our Viking Journey.
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