Stuck in Venice, Italy

Recently, my mom went on a cruise of the Greek Islands with some other women in the family, and was stuck in Venice because of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

I asked her to write some information on what to do when you are stuck in Venice. Here is a little about it.

Does Venice have a beach? Venice is a maze of canals but there is no apparent beach. We were stuck in Venice on our way home from a Greek Island cruise. The ash from Iceland’s active volcano in April 2010, extended our stay in Venice 5 days. The first day there were no available rooms (little did the hotels know that travelers with reservations could not get to their destinations). The only place we could find a room that first night was Hotel Helvetia on Lido Island. Viola! Lido is the location of Venice’s beach! We walked up Gran Viale from our hotel to the public beach on the Gulf of Venice.

April is a little too cool for me to swim, the water and 70 degree air not being warmed by the sun yet. A couple had camped overnight on the beach and the woman was swimming. Someone recently told me that years ago they were on that beach and it was filthy. But it is clean and inviting, now. The wide sand beach is very flat, gradually spreading out into the water giving the appearance of gradual depth. The surf was calm under overcast morning skies. We wanted to stay longer but had to hurry back for our transportation back to Venice.

• Carlton Grand Canal Hotel in Venice -140E a day
• Hotel Helvetia on Lido-85E
• Venice-Lido is 15 minute public waterbus ride from Venice

Add Beach Bum Paradise to your feed to see the next few stories from Venice and the Greek Islands.

Posted on May 29, 2010 - Filed Under Beach and Vacation Travel Tips and Help, Travel

Comments