European Adventure 2025 | Venice | GCP by Nicole
The time had finally come to disembark the ship, but us never wanting vacations to end headed up to Venice!
Our cruise ended in Ravenna so we took a two hour bus ride up near Venice, then it was time to figure out the water taxis to get to our hotel.
Before we even left the states I did try multiple times to set up a private water taxi service because of all of our luggage, but unfortunately never heard back from them which was disappointing. It was a decent walk from the bus drop off to the particular water taxi that we needed to hop on. The taxi itself was fine, but it was a struggle getting on and off with 7 pieces of luggage and locals not being especially helpful. And then had to get over two bridges with the luggage. But, we managed it and got our workout in. We definitely deserved ALL the gelato that day!
Our room at the Hilton Molino Stucky was gorgeous and I would definitely recommend staying there. We again went with a suite – this one was a “King Molino Executive Suite” and we’re very happy with our choice. There was a separate bedroom for my husband and I and the kids had a sofa bed to share this time, but we each had our own separate bathrooms again and a huge living room area. Plenty of room to spread out. And because we went with the “executive” suite over a “family” suite (which was somehow cheaper) we had access to their executive lounge that was open from afternoon until evening serving so many different snacks and beverages (both non alcoholic and beer/wine/champagne). It was so worth it!
Our room wasn’t quite ready when we arrived so we did a quick change and grabbed some snacks in the lounge before we headed out exploring. After a long morning of travel it was nice to sit in the a/c for a minute.
Then it was time to head out to San Marco. Now the hotel did offer their own personal boat to and from the “main area”, but you did have to pay for it so we opted to use the water taxi service we took over as we already paid the daily rate for that one and it wasn’t bad walking to it without the luggage.
Once near San Marco we crammed in everything we could. We didn’t do any tours, we just walked around as much as our legs could handle – in-between gelato stops of course! The main sites being St. Mark’s Square, Basilica of Saint Mark and the Rialto Bridge. We also came across a place that had granita again (remember how we were obsessed with it in Sicily????), but this was definitely not the same. No different than the lame slushies we get here, lol.
After we ventured around as much as we could we headed back to the hotel to cool off and figure out our evening plans. We had eaten lunch at a nicer restaurant (I can’t remember the name though) we weren’t super hungry for dinner. So we ended up going to a local grocery store around the corner and put together our own charcuterie tray in our hotel room and it was perfect.
Breakfast was included the next morning at the hotel and I’m so glad we didn’t miss it. It was unlike any hotel breakfast I’ve ever seen. It was a huge room filled with everything you could imagine – cakes, donuts, eggs, waffles, pancakes, meats and cheeses, fruit and a whole candy bar filled with Swedish candies! I’m so mad I didn’t take any pictures in there. Also, unlimited mimosas!! So again, yes I definitely recommend staying at this hotel!
Then it was time to board the plane to Ireland!
Our hotel
