Venice -day 4

Today is our last day in Venice, as the boat sets sail tonight for Croatia. After a hurried breakfast on the boat we got a shuttle boat back into central Venice as we had a skip-the-queue guided tour of the Doges Palace. Our guide was Venetian and she told us so many interesting facts about Venice before we even entered the palace.

Venice has a permanent population of 53 000 inhabitants, down from 200 000 in the 1500's. Last year the visitors to Venice were around 30 million people, which makes it extremely over crowded by tourists. The Doge (Duke) was an elected position and the palace was his residence, founded in 1340 - but it was also the seat of justice with his six counsellors and was the birth place of the modern justice system we have today.

Despite having a skip-the-queue ticket we still queued for about 35 minutes to get in past the security checks. The guide was excellent and we learnt so much about Venice from her. It was another unbearably hot day but at least it was cool inside. This is the view of the main courtyard of the palace. I have extras of the Bridge of Sighs, so named by Lord Byron, and it is the passage used to lead the prisoners to the prison. I have added another extra of the prisoner's view as he would have peered out from behind that lattice stonework over the windows. The prison looked very grim!

We went back to the boat where we had lunch and just relaxed. We set sail at 9pm tonight for Opatija, Croatia, where we will arrive at 8am tomorrow. I had never heard of it before but apparently it was a much favoured beach resort of the Viennese, especially the Hapsburgs.

Yesterday we also had a drink at the famous Harry's Bar - it was probably the worst bar I have ever been to - horribly overpriced (19 euros for a Bellini whereas it is 5 or 6 euros everywhere else) - we were served our drinks in nasty little tumblers, and we seated in a tiny airless room with no view or atmosphere. I believe today it is more of a restaurant than a bar, but I would never recommend it to anyone.