River Countess Cruise Photos

From: Uniworld River Countess cruise review

Day 7: Venice (3)

River Countess spent the rest of Saturday afternoon and evening at the Riva dei Sette Martiri, making it easy for passengers to go ashore and explore the area around the Piazza San Marco. (Some passengers took advantage of an optional "Venetian Painters in the Accademia" outing with art historian Susan Steer.)

At 10 p.m., River Countess cruised from the Riva dei Sette Martiri to the Santa Marta pier by way of St. Mark's Basin and the Giudecca Canal.

During the short cruise, we got a nice view of the floodlit Hilton Molino Stucky hotel in the renovated Stucky flour mill on the island of Giudecca.

The port headquarters behind the Santa Marta pier was deserted when we arrived shortly before 10:30 p.m.

The crew deployed the gangway in preparation for the next morning's disembarkation.

We'd nearly reached the end of the season's final cruise, and Second Captain Mario Polidoro (who had navigated River Countess through the Giudecca Canal) shut down the wheelhouse for the night.