Flooded streets are not a problem for some . .

Venice airport as we approached our gate

As we exited the customs area in Venice I expected to see the promised ‘meet & greet’ person. I’d booked a water taxi to our hotel, via our hotel.
The available area of the arrival hall was checked to make sure that we were not in the wrong place – other passengers were met and disappeared through the exit doors.

I tried to ring the hotel, but couldn’t obtain a signal for my mobile (perhaps I was in a Venetian blind spot), so I asked for help at a boat taxi counter. They were kind enough to ring the hotel and a conversation in Italian ensued.

In the end we booked a water taxi with the people that had helped us, they were cheaper than the hotel!

The walk from the airport terminal to the pier area, where the taxi launches were moored, was about 500 metres – but with our luggage, even wheeled luggage, the distance seemed much longer.
On reaching wharf 15 / 16 a very helpful water taxi skipper helped us load our bags in to his motorboat taxi, and then we were off on the twenty minute trip to the hotel. As we left the airport area the taxi increased speed leaving the airport in our wake.

The poles shown on the above two pictures denotes the ‘roadway’ (should that be waterway?) for the water taxis, plus our first glimpse of Venice.

The sun appeared to be setting as we approached  Venice, but within a few minutes as we closed on the city, sunset had second thoughts.

We headed for the bridge that carried the train from / to the mainland.

Beneath the railway line.

VENICE !

It must be Venice . . . . . .

Our hotel staff may not have met us at the airport, but they managed to put the flags out to welcome us . . . two nights in Venice before we joined our cruise.