Three years ago, my family and I took a trip to Venice, a city that I believe everyone has heard about, and which I still believe should be visited at least once by anyone out there.
Even if we had a well determined plan about what to visit during our stay, now looking back I can say that it's quite easy only to make your way to Venice without a proper plan because all the tiny bridges over the canals and buildings that capture your attention, will take you on a long walk where you won't have time to get bored. However, one of the biggest and most popular landmarks of Venice is, and will always stay, the gondola boats.
I've mentioned it before, but I will say it again that none of my family or I rented one of the famous rides, although we got the question "So why did you visit Venice, then?" pretty often. But we did pay a lot of attention to all the details every single boat comes with, because even though they seem quite alike, on a closer look you will observe that each boat is unique and it surely carries a unique and interesting story behind.
We decided not to take a ride because that would make us sacrifice some of our time dedicated to walking around and we really wanted to explore Venice as much as we could at our own pace, but there is no need to say that our one day walk in town was pretty much everytime accompanied by at least one gondola, whether it was filled with excited tourists or simply waiting for its people.
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However, even if it seems like a job anyone can have based on how many gondoliers are all around Venice, becoming an actual driver of these kinds of boats requires lots of years of training, but also self-education about how these boats appeared, so you could also share stories about everything with the people you will get into your boat.
Along with the history test that any gondolier has to pass first, there are also lots of details that not many are aware of, such as having a strict posture while driving the boat, as well as knowing very well all the canals in Venice and routes on the water.
Actually, gondolas are rumoured to have been created way before the 11th century, when they were serving as boats for trading and transportation, speaking of a city entirely built on the canals, where driving a car is not really possible. Of course, these days you can see proper boats used for cargo, transporting people or even sanitary services that have an engine and are a lot faster, but back then all these activities (and more) were covered by gondolas before making their transition to take tourists on a cinematic ride.
Another interesting thing is that the gondoliers are not forced to stand, but during my trip to Venice, I couldn't really see one standing down, and that's because standing up gives them a better rowing technique, more balance, visibility, and it also shows a way of respecting their tradition.
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As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, if you are not approaching a gondola (or more), you might get the fake impression (as we did) that all gondolas look pretty much the same. However, each boat has subtle differences in design, decoration, and craftsmanship. Some have bright cushions, others have simple, classic seating. The ferros were all unique, with shapes and curves representing different districts of Venice.
Anyway, a question that popped into my head almost right away when seeing a gondola in real life, because it's a lot bigger and longer than it seems in pictures, is how the drivers manage to take curves or even to turn the boat around if needed?
The answer is given by all the small details carved in the space that holds the gondolier’s single oar. Unlike simple oarlocks on other boats, those details allow the gondolier to use the oar in a variety of ways where every single move leads to a different action, including making the rotation possible.
So, although I like saying about myself that I don't live with regrets, I think that one day I should return to Venice and observe all these details while being on a gondola ride, even if I am convinced that if I would have had this ride during my trip, I wouldn't get so curious to read about gondolas and get this full bag of information. In the end, I consider it a win, but it also helps me understand better what the job of a gondolier actually looks like from the fake impression tourists get that it's all nice and easy. What do you think about it, though?
Other places I've seen during my trip in Venice: - Rialto Bridge - Narrow Streets And Hidden Cannals Of Venezia - Shop Windows of Venice - Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo - Constitution Bridge - Chiesa di San Silvestro - Chiesa di San Moisè - Berengo Collection Venice - Walking Through Venice, Surrounded by Faith - Would You Like To Be A Gondolier?
more coming soon...
Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 750+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, owning a YouTube channel for each of the two.
~ @GabrielaTravels ~