Gondolas in Venice

When wandering around Venice, especially along the waterways, it is not difficult to miss the charming gondolas, which have made Venice famous. These long canoes seem to be have been standardized in color and are all black. You have have a choice of color of chair, but usually red it is the more traditional one. I have seen photos of these gondolas when I was a kid and it is quite satisfying to see them in person. They look exactly like the photos so there was no surprise there. There was probably a time when the Venetians really traveled around Venice in gondolas but these days it seems to be limited to a tourist activity. Individual households probably have their own boats anyway, and they have motors, so no more paddling.

Going back to the gondolas, it hasn’t really changed much since it was first used. The gondolier, the guy who operates the gondola has a single oar to paddle you through the tourist route. The even have the striped T-shirt which they have been stereotyped with. Come to think of it, I should have bought one of those striped T-shirts. Anyway, the job of a gondolier is not easy as anyone who has rowed a boat before can attest. Apparently, it takes years of training to be able to control a gondola well. They even have gondola races these days, in an effort to heighten awareness of the gondola. It seems that is losing in its fight against boats with motors. The argument it seems is that motors tend to cause more turbulence and thus erode the foundations of the buildings even faster. In the end, we did not try the gondolas. Only one of us was interested in taking the gondola and it wasn’t me. True, this may be on of those must do activities in Venice but it is not for me. Oh yeah, sorry to break it to you, but the gondoliers may or may not sing.

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