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.
 |  |
|---|
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.
 |  |
|---|
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.
[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 45.44238 lat 12.32853 long Venice is the visual definition of history d3scr))
Venice is one of my dream cities. Those colorful buildings and people attract me so much. Those gondoliers are having a great time, driving around the city and singing. I think it is one of the best jobs to do in Venice. 😁
It is a nice one but definitely not so easy for everyone. Thanks for stopping by!
Venice is one of the famous place I haven't visited yet and still isn't high on my list because of so many tourists. I'm worried I won't enjoy my visit because of it being so over crowded. I guess I've seen quite a bit of it from visits by other people on Hive that I don't have the urge to visit yet
I feel you on that, as we had a bit of emotion, it would be too crowded even in November when we had our visit, and it kind of was. But thinking that the city is slowly sinking every year, I think it's worth the sacrifice to endure lots of tourist,s but manage to see the place before it's forever gone.
And how easy it seems to be a gondolier when you watch from the outside. 😊 Beautiful Venice and definitely a place worth returning to.
Indeed! Thank you for stopping by 😊
Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2696.
Your post has been manually curated by the @worldmappin team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community:
Thank you so much!!!
You are very welcome @gabrielatravels! it was well deserved. ☀️
We are already looking forward to reading more about your adventures!
It's incredible how much skill and history is packed into the simple act of rowing a gondola! 💖 You're totally right that the job is far from easy 🙌
It seems easy from the outside but once you get the inside information, it doesn't seem easy anymore ❤️
Hi Gabriela, what interesting details you share. Gondoliers definitely need to be experts not only in operating gondolas, but also in tourism and how to treat visitors to the city. It's good to know everything behind something so iconic.
Hi there! I'm glad to hear my post caught your attention, it's always amazing to find a little bit more of what pretty much everyone gets to see on the surface. Being a gondolier is surely a job that doesn't seem so easy anymore once you find out all the details about it.
It's true, I think we've all heard of Venice. This city has always caught my attention because it's built on a lagoon. I'd like to go there someday, and if I can walk and ride in a gondola, even better. If I had to choose between the two, I'd ride in a gondola 🤣😅. @gabrielatravels 🥰😉
Both experiences are quite amazing, not going to lie but while you can walk and explore any other city, you can only enjoy a gondola ride in Venice haha
If people think that going to Venice is just about going up in a gondola, they don't know anything hahaha it's a nice one, but there's for sure many things, we got the wrong impression that a day or weekend is enough and then you regret hahaha
Wow you really got into details here, and you are right, those gondoliers are amazing in their job, I do think it's a worthy experience, cause they also are a bit of guides themselves.
I know!! Right?!
There are so many countries on this planet that are more or less reduced to a single activity or tradition, which is sad. The world has so much more to offer!
must be awesome be there exploring the city over a boat :D nice pics and i hope that you enjoyed a lot be there
As I said, we didn't explore the town with the boat but by feet, but it surely is amazing having one of those gondola rides.
You can check out this post and your own profile on the map. Be part of the Worldmappin Community and join our Discord Channel to get in touch with other travelers, ask questions or just be updated on our latest features.
Seeing the pictures, the place looks inviting.
For sure.
Congratulations @gabrielatravels! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next target is to reach 19000 comments.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out our last posts: