Having first been given charge of a tiller at the age of three in the boats of our friends, my now 10-year-old driver (aka, my son) has over the years become skilled enough at navigating the narrow rii of Venice that I'm now sometimes able to take pictures of those stretches of them that are mostly impossible to see on foot (as in all five cases here).
Passing by grand facades and water gates (as in the second-to-last image below) fronting narrow and otherwise humble canals, you're reminded of how completely oriented toward the water was Venetian life, and not just on the Grand Canal.
Beautiful shots, and compliments to the "driver" keeping a steady path.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anonymous.
DeleteBeautiful scenes. These views look like the ones we saw the only time I've ever taken a gondola ride. I specially chose to leave from I Frari and was not disappointed, it was magical.
ReplyDeleteI think you made a good choice about where to start from, which makes all the difference in one's experience. As you knew, to start off from a gondola stand around Piazza San Marco or the Rialto is often to find oneself on something of a conveyor belt of gondolas, one of a long crowded line.
DeleteHow super! I really don't like gondolas - too much fuss and flummery for me, but how wonderful to be able to move along the smaller waterways like a real Venice resident - without feeling like an exhibit oneself? I don't suppose you happen to know of any company that actually offers that sort of thing?
ReplyDeleteYour "driver" does indeed seem to be very skillful! You must be proud of him.
Depending upon where one starts from (as in the comment above), Ella, the gondola experience can be better than you describe. But I don't know of any company that offers rii tours and, honestly, I hope none ever come into existence. It's the very last thing Venice needs in its small canals. But if you are still interested in something like that, send me a message via the "Contact" box in the right hand margin & then I'll let you know if I can think of some other option.
DeleteNo, that's okay - I'd not like to be selfish and mess the waterways up more than they are ... it's just the very thought of being able to bob here and there at will. The hordes of kayakers we saw in former years were a real plague, and I'd hate to be a plague-carrier. I'll carry on walking all over, and peering over each and every parapet
ReplyDelete