Hi everybody. As I type this I am enjoying an afternoon’s entertainment watching Sunday boating Italian style, probably no more entertaining than watching Gold Coast boaties getting their boats in and out of the water at a busy boat ramp but the method is very different.
We are camped at the water’s edge looking across at Venice at the entrance to what is obviously the local boat storage area. This morning it was hive of activity as boats were brought from the parking area on their trailers by tractors obviously kept here for that purpose, lifted off the trailers by three cranes and lowered into the water. There are no boat ramps.
This morning it was quite orderly but it’s now 6:00pm and they have all come home at the same time! We have a typical Italian traffic jam but this time it’s boats waiting in line for the traffic to clear. Obviously very few people in Italy have room to store a boat or a vehicle big enough to tow it so their boats live in storage yards adjacent to a launching facility. I wonder how many months a year they can use them.
We have had another great day exploring the back streets and waterways of Venice. We saw an exhibit of the works of the artist Dali, a very spectacularly unusual church and a typical 15th century palatial home, each of which we were actually able to find. Navigating the streets of Venice is quite challenging and great fun as long as you don’t have to be at any particular place at any particular time. We were also hoping to see the naval Museum highly recommended by June but it’s closed Sundays.
Probably the most impressive sight of the day were the two very large cruise ships which made their way slowly down the main channel between Venice and the island immediately to its south. To see the two massive ships, each assisted by tugs majestically make their way through the ferries, water taxis, gondolas, commercial boats of all shapes and sizes and the private pleasure boats was truly impressive. What was even more impressive was the fact that, in all the waterborne chaos that is Venice, we haven’t seen one incident. How they keep out of each other’s way is impressive. Boats don’t have brakes but, on the ferries at least, reverse gear gets a serious workout.
Tonight for the first time since arriving in Venice, we are eating “at home”.
We have now been away for two of our four weeks and are starting to make our way back towards Rome where we are due to give back our wonderful motorhome on Thursday. Tomorrow we’re off to Florence.
The vaporettos get a little crowded!
You are likely to see anything cruising the canals.
Don't tell Trish but, thanks to the Murano glass factory, the birthday shopping is done.
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