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Not All Boats in Venice Are
Gondolas |
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by Chris Partridge -
Fishbourne,
West Sussex - England |
Chuck - once again, my travels have taken me to one
of the world's great boat places, in this case Venice.
I hadn't realised that not all boats in Venice are
gondolas. The Venetians have developed a type of boat
for every conceivable purpose, from little personal
craft to massive transport barges.
Sanpierota
on left, phutboat on right
(click
images to enlarge) |
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My first picture shows the contrast between old
and new. On the left is a wooden sanpierota, named
for the island in the lagoon where it was first developed.
Sanpierottas are small work boats, the 'white van'
of Venice. On the left is a buzzy little plastic motor
boat that young people sit in for hours, chatting,
while they rev the engine.
Everyone's favourite boat is the sandolo, very small,
light and fast. They are rowed standing up, facing
forwards, with crossed oars. Every Venetian learns
how to do this while we were learning to ride bikes.
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Elegant
sanpierotta for family transportation
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The complex wooden oarlocks are called forcole,
and come in everyday and luxury versions. The everyday
ones built for strength and utility, and are deliberately
made plain so that no one will steal them!
Luxury forcole are works of art, carved in ornate
shapes from walnut or wood from a fruit tree, and
often decorated with gold leaf.
| Rowing sandolo
on Grand Canal |
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I snapped the young man sculling his sandolo down
the Grand Canal, perfectly at ease despite the motorway
traffic of water buses, water taxis, phut-phut boats
and, of course, gondolas.
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Topa delivering
the goods
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The UPS truck of Venice is the topa, a traditional
barge that used to be sculled but is now inevitably
engine driven. Here is a topa delivering stock to
a corner shop in the San Polo district.
| The builders
arrive |
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When Venetians get the builders in, they arrive
on a huge steel barge that forms a floating building
site, and just like builders everywhere, block the
road for weeks on end.
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Compulsory
gondola pic
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I could not go to Venice without taking the obligatory
picture of gondolas.
| From the water
taxi |
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One of the wonderful experiences of Venice is taking
the taxi to the airport. The water taxi, that is.
Is there anywhere else in the world where you can
do this? The sunset picture was taken as the water
cabbie opened his engines out and sped over the lagoon
at incredible speed. Wonderful.
Other articles by Chris Partridge:
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