The Boats of Venice

Grand Canal & the Rialto Bridge in Venice ©2012 Claudia Ward

The Venetian lagoon is peppered with boats of all sizes and shapes, and we found ourselves endlessly entertained watching the water traffic wherever we were. The Vaporetti are Venice's public transportation system. They are a fleet of motorized bus-boats that will take you nearly anywhere you might want to go in Venice, along the Grand Canal or to an outer island like Burano. Water taxis are wooden speedboat limos, and literally will take you anywhere for a negotiated price. Gondolas are the picturesque wooden boats that so typify Venice to every tourist around the globe. Traditional bragosso and traghetto also traverse the lagoon's waters, as do nearly every manner of sail boat - small gaff rigged shallow-hulled sailboats, and the super-sized high-tech catamarans now being raced in the America's Cup race series. Venice even allows gargantuan cruise ships to glide through the waters of the Grand Canal, although they should probably rethink that as those monsters displace a LOT of water. These are but a few of the hundreds of boats of Venice. Ciao!

 

 Photos & Slide Show ©2012 Claudia Ward
Music: Rigoletto: La Donna e Mobile by Andre Kostelanetz & His Orchestra 

Comments

[Sally]

So beautiful and the colors are incredible!