The most romantic thing to do in Venice, Italy

by docdivatraveller - 4/14/2018

So there I was in my dream city of Venice which is considered to be one of the most romantic places on earth. We had been roaming in the Veneto district for the past 20 hours but this was the first time we set foot in actual Venice, the land of canals. I was happy and sad too. Elated as it had been my fantasy for the last 15 years and sad since we had so little time. Also it had been raining non stop and it was really cold. All the other tourists were in their best winter clothing while we had just a formal jacket on. How I wished the rain stopped.

The rain finally stopped. The sun came out beautifully but not before 12 noon. And when it did, we all sat beside the grand canal basking in the sun. We climbed up and down at least a hundred bridges over the endless canals and canaliculi. Venice is very crowded. I mean that in the early hours (8 to 9 am) it was bustling with tourists. Venice is to be walked. I mean there are no motors. The only motors were in the water. I mean the canals were overfilled with water taxis, vaporetti, speedboats and all sort of motors that sent out black smoke. The only eco friendly option was the gondola.

Coming to the gondola, its ride is one of the most extravagant things to be done in Venice. I lot of people skip it altogether or go for sharing to save money. My partner wanted to share but I had been adamant right from India. I had specifically kept 100 euro aside for the gondola ride. Along with the visit to Venice, the gondola ride had been my dream too.

We approached the gondola station for the ride when we saw that they were not operating because of bad weather conditions. The wind was bad and there was a chance that the gondola could get capsized. We waited for the sun to come out.

Crestfallen we decided to have pizza. We had one with spinach and goat cheese and the other one with verdura (vegetables). We had them beside the Grand Canal while basking under the sun. Yes, the sun finally came out and it was noon! It was one memorable experience!

Tummy full, we again made a line to the gondola station. This time it was really crowded. I mean in whichever station we went, there was a long queue. We decided to stand in the queue or our turn would never come! Finally one more dream of mine was going to come true!

For most of us Indians, we associate the gondola ride in the Grand Canal of Venice with the very famous Bollywood song:' Do Lafzon ki ye dil ki Kahani' from the movie Great Gambler. That was a very high budget movie of the 80s and I know why and how. The great Amitabh Bachan and hottie Zeenat Aman woo each other on a gondola. After that, there has been many movies (Hollywood and Bollywood ) that have been shot in Venice and the gondola. I however was not influenced by the silver screen.

I have professed my fascination for Venice here. That was 20 years back. Yes I was a tiny kiddo! That little boy showed his home in Venice; the carnival, the canals and the gondola ride. It was since then my fascination for the ride in this royal boat began. It was years after when I got married to my Bollywood addict husband; I came to know about this movie. Lately, Deepika and Ranbeer , Akshay and Kareena and many other regional actors have shot here.

It was a no brainer that I wanted a Gondola ride. However many travellers skip it or share the ride to save bucks. It is one of the costliest activities in Venice. 80 euro for a 30 minute ride and 100 euro for rides after 7pm! I had asked my partner to keep aside 100 euro for the ride.

We got to sit in the Gondola after about half an hour of standing in the queue. As soon as I sat, the feeling was surreal. Our sailor did not speak much but he whistled a number of times.

We started rowing in a small canal. There were low bridges where we had to kneel down. We saw old Venetian houses. We started clicking pictures quickly. However whenever we would focus on a particular backdrop, by the time the shutter clicked, we would move further. Anyways 30 minutes is such a short duration. We did not even know when we reached the last leg of our ride.

The last ten minutes our gondola sailed from the small canal into the Grand Canal. We saw Marco Polo's house and then saw the Rialto Bridge and the St Mark's Square from a distance. It was the most beautiful view of Venice..the quintessential postcard picture. Husband managed to take a quick click with my phone when our gondola took a turn. We reached the deboarding station. I still could not believe that it was over!

I wish we could have stayed there longer...even if not for an entire day but at least for an hour! But of course we could not afford to spend 200 euros for a boat ride!

One thing was absolutely true for Italians as had been shown in the movie Eat, Pray, Love! Dolce far niente meaning the sweetness of doing nothing! There was a long queue after us for the ride. But our sailor chose not to give them a ride and went to have lunch; since it was his lunch time! How strange! They really don't run after money like we workaholics!

So even if the 'Boat ride' was hell lot of expensive, it's definitely the most romantic thing to do in this city of canals...or at least according to me!