{"id":2188,"date":"2017-08-13T18:55:30","date_gmt":"2017-08-14T01:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2188"},"modified":"2017-08-13T18:55:30","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T01:55:30","slug":"the-life-of-the-venetian-gondoliere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/golf\/courses-and-travel\/2188\/the-life-of-the-venetian-gondoliere","title":{"rendered":"The Life of the Venetian Gondoliere"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gondoliere serenade passengers through the canals of Venice and under the Bridge of Sighs. (Photo by Michael Patrick Shiels)<\/p><\/div>\n

The precise line in Samuel Taylor Coleridge\u2019s poem \u201cThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner\u201d is: \u201cWater, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.\u201d The line mystifies people in the \u201cWater Wonderland\u201d of the Great Lakes area, excluding, I suppose, some Flint\u00a0residents, but in ancient\u00a0Venice,\u00a0Italy, which is actually a collection of islands on the\u00a0Adriatic, it\u2019s easier to understand.<\/p>\n

Venetians, with a touch of wry humor, advise tourists, \u201cIf you should fall into one of the canals don\u2019t worry about drowning\u2026but be certain to keep your mouth closed.\u201d (The inference is the water is not dangerously deep but, rather, desperately dirty.)<\/p>\n

On an evening in Venice, after a very short stroll from Hotel Londra Palace – a five-star favorite on San Marco\u2019s Basin – I reached Danieli Gondola Station, where Cooperative Daniele Manin, a service recommended by the Italian tour company ICBellagio.com, put me into \u2013 or rather onto \u2013 one of their authentic, handcrafted Venetian gondolas.<\/p>\n

I was self-conscious for two reasons: the first is the clumsy climb-down from the dock to board a gondola is a wobbly affair; and secondly, circumstances dictated that I had to experience the iconic, romantic cruise through an intimate maze of narrow waterways\u2026alone. This fact did not stop the \u201cgondoliere,\u201d standing up on the back of the boat in his traditional black and white striped shirt, from serenading me with \u201cOh Solo Mio\u2026\u201d while using a long pole to push the boat through the minor canals, stylish Renaissance architecture and twinkling lights of the St. Mark\u2019s district. I swear I saw snickering from the people looking down at \u201csolo me\u201d \u2013 from the many ornate bridges I floated under as the gondoliere sang another amorous standard \u201c\u2026venite all\u2019agile barchetta mia! Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to reduce my red face I struck up some conversation with the gondoliere, who told me the rate of approximately 80 Euro for a 40-minute loop was standard and set by the city; and that it took him two years of training to gain certification on the elaborately decorated gondola, which, even without a motor, was worth about 80,000 Euro. If everyone sits still, the gondola can hold up to six guests \u2013 and yes people occasionally fall overboard into the canal. My gondoliere once successfully, but not easily, guided the giant basketball player Shaquille O\u2019Neal on board and off.<\/p>\n

Though it was unconventional if not melancholy, I was grateful for the old world experience. My solo ride, like all, concluded with a pass on the Rio di Palazzo under the famed, circa 1600 \u201cBridge\u00a0of\u00a0Sighs,\u201d the likeliest spot for thousands of engagements.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince it\u2019s normally such a romantic experience and couples on board are likely in love, have any ever tried to make love during a gondola ride?\u201d I inquired.<\/p>\n

\u201cSi,\u201d the gondoliere answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did you do when that happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook straight ahead and keep singing,\u201d he answered with a smile and a shrug.<\/p>\n

Amore!<\/p>\n

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at\u00a0<\/em>InviteYourself@aol.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or via TravelTattler.com\u00a0His talk show can be heard weekday mornings in\u00a0Lansing\u00a0on 92.1 FM.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The precise line in Samuel Taylor Coleridge\u2019s poem \u201cThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner\u201d is: \u201cWater, water everywhere nor any… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[398252,1749,15,107689,998839],"class_list":["post-2188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courses-and-travel","tag-vacations","tag-italy","tag-europe","tag-venice","tag-gondola"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2017\/08\/gondoliere.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2188"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2191,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2188\/revisions\/2191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}