My fascination with gondolas and gondoliers

Gondolas and gondoliers in Venice are very appealing to me. Gondoliers go by my flat many times a day shouting “oy-eeee” before the blind curve right in front of my building. My friend Flo wrote the following when I mentioned this last week. “‘Oy eeee’ is a Latin expression meaning ‘Hear Yea!’ and is still spoken in traditional courtrooms to announce the presiding judge’s impending entrance into the room.”

When I am sitting in the seats on a vaporetto (water bus) I can see them out the window across the aisle rowing away, but I can only see them from the waist up. Without seeing the rest of their bodies, and their gondolas, it is a surreal picture, like they are paddling air and floating by. I am reminded of Burning Man, for some reason, seeing strange sights and vehicles going by in the middle of the playa.

I like seeing the gondoliers all over town, waiting for people to ride. I was with a friend yesterday walking in the ghetto and he mentioned that the boat we passed was different from most gondolas. The gondolier engaged us in conversation about it. I was happy to get to ask some pent up questions. Does he own his own boat? Yes. It was his father’s, and the boat and the skill to navigate it, as well as the job, are passed from father to son.  He is assigned his starting point. This is where he stands to find customers. He only had given one ride by the time we saw him in early afternoon. If you want to be serenaded by an opera singer, it costs more. Every three months he has to pay 70,000 euros in tax. His English was perfect. He said that the usual ride is 80 euros for 1/2 hour, but he would give us a ride for 45 minutes. We declined, but thanked him for answering our questions.

While I was on my terrace one day I heard something that sounded like “oy-eeee” but it was a bit off. I went to the edge and saw a jaunty guy standing up in a motor boat steering it with a long handle attached to the rudder. He had a long scarf tied around his neck which was flowing in the wind. He was singing and when he went around the curve, he did a little dance. I didn’t have time to grab my camera, but that image is still in my mind!

Here are some photos I’ve taken in the past two weeks.

First of all, the boats themselves and their decorations fascinate me.

The insides are each different and remind me of little living rooms with fancy chairs.

This one looks like it is floating on air.

I am impressed with the way they handle the boats in narrow canals. Often they push off the side of buildings.

I saw trouble brewing one morning. I published a picture of the building site and supply boat near my flat last week. But one day on my terrace I saw a second building supply boat across from the first one, blocking the canal. My reaction was, “Uh oh.”

When I went out on the street a little while later, I saw a gondola approaching.

He saw the situation, but didn’t look like he was going to back down and change his route.

He kept coming and some shouting took place between them. The next thing I knew, the gondolier prevailed and one of the supply boats moved to let him go by.

I took a picture of one taking a break, reading a book while I was eating nearby. He is wearing the typical straw hat.

Here are some unlikely tourists wearing the same hat.

Here are two more gondoliers resting. I like the way one is balancing his hat on his knee.

I thought they all wore black and white stripes, but they also wear red and white. They have little sailor tops they wear sometimes too. Here is a dapper guy with a red handkerchief to add to the effect.

I don’t know what I thought the gondoliers did after their shifts. Maybe take the vaporetto home? Maybe walk? The question was answered for me one night on my way home when I saw three gondoliers wearing blue windbreaker jackets, getting into one of the motorboats tied up along the edge of the canal on my street, “carpooling” home at the end of their day.