What a wonderful evening!
We booked a 60 minute daytime ride, beginning at 5:30, but Europe had just turned their clocks back, so the sun was setting as we arrived, and we basically ended up with a nighttime ride, which was just lovely.
We arrived a few minutes early, as requested, and proceeded directly to the gondolier stand, as the ticket booth was closed. (We also had to look for it a bit, because Google Maps had it on the other side of the bridge’s stairs.). I showed my ticket from my phone, and we were directed THROUGH another (already occupied) gondola and into ours; that was an adventure in itself, as this is a relatively large canal with waves, and these boats rock! But the crew all offered strong hands/arms to ensure we crossed through and safely found our seats. My husband and I sat in the bench facing forward right in front of the gondolier, and the other two in our group sat in chairs facing inward on each side of the gondola. (The chairs faced inward, but they were able to sit facing in or toward the front.). Our ride began in the relatively large canal on which we boarded, and we spent a little time in the Grand Canal, but the majority was in smaller, quiet canals in quaint and beautiful residential areas, softly lit by “street” lights and/or the moon.
We were afraid that an hour might get monotonous, but that was as far from the truth as possible. Every curve or turn resulted in another beautiful site, and the hour flew by. I would have happily stayed for another hour.
Tommy, our gondolier, was friendly, funny, informative, and highly skilled. (Those larger canals have a lot of boats of all different types, and they do get close to each other - nerves of steel!). He seems to know everyone in the city, because several people called out to him as we floated by, and it was fun to hear their interactions - though it probably would have been even more fun had I known what they were saying. LOL
We hadn’t had the opportunity for a gondola ride in our previous visit to Venice, and we regretted that greatly, so it was a top priority this time, and it did not disappoint. I 100% recommend it!
We had a great experience. Even though it started to rain, we still enjoyed the ride. Flavio was very nice, he lend us an umbrella, and he answered all our questions.
There are times when the weather is not what you expect, but it the way one reacts to any unforeseen situation that makes the difference of any experience.
Thank you Flavio we enjoyed it!
We did the 1.5 hour Gondola trip and it was perfect for our family of four (two teenage boys). Fabio balanced very well what we needed to know (learned so much) versus letting us take in our surroundings at the same time. His vast experience showed as he expertly navigated the smaller quieter canals and also on the larger grand canal. Would recommend the 1.5 hour trip as 30 minutes just flew by so quickly. We had arrived a few minutes early and Fabio started our tour straight away.