Europe travel guide

Learning to be a gondolier in Venice

Ed Grenby has reported in the Times of his trip to Venice and taking lessons to be a gondolier. He reckoned on some training at a local boat club, then a quick paddle up a few canals with his Olivia before, as he says: "she’d be tearing the blue-and-white-striped top off my torso before you could say “Cornetto”. 

As  chaps have been gondoliering around Venice since the 11th century. Ed reckoned it couldn't be that difficult. There he was very wrong. But the training was available at a more than reasonable £236. Beware, however, of speeding. Believe it or not, Ed says, speed cameras were installed on several canals earlier this year. Is no-where sacred!?

Ed describes his lesson graphically: "The canottieri (which roughly translates as boat club) was a 20-minute stroll down the Giudecca from the Cipriani...Sure enough, my teachers, Alberto and Giorgio, spoke no English; so, after a lot of hand-shaking, smiling and pointing, we jumped into the gondola and they paddled us out into open water and explained, elegantly and comprehensively, the key techniques of it all. In Italian.

"The basics, fortunately, are simple; it's pretty much jumped-up rowing. The difficult part is that you have to do it standing up. That’s much harder than it sounds - gondolas are a lot wobblier than, say, punts - and especially so when you’re being subjected to a stereophonic torrent of abuse from your teachers.

Ed says it took perhaps 45 minutes of his two-hour lesson before he was confident to look up as he rowed - from then on, though, he says it was wonderful. He concludes: "This city is best seen from an altitude of zero. If there is ever a place you want to experience at water level, it’s Venice; and out there on the prow of my gondola, seeing the city before me and the lagoon about me, sunlight shimmering off the surface and no noise but the seductive lick of wavelet on wood, I felt as if I could be in a Canaletto."

Canottieri Giudecca can be contacted on 00 39-041 528 7409, or at www.canottierigiudecca.com  They offer two-hour gondola lessons on the lagoon for £236, as well as courses and one-off lessons in other watercraft.

This article was written for TravelSavvy Europe by Bob Cartwright. If you know of an interesting European travel related news story, please get in contact.