Thursday, July 2, 2009

Gondolas in Mexico

photos by Joe Gibbons


You never know where you'll find gondolas.
Sure, they aren't everywhere, but there are a lot out there. And just when I think I know where all of them are, I'm hit with something new.

Joe Gibbons from Boston surprised me with these ones recently.
While celebrating an anniversary with his wife in April on Mexico's Caribbean coast, Joe ran into some "unique fountain decorations".

Joe writes:
"
I suspect these 2 boats are in the range of 25 to 30 years in age. A good close look will reveal some serious rot and decay. These boats are used for props at the waterfall in front of the Italian restaurant ,Venezia."

I used to think there were no true Venice-built gondolas in Mexico.
I'm not downplaying the huge armada of chalupas and trajineras in the famous Xochimilco.
Everyone calls them "Mexico's gondolas", and while they aren't exactly built, or operated like the ones in Venice, they are pretty neat.
Everyone I've ever talked to who's been on them raves about the experience.
I have no idea what the history is of these two gondolas, but by all appearances, they sure look like the real thing.

The hotel is the
Iberostar Grand Hotel Paraiso
in
Riviera Maya, Mexico.
Whether the restaurant "Venezia" has truly authentic fare is a matter of opinion,
but I'll bet you could get a misto cavallo pizza there.

1 comment:

Tamas Feher from Hungary said...

Just found there are gondolas in the northernly russian city of Leningrad (Saint Petersburg).

I was totally suprised about that, because I've asked russians previously and all said there can be no gondolas in the "Venice of the North".

That city has several canals, but they are frozen from December to April, so the business is running only until September or October.

(They would only need to add an icebreaker prow and an onboard nuclear reactor to work through the winter.)

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