Sunday, April 4, 2010

All Water Taxis are not Alike

Most of us "gondola people" think of water taxis as all the same. One might look an awful lot like the others when you're attention is directed mostly at the gondolas, but there are actually, many variations of the water taxi afloat in modern day Venice.
This scene from the Grand Canal, shows two of the variations you're likely to see on any given day in La Serenissima.
As an added bonus, there's a gondola in the shot, which gives us a good idea of the size comparison.

2 comments:

emilia said...

Did you use a water taxi? :)

Gondola Greg said...

I must say, that for the longest time I didn't like water taxis very much. The drivers didn't need to do as much work as a gondolier and they compete with gondolas in some ways. In fact, if you look back in the history of Venice, the arrival of "motorized boats" was harshly criticized and protested by gondoliers.
But then I talked with Joe Gibbons of Boston, who said: "you've gotta enter Venice in a water taxi". He said it was like no other arrival, and that I should at least try it once.
The next time I arrived with my family, we flew into Marco Polo Airport, and we took one of Venice's ubiquitous water taxis into the city. It was fantastic. Joe was right - seeing the city pass by us on all sides and overhead, while sitting on the fantail with my family will always be a fond memory.
The trip wasn't cheap, and I couldn't see doing it often, but it was well worth it coming from the airport. I especially liked having the baggage handled and not having to fuss with it on the vaporetto!