Venice by Night

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We were in the first group to depart the Nieuw Amsterdam for the nighttime shore excursion. What better way to start a Romantic Mediterranean cruise than with an evening gondola ride in the canals of Venice with your new wife. For those of you who have been paying attention, Sharon and I were married on Saturday. After leaving the ship we boarded a water taxi that took us to a landing near the start of the Grand Canal. Even during the nighttime, vendors had their wares for sale on the open areas near the dock and on the bridges adjoining the many islands of Venice… there are 49 islands altogether and over 800 bridges. Most of these are the foot bridges you see in pictures of Venice with gondolas passing deftly beneath. But there were 5 such bridges between where our water taxi docked and where we had to walk to catch the gondola. The tour text suggested that this was a two-person (out of four on their difficulty scale). While people with canes, crutches (less common) and even wheel chairs (much less common) make the journey over these bridges, these are not undertakings to be taken lightly. On a humid evening in October with barely a wind stirring it is easy to get winded and work up a sweat even at the somewhat leisurely pace set by the guide. The tour guide suggested that there would be six guests per gondola, but in fact, these gondolas (and all of the gondolas that I ever saw) only accommodated four guests. Besides the single gondolier at the rear of the craft, there is room for a musician to be seated and a serenader to stand. As we left the loading dock we were the first guest to board (which I consider best if you want to sit next to the one you love) because you get the side by side seats aft of the center of the gondola and facing forward. The second two to board sit on either side facing inward. So, not only by being the first to board do you get the best view as the gondola moves through the canals, it is best for taking pictures on either side, and also best for kissing and other things. Even at night, Sharon was able to take some great pictures… Venice really is a city of lights, when mixed with the movement of the water, the ancient buildings coming down to the water and connected to other buildings on other islands by the many bridges, well it instantly transports a couple to another place and time and that really is the point of a Romantic Mediterranean Cruise. After our gondola departed it quickly met up with three others and we proceeded down the canals side by side (ours was the one on the right, and next to us was the gondola also carrying the musician and singer). We travelled down many canals, some quite narrow, traveling under several bridges, and somewhat in a circle until back on the canal we had started on. We then headed back to the dock to disembark. The entire ride lasted about one hour, and the singing really completed the evening for a romantic start to our honeymoon. Then it was back over those five foot bridges to catch the water taxi back to the cruise ship.

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Photos

Nieuw Amsterdam
Ship at night on our way to gondola ride

Water Taxi
John and Sharon on Water Taxi on way to gondola ride