April 2016
Venice, canals & gondolas …. inseparable. Visited Venice during my bachelor days but did not ride the gondola. This time with beloved wify, it’s a must do. It cost €80 per gondola for a maximum of 6 persons for a day time ride of 30 minutes. Night time ride after 7pm cost €100. These are standard rates in Venice. You can share a gondola with other tourist to share the cost.
Sounds expensive but the gondoliers needs to recover their investment of €30,000 for one fibreglass gondola that would last 3-5 years. To further save on the high cost of living, our gondolier stays in Lido Island and ‘parks’ his gondola in Venice. He would commute to work like us tourist, by taking the water bus from Lido to Venice. At a price of a car for one gondola, we understand why a ride is expensive. Anyway, this would probably be our only gondola ride.
Gondola service nearby Rialto bridge.
Close-up of a beautiful fibreglass gondola.
Standard gondola rates in Venice (2016).
One of the many gondola service points.
A pair of gondolas waiting for customers.
A gondola in the Grand canal.
Another gondola along the Grand canal.
Wify takes a selfie of ourselves. Careful not to drop the phone.
Our gondola about to pass under the many bridges of Venice.
A favorite point to embark onto a gondola …. in front of Hard Rock cafe.
