Regatta Weekend in Venice

I don't like crowds. My wife doesn't like crowds.

When we planned our 23-day trip of Italy we purposely took a road less traveled. No Rome; no Florence or Milan; no Amalfi Coast or Tuscan hilltowns. We took to Italy's oft neglected Adriatic Coast, though along the way was the immensely popular Venice.



The infamous Venice -- an island city of merely 60,000 local residents and yet 1.7 million annual visitors. For good or for bad we arrived at the absolute peak of peak tourist season, when the Venice Film Festival coincided with the Historic Regatta on the first weekend of September.



It was also the last week before the start of the Italian school year and the vaporetti were impossibly packed with domestic and international tourists alike. While we didn't entirely enjoy the suffocating atmosphere, this was arguably the epitome of modern day Venice, an Italian icon overtaken by 21st Century mass tourism.



But there were positives as well, such as the rare and dazzling sight of athletes practicing ahead of Sunday's big race. I never knew gondole could glide so effortlessly along the Venetian canals with such power and finesse.



At 16:00 on Sunday the festivities began with a parade of 16th Century vessels and gondoliers in period costumes. By this time all the piers along the Grand Canal were starting to fill up, and all streets leading towards the prime viewing location of Ponte dell'Accademia became virtually impassable. My search for a free viewing spot led to ...



... the little wooden pier at the end of Calle del Traghetto, right at the mouth of the Grand Canal facing the dome of the Salute. This was near the mid point of races where top athletes began distancing themselves from the rest of the group, and it would become my front row seat for the next two hours.



Dating from at least the 1200's this is one of the oldest boat races in the world. Blazing down the Grand Canal at first were these twin-oared Pupparini skipped by the younger racers. These were deceptively fast for a relatively flat boat.



Next came the ladies in their twin-oared Mascarete. It was a gorgeous day and the afternoon sun was blinding the eyes of each athlete as they raced towards the final left turn in front of the Accademia.



While thousands of spectators on both shores cheered the athletes on, Gondoliers and the tourists they carried all had to wait on the sidelines for the race to pass through. The tourists get a front row view, and the gondoliers get to slack off for a little while.



One memorable moment was how the crowds on both shores gave a standing ovation to spur on the team in the last position. 2000m is a grueling distance on these medieval Venetian boats.



But the most torturous had to be this slow and backbreaking race of archaic rowboats, which was at once admirable and yet painful to watch.



Then came the heavyweights of the afternoon, the six-oared Caorline boats muscling past the audience at impressive speeds. By this time I already endured two hours of sun with no sunglasses nor sunscreen. I decided to head back without waiting for the Gondolini race.



Another few years and we may see these young apprentices in their full glory. It was a fun and uniquely Venetian afternoon, though in retrospect I would have preferred to visit in a less crowded season.



Fortunately we did rent our apartment within a 10 minute walk from San Marco. Early mornings and evenings were the only times when we were able to truly enjoy Venice without being hurried by the frantic pace of day-tripping tourists.



My bakery run at 07:00 every morning was the only opportunity to stop and admire the beauty of San Marco in her rare moments of tranquility. To us that's the main advantage of renting a place in the historic centre, as the city would become entirely overwhelmed by tourists arriving from the Mainland after 09:00 or so.



We did join the main tourist circuit and actually quite enjoyed our visit of the Palazzo Ducale at 08:30, just before the arrival of the masses. The Chamber of the Great Council was nearly empty when we walked in, but we did have to hurry to avoid the multi-national tour groups on our tail.



While we didn't want to be bogged down with endless museum visits, we did purchase the Musei Civici pass and managed to see only 6 of the 11 museums during our stay. With one of the world's most extravagant collection of palaces squeezed into a relatively compact historic centre, I found three days to be barely enough to scratch its surface.



Then there were other magnificent buildings such as the Basilica dei Frari and the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. The two of us probably spent 80 euros on entrance tickets and another 80 on three days of water transport. Venice is never cheap, but all worthwhile.



But our favorite wasn't any particular museum, but the evening walks along the seaside promenade in the shadow of Palazzo Ducale, and across the bay from San Giorgio Maggiore. There was also free live music in the background provided by the competing caffetteria on Piazza San Marco.



This was our nightly ritual, navigating home through the labyrinth of quaint little bridges and narrow alleys after dinner when the romance of Venice really comes alive. Being an avid independent traveler I'd like to think that I'm above average in terms directions and map reading, yet I was completely unprepared for the twisting backstreets and dead-ends surviving from the city's medieval city plans. If getting lost is considered part of the quintessential Venice experience, I guess I was getting very good at it.



It was a memorable weekend in one of the world's most iconic cities. While my wife did find Venice to be slightly underwhelming given the possibly unrealistic expectations, there were various aspects that we thoroughly enjoyed, not in the least being the local interpretation on fresh regional seafood. That will be the topic of the next article.