boats, part one

Between starting to row (alla veneta, y’all) and living on the Giudecca, I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time on boats. When people ask if I like living on there, my biggest complaint is that I feel detached…to which at least one of my friends has helpfully pointed out that I am.

Since my rowing club and my buddies are all in Cannaregio, I’m getting to know all the vaporetto routes that connect that far flung corner of the city with my own.The 41/42 is a direct shot, but stops running after 8pm. The 51/52 means a traghetto ride from Palanca (my stop) to Zattere or vice versa. The 2 takes the long route around the west edge of the city, as does the N (night) route. The first two are low-slung, sleek boats built for speed — they circle the city and are more no-nonsense than the big sluggish vaps that cater to the tourist trade. The latter have their charm, when the tourist tide is low; it can be wonderful to score a seat near the prow.

The 2 arrives at Palanca

The 51 seen from the 42

Enter the Night route. At first I dreaded this ride home. It doesn’t really save any time — it’ll take 45 minutes by foot (to the Zattere) or on board all the way — but if I’m tired, a ride is a welcome alternative. Depending on the weather and day of the week and time, the N can be jammed when I pick it up at S. Marcuola. Workers headed home, locals finishing an evening out, tourists straggling home. A few get off at the station, but most pile off at Piazzale Roma where they catch a bus for the terra firma. The vap now has very few passengers, and we start the slow rounding of the west end of the city. Past the Questura office. Under viaducts that carry car and train traffic to this part of town. Past dozens and dozens of moored topi – the big, prosaic boats that move everything around the city. Past the industrial-looking Mercato Ittico (fish market) and Capitaneria di Porto. The water path we’re following, as always, is marked with large bricole (three posts driven into the soil below) with a light on top. We are rounding the enormous dock where the cruise ships moor, and as we make the left hand turn those behemoths hove into view and shimmer in their obscene, over-the-top lighting. At Tronchetto, the very few who had parked their cars here for the day (Italian and German tourists mostly) get off, one or two get on (where are they coming from? who are they?), and we set off for the lagoon and the Giudecca canal. There are five blinding lights on the left that are part of the cruise ship area. They seem to be aimed horizontally rather than towards the ground. They stand out because everything else in front of us is a calm, black void.

This part of the journey is magic. Across the black void, there are tracers of lights — streetlights on the Lido or Malamocco, the breakwater islands of the lagoon. The sky is full of stars, if it’s clear, and if the moon is out it shimmers along the clouds and the waves. There is very little traffic. A water taxi or two, racing by, or a police boat, blue light shouting its warning and making psychodelic patterns on the boat’s wake.

Our boat is big. They always use the big tourist vaps for the N: there’s plenty of standing room in the middle and there are usually outdoor seats at the prow and stern. If I can, I get the very front seat, and usually I’m the only one sitting there. The wake of the passing taxis rolls towards us, and the pilot turns into the wake, sending our big boat bobbing. The water crashes and sprays on the prow.

This same effect happens on the ride from the Zattere to Palanca, that is across the Giudecca Canal. This waterway is one of the city’s busiest, and it is a battered by moto ondoso – waves caused by motor boats. In the vap, at night, after everyone has boarded, the mariner unties the rope from its mooring and shuts the big gate. Then the pilot turns off the outdoor lights. If, like me, you’ve gotten on board and crossed right to the other side of the boat where you’ll get off in a few minutes, you’re poised on the edge, with the wind and moon in your face. The lights go off, and it’s a perfect miniature of the transit on the N from Tronchetto in the middle of the night.

vaporetto

Or go directly to the slideshow.