Venice Kayak

Venice Kayak is closed for the winter holidays from December 14th to January 15th.

Kayaking in Venice: who needs a gondola? by Teresa Machan in The Guardian, September 26th, 2009.

The Italy blog review site Italytutto recently had an entry about Venice Kayak, titled “blogs from the waterline – kayaking in venice, italy.

… his two blogs, Venice Kayak and  René Seindal, will make even the most unadventurous wish they too could to take to the waters of Venice and the surrounding lagoons.

Venice Kayak was recently featured in the well known travel newsletter Dream of Italy.

Read the full article here: Tour Venice in a New Way with Venice Kayak.

Venice Kayak (through our partner Kajakhotellet in Denmark) was featured in the airline Cimber Sterling’s inflight magazine recently, over three pages with a lot of photos:

The Sensa – Ascension in Venetian – is an thousand year old ceremony where a symbolic marriage ceremony between La Serenissima and the sea. The celebration has its origins in 997, following a military victory in Dalmatia which brough those lands under Venetian control.

The central part of the ceremony is a procession on water from St.Mark’s to San Nicolò on the Lido, where the Patriach of Venice will bless a golden ring, which will then be tossed in the water by the Mayor (in lieu of the Doge) as a symbol of the Venetian dependence on the sea and its dominance of the seas.

The Doge travelled on the Bucintoro – the golden ship – but the last Bucintoro was destroyed in 1797 and never rebuild, so now a less impressive ceremonial boat is used.  The rest of the procession will be of sports gondolas, all with four oarsmen, from the various rowing associations of Venice.

Following the procession and the ceremony is a regatta of four-oared gondolas, starting from St.Mark’s going to San Nicolò.

This year the feast is on May 24th.

The procession with the Patriarch and the Mayor will start at St. Mark’s at 9am with the ceremony taking place on arrival at San Nicolò. The regatta starts at 11 am from St. Mark’s.

Venice Kayak has a kayaking tour of Venice on May 24th, with an early start from San Nicolò, so we can be there and watch the ceremony. As we paddle towards the city we will also be able to see a part of the gondola race as the row down along the Riva degli Schiavoni.

Kanosport Zwalker, a Dutch outfitter of kayak and canoe holidays, is organising a week long trip to Venice in the week May 16 to May 24.

There are still a couple of empty kayaks available for this trip, so it is a chance to get on a unique kayaking holiday in Venice and lagoon.

The program is:

• Saturday, May 16 – Arrival,
• Sunday, May 17 – paddling tour of Venice (Castello, Rialto, Cannaregio),
• Monday, May 18 – Venice again (St. Mark’s, Canal Grande, San Polo and Dorsoduro),
• Tuesday, May 19 – Northern lagoon (Sant’Erasmo, Burano, Torcello),
• Wednesday, May 20 – rest day for exploring on land or going to the beach,
• Thursday, May 21 – afternoon visit to Murano, dinner in the lagoon and evening paddle through Canal Grande,
• Friday, May 22 – Venice (Giudecca, Dorsoduro, Santa Croce),
• Saturday, May 23 – Venetian rowing class in a local rowing club, learn to row like a gondoliere,
• Sunday, May 24 – departure.

Included in the package:

• Kayak, paddle, life vest, jacket,
• Italian and English speaking guide,
• Dutch coach,
• Camping in tents.

Not included is:

• Airfare or other transportion to and from Venice
• Food
• Accommodation upgrades (caravans in the camp site or nearby hotel)

Price:   € 645,-

Full announcement from Kanosport Zwalker (in Dutch).

Further inquiry: Paul van Boerdon, pablo@zwalker.nl

Due to popular demand Venice Kayak opens a week early this season, with tours starting on April 17, and availability from April 20, for those already in Venice and looking for a day trip in kayak.

The Financial Times Deutschland had a weekend section on Venice this weekend, in occasion of the Venice Film Festival, with a 2/3 page article on Venice Kayak.

Journalist Inke Suhr visited us on Friday, August 22nd, and we went for a very nice, half day paddle around parts of Venice city.

The full article in PDF format (7Mbytes).

The online article from Financial Times Deutschland.

None of our guests were in the habit of paddling 4-5 hours each day, so on the fourth day we took the first half day off. We agreed to meet, ready to launch, at three.

Some went into Venice to see a bit of the city by foot, while others ventured to the beaches of the Lido di Venezia which are among some of the best in Italy.

The two girls in the group wanted to practise rescue manoeuvres, so we saw them over to the 16th century Sant’Andrea fortress just across from the camping, where they had a few hours of training for themselves.

The rest of us launched shortly after three and paddled over to the girls, before we continued toward the destination for the afternoon: Murano.

Murano is a small island just north of Venice, famous for its glass works. They have been on the island since the 13th century, when they were banned in Venice proper and ordered to move to Murano. Venice was most built of wood at that time, and the risk of fires were high, so the glass furnaces were moved to Murano.

The glass works are mostly located on the south and east side of the island. There the predominant winds could be used to feed the furnaces.

We paddled north of the Vignole islands and around some barene and mud banks towards Murano, where we arrived at the entrance to the main canal of the islands. There are only a handful of canals on Murano, and we paddled down the largest, up the western side to a smaller canal, back down to the centre of the island.

General giddiness struck again as a member of the decided Murano was just the right place to practise paddling side saddle.

We stopped at the church of San Donà. Founded in the 7th century, the current church is from the 11th century, and it is quite a beauty.

We moored all the kayaks besides a bridge to take a walk around the island. We agreed to meet again at six by the boats, before Jes and I followed the group down to where most of the glass works and souvenir shops are. Some went shopping for glass, some went sight-seeing and I went to the supermarket for more water and fruit

Time is relative in Italy, and people adjust surprisingly quickly, so starting at six people came slowly back to the boats, with the best adjusted at least half an hour later, so it was close to seven before we were on our way again.

Luckily we had only a very short paddle to the Vignole islands, where the restaurant for the evening was. It is a local, family run place, accessible only by boat. Their parking lot is a pier, and you eat outside in a garden. They specialise in fresh fish from the lagoon and vegetables grown just behind the restaurant.

They have quite a choice, so while people considered, we ordered antipasti for all. We got three large plates, one with several kinds of baby octopus and squid, one with various kinds of local vegetables, and one with a very local speciality, sarde e scampi in saor. Saor is a sweet and sour sauce with raisins, pine seeds and lots and lots of lightly fried onions. When we had worked our way through those dishes, everybody was full, so we went directly from antipasti to dessert.

At the point it was getting dark, and suddenly it started to rain lightly, so we moved under a canopy. Good thing too, because shortly after we had a Venetian thunderstorm right over our heads. We fetched coffee and cake inside, running under the rain, while another group in the restaurant put on some music and started to dance the tango.

The thunderstorm passed, and the horizon cleared as fast as it had darkened. We had been close to call off the remainder of the days programme, but as the sky cleared and the stars returned, we decided to go through with it anyway.

We went back to the boats, put on our head lamps and strapped coloured light to our backs, before we started to paddle towards Venice through the dark lagoon. I had a flashing beacon on my back – somebody compared me favourably with a Christmas tree – and led the way.

Thunderstorm in mind, we followed the walls of the Arsenale instead of crossing directly towards San Michele, the cemetery island. At Sacca della Misericordia we paddled down to the Canal Grande, which we followed slowly downstream.

Paddling at night in Venice is a very special experience. The city is very quiet, few boats and only a vaporetto every 20 minutes, and most of the palaces are illuminated.

We reached the old markets before Rialto, where there are always people hanging around. The markets are a bit like the Spanish Steps in Rome, there’s always somebody.

At Rialto we stopped for a while to fully absorb the spectacle.

Like an Italian dinner, a night paddle in Venice has to be consumed slowly, without haste, taking all the time needed, enjoying each bite fully before considering the next. Rush it and ruin it.

The Canal Grande has been called the most beautiful street in the world, and it is not exaggerated. It is such an incredible place, but by day it is hard to fully appreciate it because it is so busy. By night it really shines.

We slowly almost drifted along the palaces and the moored gondolas towards St. Mark’s. There we stopped again, as always inside the gondala enclosure, for another digestive break.

The square of St. Mark, with the Doge’s Palace, the church and the campanile, and the two ancient columns with St. George killing the dragon and the lion of St. Mark, it one of the wonders of the world, and it is a rare occurrence having it almost to yourself.

From St. Mark’s we paddled along Riva dei Schiavoni, the Biennale gardens and Sant’Elena. The only boats we met were some empty and dark vaporetti on the way home for the night. Many vaporetti have their night stations at the gardens.

From Sant’Elena we followed the briccole towards Certosa and Sant’Andrea, for the final crossing to San Nicola, the camping, a hot shower and a warm sleeping bag.

Paolo, the owner of the camping, greeted us on the road where we came in, looking very relieved. The thunderstorm had passed San Nicolò as well, only later, and Paolo had expected us back a lot earlier because of that.