Kayaking Venice and the Laguna

Transportation from the airport (VCE) or Venice’s Santa Lucia train station is provided to our boutique hotel in Compalto near the Via Lebertia Bridge that joins Venice to the mainland. We’ll have a welcome drink and an orientation for the paddling trip in the courtyard before enjoying dinner at the hotel’s gourmet restaurant. Extra luggage may be checked at the hotel until our return.

After breakfast, we’ll set off by van to Chioggia at the western end of the Venice Laguna. After checking into the hotel, we’ll explore ancient Chioggia by foot on our way to the kayaks. Since Roman times Chioggia has been known for fresh seafood and en route, we’ll visit the colorful fish market. In the kayaks, we will explore the canals and surrounding waters of Chioggia (known as the “Little Venice”).  Much of the day will devoted to polishing a specialized set of kayaking skill for the upcoming days in Venice. Paddling back into Chioggia in the afternoon there will be time to wander through the town and enjoy the beauty of this Venetian village that predates the great city itself. Tonight we’ll have dinner at a beautiful canal side restaurant.

After breakfast, we’ll set off paddling along the inside of the barrier island that separates the Laguna from the Adriatic Sea. Our first stop is a remiera (or rowing club) in the village of Pellestrina. The Remiera Pellestrina is composed of mostly former professional gondoliers who are devoted to preserving and perpetuating the art of Venetian rowing. We are welcomed as fellow paddlers and will receive instruction in classic rowing techniques before trying our hand at paddling a training gondola. We’ll also learn some of the special vocabulary the gondoliers use to communicate while paddling the narrow canals. Afterward, we’ll join the gondoliers for a lunch of fresh seafood in their clubhouse that contains trophies of past regattas as well as oars and forcole (oarlocks). Forcole are very personal, custom made, and sometimes collected as sculpture. We’ll return by boat to Chioggia where the skyline of Venice is more defined and holds the promise of tomorrow’s paddle.

We cross one of the Laguna mouths to the Lido, the longest of the barrier islands. We set course to island hop our way, first passing the island of Poveglia, inhabited since 421 AD, which is supposedly one of the “most haunted places in the world” (we shan’t be stopping), and then in turn, the islands of San Spirito, San Clemente, and Santa Maria della Grazia before arriving at San Giorgio Maggiore. By special arrangement (we became honorary members), we will stay for the next three nights in the brand new waterfront guest rooms at Compagnia della Vela Venezia, a private yacht club located on the basin of the Grand Canal. Not only is this an outstanding location from which to explore Venice by kayak, it is one of the best locations for a visit to the city (the exclusive 5 star Hotel Cipriani is essentially next door). After checking in, we’ll go to the top of the island’s campanile (bell tower) for what is arguably the very best view of Venice. With Saint Mark’s Square directly opposite and the mouth of the Grand Canal in front of us, this is an ideal spot for an overview of our previous and next day’s paddling. After time for a shower and perhaps a glass of wine, we’ll take the vaporetto ferry (departures every 10 minutes) across to Piazza San Marco for dinner in Venice and a stroll along the waterfront Riva delgi Schiavioni.

Today we’ll embark on the first day of a Venice city tour like no other. This part of the tour is orchestrated with beauty and safety in mind as we explore this water city by kayak. The kayaker’s view of Venice is at once both splendid and intimate and provides remarkable photographic opportunities. We’ll paddle the Grand Canal passing the palaces and great houses of Venice at its peak. Turning into side canals of the Rialto sestiere (district), we enter the heart of this water city where every turn offers a new view and interplay of light and water. Minute details are visible from a perspective that most visitors never see. Stopping the kayaks in a quiet campo (square), we continue to explore the city on foot, pausing for coffee or lunch before paddling on. Returning to Isola San Giorgio by way of Giudecca sestiere in the mid-afternoon, there will be time to relax, have a shower, and perhaps a glass of wine before catching the vaporetto ferry to Piazza San Marco and dinner in the city.

Starting early we’ll cross to Piazza San Marco and paddle past the Palazzo Ducale as the morning light accents the byzantine inspired details of the Venetian Gothic façade. Entering the canals of the San Marco sestiere, we’ll pass the massive water doors of the palace and move into the world of hidden Venice. Our kayaks allow us access to places that most boats can’t go into. Beyond are the sestieri of Castello and Cannaregio where much of the full-time population of the city lives. While gliding silently through the canals, we will capture the sounds of everyday life surround us. Our pranzo or lunch stop will be in a locals’ osteria – well off the tourist track. There will be time to relax at the club on San Giorgio before we board the vaporetto to San Marco. Before dinner in a small restaurant in the Cannaregio district, we will visit the Doge Palace for a glimpse of the wealth and grandeur that was Venice at the height of the Serenissima.

Crossing the Castello district of the city by canal we will pass the cemetery island of San Michele before reaching Murano, the famed home of Venetian glass. For centuries the furnaces that enabled this most noble of Venetian arts were considered far too dangerous to be housed in the city itself and were kept at a safe distance on Murano. After exploring Murano’s canals, we’ll stop for a demonstration of glass blowing in the Venetian style. In the afternoon, we’ll paddle the final leg of our Venetian odyssey, landing at Campalto and checking into our deluxe boutique hotel. In the evening, we’ll meet for the now familiar Cicchetti e Prosecco before a final celebratory dinner.

After breakfast at the hotel, we will arrange transfers to either the airport or the train station in the city. Arrivederci!