Saturday, July 21, 2012

Saturday Snapshot


 

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.   

Beer delivery in Venice, Italy.

This is a repost from a couple of years ago. This happens to be one of my favourite photos from Venice.


Apart from the car parks by the mainland bridge, and a private port area, all transport in Venice is by boat. And the more you think about it, the more difficulties that presents. Deliveries, emergency services, taxis - everything that is done on wheels in other cities must here be done by boat.

Boats are a major part of everyday life, not just for passenger transport but for pretty much everything else too.

Delivery barges are the most common kind of utility vehicle you'll see. Big delivery firms like DHL and UPS have their own liveried boats. Other barges will pass by stacked with anything from casks of wine to shoeboxes. Some have freezers to transport cold food and drink. Once goods get as near to their destination as the canals permit, they are unloaded and wheeled on handcarts through the lanes to their destination. You can watch shop merchandise being unloaded alongside the Rialto Bridge.
The Italian postal service have their own delivery boats, and you can see these moored outside the central Post Office by the Rialto.

The emergency services also have to operate by boat. The fire brigade (Vigili del Fuoco), police and ambulances all have sirens, just like emergency vehicles on land, and woe betide any small boats that get in their way as they race down the Grand Canal, leaving a massive wake behind them. Police boats buzz all over the place. Italy has countless types of police force (military police, urban police, local police, prison police, finance police etc.)
Garbage collection is carried out by boat, too. Early in the morning the refuse barges chug along canals, meeting up with collectors who have cleared every lane on foot, using handcarts.

19 comments:

  1. I love Venice...that photo brings back memories of last summer...thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the supportive message! Yeah pate is goooood! I hope you get to sample some good flavours! When are you coming to the UK? xxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I never gave thought to that before. Interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Groningen in the Netherlands is all canals too, plus some foot/bike paths. It's a village instead of a whole city, though, which I'm sure makes a big difference.

    ReplyDelete
  6. We have a river running in front of our house. Wonder if we could get beer delivered here.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'll have to remember to share this picture with the guy when he gets home. One day I will make it to Venice!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love it! I hope to make it to Venice one day.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Breathtaking picture... that is a place I would love to visit.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, that is lovely... I would so love to go to Venice.. My Snapshot is at http://goo.gl/ha45K

    ReplyDelete
  11. One day I hope to visit Venice - it looks amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'd love to see Venice as well. I'd also love to know how to tie a doc/raft like in your header. Just in case I'm ever on a deserted island.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Love shots of Venice! What a romantic city....

    I even enjoy the canals in Venice, CA...but they're not the same, of course.

    Thanks for sharing and for visiting my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  14. That would be such an adjustment, to think of everything that would have to be done via boat.

    ReplyDelete
  15. What an interesting way to get your beer delivered!

    Here's my Snapshot.

    ReplyDelete
  16. WHat an interesting photo. I love that you picked the Guinness boat. I've never been to Venice, it is amazing to think of how difficult the canals would make things that we take for granted on land.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow, this is magnificent.
    And confirms my theory --
    The only thing better than beer and a boat, is a boat, actually DRIVEN, by beer!
    Lovely!
    The vision of a PERFECT WORLD!

    ReplyDelete

This blog does not allow anonymous comments.