Camera goes, boat glides

Someone steals my camera and leaves a cheap imitation in its place. All happens in a dark room--restaurant?

Riding a boat or something very like one--canoe shaped--up a road beside a river. I'm confused that the vehicle goes uphill without any apparent motor or energy source. Moves very quickly and smoothly. Across the river is a rich landscape of homes and forest. Some of the homes are very elaborate, like something imagined to be on the hills outside Florence--old, elaborate, beautiful, well integrated into their surroundings.