A Walk To Rialto Bridge

After a very restful day yesterday we decided we ready ready for another walk. So we decided to walk to Rialto Bridge, but taking a completely different route to previously.

Before we left we heard hell of a lot of noise coming from the canal, looking out the window we could see it was the garbage collection boat emptying all of the communal bins, people do not have there own in many Italian cities they all have to walk to the communal bin area to dump their rubbish!

Garbage Collection

After breakfast we were on our way. We headed towards the rail station and crossed the Grand Canal using Ponti degli Scalzi and from there we would weave our way towards Ponte Rialto (Rialto Bridge).

When you walk around Venice you seem to be constantly going up and down steps and bridges to cross a canal, and just about 400 metres from Francesca's house we had already crossed 4!!

Ponte Guglie Coming Up, Our Fourth Bridge For The Day

Ponti degli Scalzi - Our Crossing Point

San Simeone Picolo

After crossing Ponti degli Scalzi we were into a new part of Venice that we had not seen yet.

View Along The Grand Canal

We may not have been able to avoid the heat, but for a while we seemed to be avoiding the crowds!

The lane ways and the canals seemed to be a lot narrower here, and gave the area a really nice quaint feeling, it was also a bit easier to find shade.

Narrow Paths Alongside Narrow Canals

Lots Of Lovely Bridges

Every so often the lane way would open up into a small Piazza normally with a small church or other grand type building. The first one we come across was Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, an old religious school containing many works of art.

Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista

As we continued to weave our way in the direction of the Rialto Bridge the small lane way we had been folloing suddenly opened into a very large Piazza with a very grand looking church on one side, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.

Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari and Bell Tower

As we got closer to the Rialto Bridge the crowds were getting bigger and we were doing the old one step forward one step sideways routine again, this tires you out very quickly.

We decided to stop in a small shady piazza for a gelato each before the final couple of hundred metres to the Rialto. Without knowing it we were sat underneath the 24 hour clock of San Giacomo di Rialto.

24-hour Clock, San Giacomo di Rialto

I sat looking at this for a while before I realised it was a 24 hour clock, then it took me a little bit more time to work out the time, approximately.

After a bit of a rest we moved onto get some photos of the Rialto Bridge. I must say that the heat at this time of year (it was over 35 degrees every day we have been in Venice) drains you of energy pretty quickly so you need to plan your walk arounds pretty well so that you can see everything you want to see.

Ponte Rialto, finally!

It was actually nice near the bridge as there was just a hint of a breeze coming down the Grand Canal which gave a little bit of relief.

We were now faced with two longish journeys back to Francesca's house, however, while watching all of the coming and goings on the canal Lesley noticed a Gondola service that crossed the canal and would save us quite a bit of time.

Gondola Ride Across The Grand Canal

Our turn!

On The Other Side Safe and Sound

So for the total cost of 4 Euros we crossed the Canal in record time. I think in this case it was good value for us as it saved us so much walking, and with about 10 people in the boat each trip, 40 euros for a couple of minutes paddling was excellent income for them, basically we were all happy!!

The Gondolas seem to have right of way over all other vessels, which is just as well as we were the slowest and smallest boat on the canal.

From the other side of the canal we were soon back resting our tired feet and drinking as much water as we could lay our hands on.

So a tiring, but a very good day....and we had been in a Gondola, not as romantic as we had planned though.

 

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