Part of the fun of exploring Venice can be found in wandering through the alleys and getting yourself lost. You know, however, that you're never truly lost because, after all, you are on an island. And eventually you'll find your way to posted signs on the sides of buildings that say "Per Riato" or "Per San Marco." Those signs will have directions indicating which way to Rialto Bridge and which way to St. Mark's Square.
While lost in those back alleys, I stumbled upon a great many small outdoor cafes in small squares, Italian meat shops, cheese shops, boutiques, Murano glass stores, gelato shops, souvenir stores, pharmacies, and all sorts of mom and pop type stores where the locals would go. And getting yourself "lost" in these back alleys really allows you to get away from the hustle and bustle of this major tourist city.
Eventually, after much wandering, you'll find yourself at the gorgeous Rialto Bridge. You'll notice that both sides of the Grand Canal that line the bridge are filled with outdoor eateries, as well as gondola stations and other private boat docks. The area is also packed with people. The bridge itself is wide enough to house small stores down the center of the bridge, and leave both of the outer sides of the bridge open for tourists to enjoy the view and do a little people watching. At night, this area comes alive. The outdoor cafes string lights outside that glow and glisten off the water. The moon shines high above the canal, giving off just enough light for the gondoliers to navigate their way in and out the tiny canals. The mood is electric and romantic. It's no wonder that this city is a city for lovers. The night we wandered over to the Rialto, there were 2 American girls who stood at one of the bridges crossing a small canal who began to sing operatic music. Their voices were beautiful and it only added to the mystique that is Venice. You could spend hours, if not days, just wandering through the area.
When we finally decided to take the vaporetto back to Piazzale Roma to call it a night, we found the vaporettos to be so incredibly busy, almost to the point of being dangerous. As a vaporetto would approach, the people who were waiting clamored to board the vaporetto as they didn't want to wait for the next one to come. Everyone pushed and shoved their way on board. If you weren't careful, you'd just be run over. Once the boat was literally filled to capacity, to the point where you couldn't fit another person in, the vaporetto would shut it's doors and continue on. Meanwhile everyone on board was stuffed in like sardines. It was certainly quite the experience.
The next morning, we left the ship as early as possible so that we could get a look at an early morning Venetian day. This was Monday morning and we figured we'd run into the morning commuter crowd. When we reached Piazzale Roma and hopped on the vaporetto towards Rialto, it was just past 7 am. However, there were almost no crowds whatsoever.
As soon as we approached the Rialto area, on the opposite side of the Grand Canal to where St. Mark's Square is located, we passed by a morning market that was just setting up. We immediately got off at the next vaporetto stop, crossed the Rialto Bridge, and then made our way back in the direction of the market.
Right on the banks of the Grand Canal was a fairly large morning fruit, vegetable, meat, and fish market that the vendors just started setting up. As there is no motorized vehicle traffic in Venice, all of the fruits and vegetables had to be brought to the market either by a person wheeling a dolly full of goods, or by boats that were loaded down with goods. The fruits and vegetables that were being sold looked incredible. They were such bright and vibrant in color, everything from huge bell peppers, to tiny grapes, to strawberries, tomatoes of every variety imaginable, blueberries, blackberries, beans, melons, and the list goes on. The goods just looked so fresh and delicious.
The fish market surrounded the fruit and vegetable stands. There was many varieties of fish, squid, octopus, shrimp and other seafood for sale. Adjacent to the fish market were a couple of butcher shops that were selling all sorts of meats, including meat from animals that were unidentifiable to me.
On the banks of the Grand Canal, adjacent to the fruit and vegetable market, was one of 7 traghetto stops that cross the Grand Canal. As there are only 4 pedestrian bridges that cross the Grand Canal, one of the other ways to get across is via a traghetto. Traghettos are basically old gondolas that have been completely stripped of their seating. There are two oarsmen on each gondola, and for 0,50 Euros, they transport people back and forth from one side of the Grand Canal to the other at 7 different strategically located spots along the Grand Canal. Once you hop on board, you stand the whole way across the Grand Canal. It's cheap and its fun and it was quite the experience.
After taking the traghetto back over to the St. Mark's Square side of the Grand Canal, we wandered through some of the side alleys to discover that this early in the morning, Venice is such a quiet and peaceful city. We occasionally ran into shop owners cleaning up their shops in preparation for opening later in the morning, and there were the occasional workers walking their way through the alleys to get to work. But for the most part, it was deserted. We eventually wound up back at the Rialto Bridge again. Since the bridge was pretty much void of people, we decided to go to the top of the bridge and just enjoy the view of this lazy Venetian day. Looking down the Grand Canal, with vaporettos slowly making their way up and down the canal, and watching as the sun began to rise into the sky was one of those memories to last a lifetime. The view was so pretty, and the location so popular, that we even saw a wedding couple come out to the bridge with a photographer to take wedding photos.
After lingering awhile longer, we eventually made our way out of the Rialto area. But we took with us mental snapshots of the beauty of the area and of the city, that will remain with us forever.
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