Venice is probably one of the cities if not the only city in the world that has a lot of bridges. Since it is composed of 126 islands and separated by about 200 canals, it has a lot of bridges and boy let me tell you, it is a lot! I read somewhere that it is connected by about 450 bridges. For this week's Photohunt, I'm posting a number of bridges I photographed in Venice last summer. I photographed a lot of bridges in all seven countries we visited but I have to keep this post short. I used up most of the system memory in my notebook from the more than a thousand photos I accumulated.The most famous bridge in Venice is of course the Rialto Bridge shown above. The best way to see it in my opinion is from a gondola. The gondola ride costs an arm and a leg plus another arm but it was well worth it. I posted about our gondola ride here. We stayed in a hotel near the Accademia and to get to St. Mark's Square, we had to pass a lot of bridges. If you plan on staying for a couple of days, I recommend staying at a hotel not too close to St. Mark's Square. Doing this will let you discover the real Venice, far from the tourist area.
This next bridge is the Accademia bridge or Ponte dell'Accademia . It also crosses the Grand Canal just like the famous Rialto bridge. I took this photo while in a water taxi on our way to the hotel.
This next bridge is one of two that is next to our hotel. It just goes to the yellow house on the left. This is an example of the small bridges around Venice. You cannot go anywhere without crossing a bridge or two.
This bridge is the famous 'Bridge of Sighs'. It was made in the 16th century and connects the Palazzo Ducale aka Doge's palace with the prison cells. It is made of white limestone. It was named the Bridge of Sighs by Lord Byron in the 20th century. The prisoners after sentencing, crosses the bridge and had their last look out the window in the bridge before being imprisoned in the dungeon with no outside windows.
This is what the inside of the Bridge of Sighs look like. It is very narrow. You can see part of the window at the right side. The view is of the pedestrian bridge on the other side and the Grand Canal waters. You need to go into the Doge's palace to go to through the Bridge of Sighs.
This is one of our last memories of Venice. We just passed the large bridge in the background, one of the many that crosses the Grand Canal. This was taken from the water taxi on our way to the train station. I never thought that I would fall in love with Venice, but I did. I'm glad that we made it a part of our Europe trip last year. It is a magical and beautiful place. You should go and see it for yourself.
