Sometimes a bridge can change a lot of things, from the well-being of the locals to the evolution of the economy and so on. So what happens when this becomes so popular?

Even though I started my account with the main purpose of promoting Romania as best as I can and making people from all around the globe aware of how many things this country has to offer for anyone who decides to visit it, I'd lie saying that all my trips are within this territory.
Or better said, they used to be like that for at least 20 years but since I started tasting the life of being abroad and being able to explore some other cultures once in a while, my passion for travels made it to the next level, already having stories to share further from places of three different countries I've visited in 2022-2023.
So, starting with today, my travel blogs will be a bit more vast than I used you with, but which will still focus on personal opinions, emotions, and moods I felt while crossing places that perhaps some of you are more familiar with, than me.
The first one starting this trend (if we can call it like that), is represented by a famous bridge in Venice, Italy, known either as Ponte di Rialto or simply as Rialto Bridge.

Seeing Rialto Bridge wasn't my first interaction with a famous place in Italy because I, along with my family, actually rented an apartment in Treviso, which is 40 km away from Venice. Therefore, we've seen a bit more of Italy before making our way to Venice where we had walks between 15-20km daily and we've gathered tens, if not hundreds, of memories from this beautiful country.

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Even though we visited Venice off-season and at quite an early hour in the morning to avoid crowds, there were still plenty of people on the bridge who were either checking out the view from up there or taking some selfies.

Since I hate crowds especially when I have to make my way through plenty of people, I decided to take my selfie quickly on the foot of the bridge before actually making my steps on the stairs and admiring the view offered by Rialto Bridge.

Still while being on the foot of the bridge, I noticed a fairly isolated icon with Ave Maria which is what Italians call St. Mary, but which piqued my curiosity through the little image attached to the fence surrounding it. Even if I don't understand Italian, I did try to translate it on Google and that's how I found out that the icon is some sort of monument devoted to those who lost their lives on 12th May 1979 while trying to protect San Marco which is one of the two districts that you could reach by crossing the Grand Canal.

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Rialto Bridge represents just one of the four such bridges that sooner or later made the connection between the two shores separated by the canal, and thus, the connection between San Marco and San Polo.

Initially, there was a wooden bridge that had the option to raise it when a boat or a gondola was passing the canal, but since the canal became more and more popular due to the important commercial growth, and since the wooden bridge ended up in flames, a new one started being built, this time from stone.

The height of Rialto Bridge is 7,32 meters and its name comes from the area where it's placed which is known as Rivus Altul meaning above/upper.
Before raising the new bridge that was going to resist better with the passage of time, there was held some sort of contest gathering architects that were interested in this project.
While the one who made the bridge become possible is a less-known artist, there was one name among the participants that caught my curiosity, which is Michelangelo.
It's true that these are just rumors and there is no evidence proving it as a reality, but considering that we are talking about a famous city in Italy, I wouldn't be surprised if it's genuine information but with a lack of proof.
Along with the other three bridges that basically serve the same purpose as Rialto Bridge, this one is perhaps the most famous out of all for being the oldest one and dating since 1591 when the construction was completed.

Though, the bridge itself not only that offers a great view over the canal that is beautiful no matter what the season is, but it actually comes with 24 shops that stir a lot of curiosity from the tourists who are looking for souvenirs, but which initially were dedicated to specific shops such as those for goldsmiths and jewelers.

Unfortunately, when we crossed the bridge there was no shop open which perhaps was caused for talking about an off-season trip, but either way, most likely all the things that you would find in those shops you will still rediscover a bit later on all the narrow alleys of Venice that have plenty of shops.

I know I've said that I hate crowds but it would be a loss to just cross this bridge without taking at least two pictures with the view, so after making them I followed all the way down to the other shore which was a bit busier with people at work rather than tourists.

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For me, it was very interesting to see basically the same world maintain its functions of the past, where one shore is more dedicated to the tourists and hence why you will see plenty of ports with gondola rides, while the other one comes with taxis, couriers, and who knows what else.

Also, coming from a country and especially a city that doesn't involve too much water other than a few rivers and lakes, it's still impressive to see so many jobs held on the water because in those days we've spent in and around Venice, we've seen everything from taxis to police, ambulance, buses, DPD couriers and basically most of the jobs that involve a car, be transformed in boat rides.

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Happily, reaching Ponte di Rialto can happen pretty easily by following the path between Saint Lucian train station to this point which is also the path we chased. Three other options to reach the bridge are either from Piazzale Roma or San Marco Square from where you can see pedestrian indicators to Rialto Bridge, or even by using a vaporetto which is a bus that goes on the water.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additonally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (260+ articles written on this field), but also abording other topics as well, like game reviews, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 550+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, editing, cooking, and doing various sports activities.}

~ @GabrielaTravels ~

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