The sun rays broke through our bedroom window very early in the morning as if to remind us that it would be our last day in Venice and that we had to "move" if we still wanted to visit or see something of interest ...
The view from Ponte d'ell Accademia over the Grand Canal was astonishingly beautiful, particularly the more we looked at it ...
On the way to the Rialto area we came across quite a few black coloured gondolas, which are said to have substituted the bright coloured ones as in accordance with a decree from the Senate to diminish the exhibiting display of wealth ..., sober in their looks they still had something rather "noble" about them ...
The Rialto bridge, initially a timber made one later substituted by the present stone bridge, which was completed in 1514 is the oldest bridge across the Grand Canal.
The huge amount of canals and apparently similar views didn't affect the overall beauty ... and it was true that the more we looked around the more we got "attached" to the architectural beauty ... the shades of blue ... the light ... or maybe I should simply say ... everything ...
There seemed to be a romantic side to it all as well, which was almost indescribable ... it got through all your senses ... as if you could be falling in love not exactly knowing why ...
It should be said that most of the buildings in the Rialto were destroyed in a fire in 1514, the sole survivor being the oldest church in Venice, or so it is believed - the Church San Giacomo di Rialto with its large 15th century clock above the entrance.
A statue known as "Gobbo di Rialto", which stands for the hunchback of Rialto stood rather discreetly at one of the edges of the Giacomo square in front of the Church.
It is said to have marked the end of a cruel punishment carried out against perpetrators of minor crimes, who were forced to run between people with sticks from San Marco Square to Campo Giacomo ... yet according to another written source of information the latest bills as well as the names of criminals used to be read out from its top column.
We walked around the market area (still a very busy retail quarter) prior to heading to a city canteen, which not only was cheap but also allowed us to eat good home-made like Italian food.
I rarely photograph the exquisite food I eat whenever I travel abroad (with only one or two exceptions to be accounted for) and yet found myself unexpectedly photographing it this time ..., though I felt that what I might have wanted to capture was the whole surrounding atmosphere, which was equally exquisite ...
(To be continued)
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