Bridge Eighty and Eighty-One - Ponte de Ca'Giovanelli and Ponte Pesaro

From Ponte del Megio we made our way in the direction of the Grand Canal. A few minutes later we found ourselves in front of one of the proudest churches facing the Canal: San Stae. The church has a nice little campo in front of it, perfect for sitting down at the water's edge and watching the Grand Canal's never-ending stream of vaporettos, transport boats, taxis and vessels of all types.

The vessel that stood out among the dozens that passed during the half an hour or so we took a break here was the blood red firefighters' boat. It cruised past at a leisurely pace so its four-man was most likely just spending a quiet afternoon making sure the boat was in good running order. Judging by their casual behaviour and lack of equipment, they didn't look like they were ready to climb through a smoking building and rescue a trapped old lady from the fourth floor window.

The Ponte de Ca' Giovanelli is a cute, small iron bridge by the side of the campo. It was renovated relatively recently in 2004.

It leads from the campo where we paused, across the Rio San Stae into an alley that went to our next bridge nearby, the Ponte Pesaro. If you're familiar with Venice you'll know that's also the name of one of the most-visited museums in Venice, the Ca' Pesaro. We paused only briefly at the closed, pillar-framed gate of the museum - it was now almost seven in the evening - and walked briskly on, followed a bend in the alley away from the canal and moments later we were at the Ponte del Forner. Such are the bridges of Venice - mostly three minutes away from each other, and never more than a ten-minute walk apart.