First-time visitors may be surprised that from Piazzale Roma onwards, all journeys are either on foot or by water vehicles: no cars, nor cross-roads or traffic lights!Venice is a labyrinth of foundations, narrow streets, squares, paved roads, channels, bridges and old channels that are now streets; it is not a large city, and it is quite possible to walk from one end to the other in an hour.
In fact, one of the many joys of visiting Venice is simply walking through its alleyways. Waterways are as important in its life as the network of its streets: the canals filled with shallow water about 2- 4 meters deep, used by water buses, water taxis, gondolas and traghetti (gondolas with 2 oars used to cross the river), are spanned by bridges that connects both banks, often flanked by long narrow streets- the fondamenta- that run close to the foundation of the houses.
Observing a map of Venice, you can easily notice that its shape is a fish crossed by the Grand Canal which divides the city in two parts connected by 3 main Bridges: the Rialto bridge made of stone, the Accademia bridge in wood, and the Railway bridge in stone.
For now just wander through the site and dream about actually being in Venice...
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