So it was my 30th Birthday this Monday just gone and Myself and Dave decided to celebrate it by going to Venice for the weekend. It was the best choice! I have always wanted to visit for as long as I remember, it always looked so beautiful and having visited a few places in Italy already I knew I would love it.
I don’t think I could have quite believed it until we arrived though, the whole place is magical. We stayed in a lovely little 3 star hotel near the train station which was perfect! Hotel Abbazia was off the main street and quite deceiving from the outside as it turned out to be quite big inside. A medium sized lobby opened up into a long hall with a bar and then there was a beautiful courtyard where you could sit under canopies or out on loungers in the sun.
The best part about Venice is the little streets and just wondering around them, we never got lost as you just follow signs to either saint mark’s square or the train station or you could just follow the crowd of people in front of you as they will more than likely be going where you are or if not, you won’t be far from it.
Here are a few shots I took whilst wondering the streets:
The other amazing thing I noticed about Venice is around every corner and wall you step into a painting! The views are literally out of a Canaletto painting, I remember from my art history classes back in 2002/2003 all of these masterpieces and now I can see them right in front of me – it was really inspiring and I will probably be getting out my water colours at some point now I am back and creating some of my own masterpieces.
Here are a few of those remarkable scenes for you to enjoy:
Along with these incredible views I got the pleasure of seeing some impressive works of art in the numerous galleries that are scattered all over the city.
I hope one day I will return to this awe-inspiring city and discover more things but for now Venice you have allowed me to enter my thirties feeling inspired by your views, artwork and history and grateful for just having the ability to discover a new place by getting lost in it.