My holidays and trips are planned months in advance, and I even have a trip in the diary now for October 2020. However, one Sunday evening a few weeks ago I decided to join my husband who would be spending a few days in Venice. He was leaving the next day….
Unfortunately there were no available flights for that day, but there was availability on the Tuesday so at a cost of £83.00 return I booked them. I left the dreary UK with hand luggage only – (we’d had what seemed like non-stop rain for weeks on end with no prospect of Summer arriving,) and I arrived in Venice in time to eat dinner outside, sitting next to a canal with the occasional gondola floating by, and wearing a sleeveless top. My husband had taken my tripod out with him and I hadn’t made it to our hotel room yet, but on our walk back from the restaurant I managed to take some night shots by resting my camera on bridges or just leaning against a wall.
L: Our first night’s restaurant. R: Shop window full of very expensive coloured glass.The Grand Canal at night.L. Away from the more touristy areas are quiet little backwaters. R. I like the mystery of where the steps in the distance may lead to.Gondolas everywhere, but at a cost of €80 euros for 25-30 minutes I had no desire to ride in one!Colours in Venice are generally quite faded but I increased the saturation in these images to make the colours pop.L & Top R. Great reflections in still waters. Bottom R – Reflections after a boat had disturbed the water. You only have to go a few streets away from the Grand Canal to find hidden gems such as this little courtyard through an archway in a narrow street. Patience was the name of the game to get this shot without anybody in it. I’ve also decreased the textures to give it a more painted look. I’ve applied that look to many of my images to give them a different feel as there are millions of photos of Venice in existence and I wanted these to look a little different. It’s nice to have a play around with photography 🙂 It seems as if almost every other house has a Lion on its front door. Venice is full of arches and I loved the water creeping up the pathway here.Venice is a maze of narrow streets that twist and turn. Sometimes they will come to an abrupt dead end, but most of the time there will be a sharp turn and it’s great to wander around with no real destination in mind. Each morning, an army of road sweepers are out in force before the tourists get up, and the previous day’s debris is swiftly disposed of. Some streets are so narrow that I could stand with my arms not even fully outstretched, and touch the walls either side of me. I wandered down the one above to look into the garden at the end. It reminded me of the children’s story – The Secret Garden.There is also a lot of graffiti. Unfortunately a lot of it says ‘Tourists go home’ as there are just too many, especially when the cruise ships pull in. I liked the one Top Right though…There’s a church, a bridge, and a gondola around every corner.Through an iron gate into a tiny courtyard was a book shop. The books were stacked about 8 feet high outside though, so I wondered why they were there. My husband was in Venice to check it out as a location for a photography workshop there, so he took a model with him. I wasn’t going to hold up proceedings by taking up her time, but did manage a few quick shots before moving on to the next location. I went out at 06.30 on my second and last morning, as I wanted to take a lot more photographs before the crowds appeared. It was worth it as I wandered alone, going nowhere in particular. Most surprising was the fact that I managed to find my way back to our hotel without using Google Maps, which was just as well, because it doesn’t work well there due to the high buildings and narrow streets. On the Grand Canal, the Gondoliers were busy preparing for a day’s work.
After I’d wandered around for a couple of hours on Thursday morning, we had a quick breakfast and then headed back to the airport. It was a great little break for me, and Venice is an absolutely beautiful city. If you go, get well away from the main areas and just go and explore the myriad of alleyways. You can walk for miles, but the Grand Canal is never far away and you can always catch a water taxi back to where you need to be if you get lost! Food and drinks are also a fraction of the cost away from the tourist spots.
Thanks to our model Helanna for this snap of us whilst we were having a much needed sit down at a café in the shade.
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3 thoughts on “36 hours in Venice”
Super pictures Julie, although I expect nothing less. x
beutifull photos been a couple of times never seems to change ;
Super pictures Julie, although I expect nothing less. x
beutifull photos been a couple of times never seems to change ;
Thanks Heather & Bob 🙂