My first side trip in Italy was originally not on my list because I thought it was too far away, but with encouragement from Stephanie I decided to book a night in a hostel in Venice. As I left the train station, Venice appeared exactly as I’d imagined it would.
This was definitely my favourite hostel location so far, the entrance is under the arch on the right.
Which led to a courtyard.
I even got a 4 bed room instead of the usual 12! With limited time I immediately set out to explore.
Everywhere I went in Venice, two types of stores were quite common:
Compared to previous cities, Venice was very easy to walk. There aren’t any cars, and I was able to walk across it in about an hour.
I felt like I was in a movie, seeing bridges and canals that I didn’t realise I’d already seen many times.
With how narrow the streets are, you can turn a corner and find a beautiful church,
or a convoy of gondalas.
It turned out that the theme of this visit was going to be music. One of the gondolas that went by had an accordion player, perfectly completing my preconceived image of Venice.
I wandered in to an instrument museum, where a saw a show being advertised.
The show was by the Interpreti Veneziani, and that night they were performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the nearby church San Vidal.
I decided to check out the venue before committing to a ticket.
I was definitely in. I bought my ticket for 8:30 that night and continued exploring.
I decided to walk out to the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute.
On the way, I stopped for a few minutes to listen to this guy playing the lute. It sounded beautiful!
The basilica was worth the walk.
I happened to walk in 5 minutes before they closed, and was able to take a look around.
Walking to and from the basilica as the sun was going down was peaceful.
Since I had free time, I decided to hang around the church where the show would be. That turned out to be a great decision, as it resulted in a front row centre seat.
That was my view! There were 4 violins, a viola, a bass, a cello, and that instrument that I thought was a piano turned out to be a harpsichord, which I’ve never heard played live before. The show was amazing, the player’s intensity captivating, and I will always remember seeing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons performed in a church in Venice from the front row.
The next morning I visited the famous Piazza San Marco.
The Basilica di San Marco was impressive.
I spent the rest of my time just walking around different parts of Venice.
While waiting for my train I played on a public piano in the station, nicely in tune with the musical theme of the trip.