My 5 favorite travel destinations

31/1/2017

Ship's Mast | Veni Etiam Photography

There is nothing more thrilling for my restless soul than to discover a new place as often as life will allow it. There were years where I traveled to several new cities each month; admittedly, it's way easier to have that kind of travel rhythm when you live in Europe. There were other years where my scientific schedule allowed me to fly overseas three or four times in a given year. Although I was not escaping my daily life by any means, I became addicted to the feeling of collecting places in my passport, my photos and my life story.

Wanderlust is at once insatiable as it is exhausting. It's also deeply ingrained and quite possibly genetic, or at the very least highly contagious. I have welcomed "quieter years" with open arms, and I have learned to explore my own daily surroundings with the same sense of discovery and joy without the limited wardrobe, Ziploc bags, foreign currency and nauseating waves of jet-lag. But even during quieter times, I try to see at least ONE new place a year. If a conference or friendly visit is on the agenda, I try to combine it with someplace I have not yet been.

In choosing a travel destination, there are 5 types of places I am intrinsically lured to.

1. Port cities

Aside from the fact that Montreal itself is a port city, one of the earliest experiences that shaped my love for port towns was my time in Ancona on Italy's Adriatic coast. I love the raw, rough, busy feel of port cities - that characteristic curve of harbourfront roads, colorful cranes and containers stacked high against the backdrop of water, and the way a port looks from above, with the sea spilling into the urban space and large ships making smaller boats and buildings look tiny in comparison. Aside from Ancona and Venice which have their own special status with me, port cities that hold a key place in my heart are Bari, Barcelona, Lisboa, Corfu, Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

A hilltop view of Ancona's port

Porto di Ancona

Amsterdam in sepia

Port City | Montreal | Fine-art print, wood, canvas, acrylic or metal

Dubrovnik

Bari Perfetta | Veni Etiam Photography | Fine-art print, wood, canvas, acrylic or metal

2. Rustic old towns

I love old towns. I love their façades -- with beautiful textures, colors and architectural details - their narrow lanes, their broken steps and missing cobblestones, their churchbells, their market days, the sounds of someone sweeping their doorstep or opening their rustic shutters, the sounds of cutlery clinking at dusk. I love the way that residents' voices echo between balconies or rise up from the street to the windows - that same way that tourists' suitcase-wheels disrupt the gentle morning silence. The smaller the town, the more I get turned around, but I have learned to love that too.

Barcelona

Old Bari

Polignano al Mare

Kerkyra | Veni Etiam Photography | Fine-art print, wood, canvas, acrylic or metal

Monopoli

Rovereto

3. Riverfront meets urban

Water is my element. If I can't have the sea or the ocean, at the very least I need a river. I remember how down I used to feel when returning home to Florence after a weekend in Liguria - the Arno would definitely not lift my spirits or make me feel any less landlocked. Canals will also do, but only if there are several of them (the 3 canals in my beloved Milan barely get a 'pass'). I especially love it when a river cuts through a city with a strong urban feel, like Chicago, Berlin or London, and the way the architecture and city culture have a dialogue with the water. Rome and Paris have their own unique feel, and I adore both in a way that can't be summarized in these few lines. I also have wonderful memories of Prague, Dresden, Zurich, Verona and Budapest. Cities with a river coursing through also make very nice maps.

Chicago

Berlin

London

Budapest

Rome

4. Fishing villages and coastal towns

I am drawn to coastal towns and tiny fishing villages to such an extent that it is exceedingly difficult to choose which towns to stop in along a coast - if it were up to me, I would spend time in every single one (and never make it back home). Coastal towns are magical - the way they are built in relation to the sea is a wonderful sight. Some towns are a jumble of pastel-colored houses, stacked one atop the other with no visible spaces between them, on a precarious cliff overlooking the vast sea. Others are sprawled flat and low, as though to keep the sea close and allow everyone the same spectacular view. Fishing villages are among my favorite places to stop for lunch, always eager to spend some time among colorful boats, kind locals and the generous offerings of the sea.

Monterosso

Riomaggiore

Converging Boats (Bermeo)

Kassiopi, Corfu

San Vito (Puglia)

5. East meets West

I have a fascination for cities that mark a junction - either historically or geographically - between East and West. I once went on a mission to analyze the eastern influences on the urban fabric of Venice and its architecture. Istanbul is also still at the top of my dream travel destinations, as is Morocco.

Otranto mosaics

Il Moro | Veni Etiam Photography | Fine-art print, wood, canvas, acrylic or metal

What are your favorite kinds of travel destinations - the types of places you gravitate towards? Tell me in a comment, I'd love to know.

This concludes the 7-part Birthday Blog Series. Veni Etiam Photography is celebrating its two-year birthday this month. Don’t miss out on the special PAIRDEAL birthday promotion that ends TODAY! Visit the main shop or my Etsy shop to choose a piece of the world for your home.