Sense of Place

So, the lovely Madeline, manicmads on youtube, did a video, where she proposed that we talked about places that we hold dear, but I think I'm not able to answer that. I just have too many places that I could consider as my favorite places. The thing about them is that they're scattered all around Europe.

But there are especially two places where I feel like I'm a part of them.

Timeless Italian cities FTW.

First, we have the Loggia dei Lanzi, in Florence, Italy. It's an absolutely breathtaking place. When I went there last summer, I passed by there every single day, since I was staying really near the Vecchio Palace. And goddamn, was it awesome. It has outstanding statues such as The Rape of Sabine Women by Giambologna, and just the whole thing has this magic that I can't explain. One night, an orchestra played there, they were playing soundtracks from movies like Lord Of The Rings and the square was so full, seriously, I had never seen so many people in just one place. And it was really cool just feeling like a part of this, watching people smile as they recognized the songs, right there under the starry italian sky with the streets still warm after a long and tiring day of discovering the wonders of Firenze...

*whispers* Also, Helena Bonham Carter sat there once for the movie A Room with a View, how cool is that?

If you listen carefully you may hear me crying over this city.

No, I'm not crying, I  just have Italy in my eye.

Hint, this city is known by its famous wine.

My second favorite place has to be Liberdade Square, right next to the city I live in, in Porto, Portugal. Just because I never get tired of visiting beautiful squares, and I mean who does? This square has so much life, there is always tourists, and cars, and movement, and just life. And it's so big and full of wonderful, old buildings and whenever I go there you can literally see my eyes turning into the heart eyed emoji. Not even kidding.

There's this one old, abandoned building that I really like. Old, abandoned and absolutely beautiful. It's huge and gorgeous and I like to think that one day I will get to start an hotel there. It was once a fancy cafe, in the 20's or 30's, but then it changed owners, and then it changed owners again, and it ended up abandoned. It's sad, really, how such a stunning, huge building, set in a really lively square can reach this stage, but I always found abandoned buildings extremely interesting, because they have so many stories to tell, and they have so much potential...

The said abandoned building, it was once called Monumental Caffe.

Aw, yas, the heart of Porto.

This post made me nostalgic, meh. *sighs and flies away*