Venice, Venezia

Hola!

The annual carnival takes place in Venice at the end of February. I had been looking forward to partaking in this carnival since I first thought of it; probably when I saw the Casanova movie for the first time.

I headed towards Venice with my lovely Italian friend to meet up with my road trip buddy from Mexico who was joining us for the night. We had managed to book a lovely apartment in the St Marco area through Airbnb but I would recommend booking early! We hit lucky and the place and location were amazing.

We were warned before that the masks at the carnival area might be extremely expensive so I hunted us some from Turin already. Actually, the masks in the area were not expensive at all and they had such awesome ones, that I was dreaming of a larger suitcase.

The carnival lasts for over a week and there are daily mask competitions and people in full costumes. The main dates are always the first Thursday and the Tuesday that follows. There is also a daily dinner party with a full mask show but the tickets cost more than 400 e. Needless to say, we did not partake in this party. On some of the more popular dates, the parties get fully booked months before.

I and my Italian friend stayed in Venice for three days so we partook in the festival in full costumes on our first day and then spend some more time exploring the ins and outs of Venice. I cannot say anything bad about Venice but the food isn’t as good or authentic as it is elsewhere in Italy; it is made for tourists and with tourist prices. The gondola ride was worth every penny; 80 euros for 30 minutes per boat.

There are so so many side streets to explore and so many pretty boats and canals and spots that you could spend weeks admiring them. The city itself is easy to get around and quite lovely.

Here are some pictures to better describe the views and the carnival.

Love,

Mira