Venice Carnival Pt. 1

I have always wanted to visit the famous Carnival in Venice. I love Venice; it is the most romantic city in Europe (in my own personal opinion, of course). So, one day I checked one of the famous low-cost airline’s offers and I saw the tickets to Venice were about fifteen Euros... and I am talking about a two way ticket (not kidding at all). I quickly bought one for myself and one for my boyfriend and we were on the run. The only problem we encountered was the fact that our airline company would not allow us to take more than a small backpack or a purse without paying. Well, we were creative and organized and we managed to place all of our precious belongings in our backpacks (I am talking about those small, school-type of backpacks).

We got on the plane and in about one hour-hour and a half we were near Venice. Another minus of low-cost companies is that they leave you somewhere in the middle of nothing. Luckily, the airport we landed on is not too far from Venice. We had to take a bus and we arrived in an hour. We had booked a hotel in Mestre. Now, that is a good tip because Venice is extremely expensive and humid. So, unless you have enough money to plan your trip, you might choose a nice hotel in the center of Venice and take a boat in order to get anywhere. If you are like me, a normal student with not a lot of cash, you need to be smart. So, we saw that Mestre, which is like twenty or thirty minutes away from Venice both by bus and by train, is a nice option. It is cheaper and the hotels are new. We actually found a five star hotel for a very good price.

Since we had arrived early in the morning, we went straight to Venice. It was the opening day of the Carnival, so we were excited. I should mention here that the Carnival is held at the end of January and the beginning of February. You might think that since Venice is in Italy, it tends to be warm and nice. Well, no! If you thought that, you are mistaken. Venice is awfully cold in the winter. Add a bit of seaside and canals to the low temperatures and you can get the whole picture. We were freezing. I had the feeling that the cold was getting inside my bones and muscles.

Still, the Carnival is an interesting event and I was happy to see it. We first went to drink some of the famous and quite strong Italian Espresso. Quite nice, I should say. We had Italian breakfast in a bar and then we took a walk inside of the labyrinth called Venice. The city is full of small shops, which offer jewellery, traditional Venetian masks, souvenirs, glass objects, etc. Some of the stuff you could see there are true pieces of art. There are extremely beautiful masks that cost up to three hundred Euros! Still, they are handmade and very beautiful. The masks are made of papier mache or specially made paper. Some masks are decorated with stones or painted. There are different characters when it comes to masks. Some masks cover your entire face, while other are only meant to hide the part of your eyes.

The Carnival’s opening was quite impressive. Different teams (I believe they were families) crossed the main canal, Canale Grande, on the typical Venetian boats. All teams had their costume theme. Some where all dressed in black with rich decorations, others were all in pink, some looked like pandas... They were all very beautiful and original. There were also some nicely masked people, walking on the streets. The ladies had old-fashioned richly decorated dresses and masks, while the gentlemen were wearing trousers and special jackets. It was like seeing a movie.