Venice Carnival

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Trip start
February 22, 2019
Venice Carnival Traveler
Party Boat
February 22, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌫 7 °C
We arrived at our hotel in Venice at around 6pm. After resting for a bit, we headed to a pre-booked party boat. When we got to the pontoon, we were shocked to discovered that everyone was in renaissance costumes with extravagant masks! We didn’t get the dress code memo and ended up being the odd one out.

At the end of the day, it was a tourist party boat. After the cold meat buffet dinner, we started dancing to live music of Amy Winehouse / Ed Sheerin. I felt strange to see all these renaissance ladies and lords dancing to modern music. Well, we were not in a proper ballroom, whatever happened on the boat, stayed on the boat.Read more
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Venice Carnival Traveler
Day of Masks and Costumes
February 23, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌬 7 °C
We started our day with our tradition - a free city walking tour. We were shown around the water city narrow streets and winding waterways by an American living in Venice. After a while, all the mini palazzos, bridges and building facades looked the same to me. What I could remember was Venice is shaped like a fish, the best way to navigate is to know where about I am in the fish.

The weather was gorgeous, blue sky with little wind. We knew there would be a parade in the afternoon from the tail of the fish. After having lunch at a traditional local tapas place, which we called “Italian Sushi” i.e. assorted stuff on top of a piece of bread, and a glass of Apero Spritz (of course! It is originally from Venice), we wondered towards the starting point of the Parade. Along the way, we saw so many people went all out, dressed up in traditionally clothes, full theatrical makeups, and over the top (literally) masks! This was like the Italian version of Melbourne Cup. We stopped every few meters to take photos with fully dressed up participants who were willing to post. I guess this is what carnival is for - you can dress up ridiculously and the only odd one out is those who do not dress up.

In order to feel being part of the carnival, I bought a mask as well. This was the best €3.50 I have ever spent! Instantly, I feel like being part of the carnival and immersing into the festivity atmosphere.

The parade a full dressed re-enactment of showcasing 15 most beautiful virgin teens en-route to San Marco Square. This event was cancelled for 200 years because these girls were either molested or raped on the way to the parade! Only in recent years the parade started again for tourists.

After the parade, we took the slowest ferry to go from stops to stops on the grand canal. Although touristy, Venice’s charm is definitely worths the hype. Blue sky, gondolas, green water, grand facades, beautifully carved bridges, dotted with domes of churches, it is not surprised that Venice has attracted millions of tourists every year.

San Marco Square had a free outdoor live band playing in the evening to take the carnival to a new high. We danced in the cold for about two hours, absorbed all the carnival flavour. When I checked my Apple Watch, we have walked almost 19km today!Read more
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Venice Carnival Traveler
Day of flying angels
February 24, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C
I woke up naturally at 7am, destroying my “dream” of weekend sleep-in. Early birds get the worms, we were rewarded with the tranquil Venice with hardly any tourists wondering around its narrow streets. We were hunting for breakfast. When we reached a pier at Academia, we decided to hop on a ferry and go to the belly belly fin side of Venice just across the grand canal. We found a lovely cafe called Maja that served freshly baked bread and beautiful coffee with a panoramic view of Venice, indoor!

After the relaxing how-I-like-it Sunday breakfast, we hopped on another ferry to head towards San Marco Square for the most anticipated flying of angels parade. Despite a hugh congestion going into the Square, we got in eventually. The Square wasn’t as crowded as I expected it to be and there were a few vintage points where I could see the angels (last year’s Maria) zip lining down to the stage. There were many many well dressed maskers walking around the Square, attracting attentions and being stopped by photo eager tourists. On the stage, classic Venetian court ball were being performed by seriously dressed performers. We enjoyed how the Venetian respect traditions and carried it up from 10th century till today. It might be age, I am not sure about the wiggly moved that was shown to me on the party boat on the first night when we arrived.

I had a great city break weekend with everything was perfect. The flight times in and out were perfect - I had enough time for the evening activity after arrival and I got back to Malta at a reasonable time that I did not feel exhausted. Although cold, the weather was crispy with clear blue sky - you can’t ask for more to see the beauty of Venice. Food is nice given we all know Venice is a touristic town. Most importantly, the atmosphere of Carnival gave a great charm to this already charming City.Read more
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Trip end
February 24, 2019

Party Boat

Day of Masks and Costumes

Day of flying angels