Carnival in Venice

My first trip to Venice, Italy for Carnival was a voyage of discovery in a fantastic world of music, theatre, games, and magic. A whirling universe where people from all over the world can experience the masks, costumes, and fantasy with hundreds of thousands of their closest friends.

I was completely overwhelmed by how many people visit Venice for Carnival. Everyone was shoulder to shoulder, and it took hours to shove my way through the crowds, especially in St. Mark’s Square.

It was exciting, {and a little frightening at times} seeing all of the colorful costumes. Even children enjoyed dressing up and playing in the streets of Venice.

To escape the crowds, we made our way through a maze of narrow back alleys and explored some of the less congested parts of Venice.

And of course, one can not visit Venice without cruising the canals of this floating city on a gondola.

Each year, beautiful Venetian architecture is destroyed by frequent flooding of the city, a phenomena known as “acqua alta”. Certain times of the year, visitors and residence have to traverse the flooded city in rain boots.

Even though the crowds were stressful, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing people posing in beautiful costumes all over the city. I don’t know if I would visit again during Carnival, but its definitely worth seeing at least once in a lifetime!