Who Is That Masked Man?

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It has oft been said over the last few years of wedding and holiday planning that I have a tendency to overplan! Well, it may be true, but for this one week in the dead of European winter, my obsessive need to plan actually paid off! Well, sort of...

As luck would have it, we ran into a fellow traveller in Siena who informed us that we would arrive in Venice for the start of the years biggest festival and that all her attempts to find accommodation during this period were in vain as hotels are booked up months and months in advance! Lucky, we booked ahead! So I had a bit of a google of this festival and I discovered that the annual Venice Carnevale is pretty much, the biggest costume party (or Masked Ball) in the world! Plus side, it would be a bit of fun, but on the minus, we would have to face up the thing we have dreaded most over our European holiday......lots and lots of people!!! Dun Dun Dun!

So we headed into Venice with mixed feelings about our stay, excited about the festivities, but a bit wary that the peaceful canals might be disturbed by hoardes of tourists! Stepping off the train, I have to say that Venice just hit me straight away and it was love at first sight! For the first time on this trip, the uniqueness of this city just hit us from the moment we arrived because the train station is on the Grand Canal! I was just blown away and I have to say Mike was getting a bit frustrated as I just walked along with my jaw on the floor in wonderment, while he was struggling with the map trying to figure out where the hell we were going! But being a Fidge, he got us there in the end (As much as I do like to stir him that he gets us lost, we do normally get there in the end!)

We were overjoyed to find that our hotel room was overlooking a little canal, which was just beautiful! I cant tell you how strange it is to look out of your bedroom window and see gondolas gliding past! And you dont realise how noisy and annoying cars are until there is not a car in sight! So lovely and peaceful!

First thing we did when we arrived in Venice was to jump on a Vaporetto (pretty much a water bus that resembles a barge) down the length of the Grand Canal to St Marks Square! It was here that we first got an idea of the festival that is Carnevale as we were surrounded by street sellers with hundreds of different masks! Well we got into the spirit of things and bought a mask each in preparation for tonights festivities! The tradition of Carnevale actually began in the 1700s when the masks were used so that commoners and noble people were not distinguished and everyone could be equal for the city's biggest party! We are told it was also helpful in allowing noblemen to perform all kinds of sexual fantasies without being identified (think Eyes Wide Shut without Tom Cruise)!

After getting all excited, it actually turned out that we had the wrong date for the opening party, but it didn't stop us dancing around in our masks in St Marks Square anyway! The next day was spent exploring St Marks Square and taking photos of the many elaborately dressed people just wandering around as if it was the middle of the 19th Century! Some of the costumes were just incredible!

Deciding that the 80 Euro fee for a 20 minute gondola ride was just daylight robbery, we decided to take the poor man's gondola ride....a 1 Euro traghetto ride! Sure, it doesn't have comfy seats covered in elaborate embroidered fabric, and the driver doesn't where a stripy shirt and a cute hat, and sure it is just from one side of the Grand Canal to the other, but it only cost 1 Euro for goodness sake! Bargain!

Our guidebook told us that the best way to explore Venice is to get lost in its maze of winding alleyways and canals, so thats what we decided to do! It was so lovely just wandering around discovering the lesser seen sides of Venice! We found it a little bit bizarre that 80% of Venice's streets and canals were completely deserted and peaceful, while at the same time, those in and around St Marks Square were packed to the rafters with tourists! But alas, we made it there at the end of the day, only to be desperate to leave the moment we arrived as we were confronted with thousands of tourists! But luckily, in our rush to leave, we actually found ourselves in prime position for a medieval procession that went right passed us! It was a lovely surprise!

After, we had a lovely dinner at a canalside restaurant watching the people and boats go by! Very romantic! I had earlier confessed to Mike my childhood dreams of being proposed to in Venice (it involved a white rose, a violin player and a quite stroll along a deserted canal)! Well, after looking everywhere for a secluded bridge (without luck), and besides the violin player, Mike made my dreams come true by proposing to me again with a white rose on the end of a pontoon on the Grand Canal! Awwww.....I love him so much!

Over the next few days, we took day trips to Venice's surrounding islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello. The first island of Murano is famous for its glass blowing and we were lucky enough to see a demonstration, whereby in about two minutes, a glassworker turned a blob of hot glass into a beautiful little horse! We were just astounded! We went to the glass museum to learn about the origins of glass making. The craft was moved to the island in the 1800s to ensure that the secrets of glassmaking remained secret. Leaving the island was akin to treason back then.  Then we wandered the streets exploring the various glass shops and found a beautiful figurine for a right bargain. Burano was the next island, famous for its colourful houses and for lacemaking. It was a charming little island, which felt very fairy tale like with bright colours everywhere....almost like a disneyland for retired people! Torcello is a small island just off Burano which is home to about 50 people. It looks very desolate, almost like a ghost island, but it is really a lovely and picturesque place to just enjoy the scenery and have a picnic....which is exactly what we did! We had to go a little off-track in order to get there, which we found a bit strange! But on arriving at the centre of the island, we discovered the regular path!

We finished off our stay in the beautiful city of Venice with the traditional meal of Squid Ink Spaghetti, which surprisingly was really yummy (but left us with black tongues)! Overall, we absolutely loved Venice! Despite being a city reliant on tourists, you can walk for miles around its sleepy streets and canals and feel like you are the only ones there! So lovely and peaceful!