During the carnival vacations, we traveled for three nights with the Flixbus* to Venice for Carnival. I actually hate carnival, but the Venice Carnival is somehow different and, in my opinion, is perfect for a photo tour. So off to Venezia! I had previously read that the canals had dried out due to the lack of rain and the special moon, but this was no longer the case during my photo tour.

The journey with the Flixbus

On Saturday morning at 7:45 a.m., the Flixbus departed from the central bus station in Munich. Eight hours and 15 minutes later, it was due to arrive at Tronchetto in Venice. However, due to the start of the vacation season, the roads to Austria were so full of skiers that the bus was delayed by two hours. The drivers were Italian and didn't speak German. So communication was only possible in Italian or English. The journey via Bolzano, Trento, Verona and Padova - and past Lake Garda - was very pleasant despite the delay, and the passengers were mostly Italian. I was particularly surprised by the passport control before departure. M had previously told me that luggage theft was a serious problem on Flixbus, because people get off somewhere and take other people's luggage, which nobody checks. To my relief, my suitcase arrived safely in Venice. As my photo tour was already so successful at the beginning, I decided without further ado to leave earlier, not at 22:45 but at 13:00. To do this, I had to cancel my existing booking and received a voucher code for the next trip. I used this immediately to book the new trip, which went smoothly. On the return journey, we were pulled out by the Austrian police so that all our passports could be checked. However, as the Flixbus driver had already checked the passports himself when we boarded, it took a maximum of five minutes to check all the passengers. And because once wasn't enough, we were then checked by the police in Garmisch for another 40 minutes. They immediately collected the foreign passports for a more thorough check.

I would therefore recommend Flixbus without reservation, it is a cheap alternative to air travel. As mentioned, the rebooking also went absolutely smoothly.

Book your journey with Flixbus here*.

Venice

Venice is the most romantic city of all. This magic cannot be described in words. One big problem, however, is finding your way around. Due to the many alleyways and waterways, any pedestrian navigation system is overwhelmed. It very often shows routes that don't even exist or locates me incorrectly. Even a difference of 150 m makes a big difference in Venice. If I had walked the way the sat nav wanted me to, I would have jumped into the Grand Canal several times or walked through the walls of houses.

Find out more about Venice here.

The carnival

This year's carnival runs from January 27 to February 13, 2018, but normally the carnival vacations in Bavaria are much later, so I hardly have the opportunity to be in Venice around this time. This year, for once, it worked out quite well with the overlap.

The carnival was heralded in with the flight of the angel in Piazza San Marco.

The program started at 10:00 a.m. with a costume contest, although I don't know who won it or how it was decided. The costumed people came on stage in groups, with each group's outfits being from the same century. They then danced on stage for an hour until the flight of the eagle took place. At 11:00 a.m., a man dressed in black slowly flew from the Markus Tower to the stage opposite. All eyes were on him. As he approached the stage, everyone naturally had to turn towards it again. And suddenly Trump and Kim Jong Un were standing there facing each other, with a huge nuclear button between them. Both were gesticulating wildly, trying to get the other to press the button. But what happened? Then suddenly the Flying Eagle arrived and pressed it. After a loud hiss, the song "All you need is love" rang out and rivals Trump and Kim Jong Un hugged each other in reconciliation. At the same time, the following could be read on stage: "Love is the only button you should press!" Then the presenters announced: "Love is our message." It was great to see that the Venice Carnival conveyed this political message.

I actually hate carnival because I don't like dressing up and all the drunks. But in Venice, everyone was sober. The carnival there is very civilized, it has style and class. The German press recently even wrote something about "decadence".

As a souvenir, I also bought an original Venetian mask, which was produced in Venice by Raffaella Canziani.

Photography at carnival - My tips

I felt that St. Mark's Square was like a red carpet on which all the costumed people presented themselves. It was all about seeing and being seen. You could really have gotten the impression that they thought it was great to be approached and photographed by everyone. The first costumed people were already standing by the water on St. Mark's Square at 8 a.m., posing for the photographers in the light of the sunrise. It was easy for photographers to take beautiful photos because the atmosphere was so positive and the people so friendly. Of course, you could also have your photo taken with them, and they were always willing to do so.

My tips

1. To be able to take beautiful photos of people in their costumes, you should ask them beforehand whether they would agree to having their photo taken. If you simply photograph them like this, they often turn around or look away, which means that the eyes behind the mask are not shown to their best advantage. If they agree, they smile nicely into the camera or sometimes pose quite extrovertly. However, there were also many who agreed to a photo but didn't want to look directly into the lens for artistic reasons. It varies from person to person.
2. The early bird catches.... uh... takes the photo. It's worth getting up early to catch the blue hour in the morning. It's also much emptier everywhere. So you have the costumed people all to yourself and they pose however you like. In the morning, it's mainly the photographers who are out and about, including many Asian photographers. In the evening just before sunset, however, you can also take beautiful photos - the advantage is that there are many more people in costume than in the morning. The disadvantage, however, would be the large gathering of people, as everyone wants to take the best photo.
3. Close-ups are often more effective than taking pictures of the masses. The beauty lies in the detail. That's when the costumes really come into their own.
4. If you were allowed to take the photos, you should definitely say thank you, give a thumbs up or smile nicely.

Links and sources:

Personal experiences on site in February 2018

FlixBus*

L'Arte dei Decori di Raffaella Canziani: Original Venetian masks

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Note: This article was written on our own initiative and there are no cooperations. In other words, we financed the entire trip 100% ourselves.

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