2014-04 Venice, Murano and Burano

On our last full day in Italy, we headed up to Venice.  Rather than a tour, we took the first train in the morning and left on the last train in the evening to maximize our time.  The main train station is right on the grand canal, so as soon as we got out of the station, we got a view of all the buildings built right on the waters edge, and boats criss-crossing everywhere.  We purchased our water ferry cards so that we could get on the ferries that go from island to island.  We got on the ferry to go to Murano, which is known for it's glass works.  The glass works were originally on the island of Venice, but due to concerns about fires, they were outlawed in Venice and moved to Murano.

We went into a glass blowing factory and watched one of the glass blowers create a multi-color vase in about 5 minutes.  He had a crew of about 4 others that would help him with the glass blowing process, from monitoring the furnace to helping to shape the product and add small glass flowers around the perimeter.  It was very interesting to watch.  Throughout the island there are glass shops selling everything from small bottle stoppers to multi-thousand euro sculptures.  Many galleries had glass sculptures outside their entrances to help entice you to come in.  After watching the glass blowing and stopping in a few shops, we ate lunch along one of the canals going through the island. 


We then headed for Burano.  I was checking the schedule for the ferries and did not see anything that was headed to Burano, but the schedule board had many ferries going there.  I finally figured out the schedule that they had given me in Venice only had the ferries that were coming or going to Venice, sot he Murano to Burano information was not on there.  Suffice to say, we figured it out and boarded the correct ferry.

The island of Burano is known for its lace and fabric.  Along with this, the houses are all brightly colored and painted different colors.  We also stopped at a small shop that made small glass objects from animals to fruits and flowers.  We watched him make a few small items and bought a couple of things.  While I was watching him, I heard a small engine and when I stepped outside, I got a whiff of one of my favorite smells--freshly cut spring grass.  Since we still had snow on the ground back home, I just wanted to stand and take it in for a while.

As we walked around, we saw another leaning tower in the distance.  This was the tower of the Chiesa di San Martino.  It is not nearly as famous as the leaning tower of Pisa, but looks to lean just as much, and its not surprising considering it is built just a few feet above sea level.  I convinced Kara she should give this one a push too.

One of the interesting things is how people just live their normal life with all the tourist walking through their town all the time.  Bird cages hung out form the windows, laundry was hung out windows.  Besides the bright colors, there is a lot of artistic flair on the houses, from the doorbells to the doors themselves and the shutters.  Even the boats are colorfully painted.  The canals are very narrow and takes a lot finesse to work them through the canals, especially if you have to turn them around to get out. 

We headed back to the ferry terminal to depart for Venice.  We landed on the north side and headed to the south side and Plaza San Marco.  One of our first stops was for a refreshing spritz.  A spritz is Prosecco wine, bitters, and mineral water.  The best part for LeAnn was the delicious olives that came with them.

Since Venice is defined by its canals, the streets seem like a haphazard collection of short segments that come together and merge, dead end into a cross street, or curve around and follow the water.  Getting from point A to point B can be challenging and take a lot longer than expected.

We eventually made it to Plaza San Marco and were amazed by the spectacular mosaics, golden ornamentation and beautiful marble.  Many different kinds and colors of marble were used on the church.







 We headed back toward the train station and took a side trek to find a spiral staircase that Ray had seen as a virtual geocache.  Without the GPS to follow, I doubt we would have found this, but it was worth looking for and finding.

Along the smaller canals, there were gondolas parked at most of the crossings hoping to get some customers.  Some of the canals were barely any wider than the gondolas

We crossed the Grand Canal at Ponte Rialto, which is one of the major bridges and is lined with souvenir shops leading up to the bridge and also going over it.  Being up relatively high on over the canal made for some nice views of the canal.  It would be very easy to get turned around on the island as you go from one side to the other.  We did make one last stop for gelato on the way back to the train station.  We had dinner at a nearby cafe and then got on our train to head back to Florence and get ready to leave the next morning.

We had a great time in Venice and throughout Italy.  It was so much fun having Kara show us around and give us all her insight she had gained in her first 2 months here.