12 June 2006

Day 16 - Murano and Burano

Today we headed out to the island of Murano by Vaporetto (water bus). Murano almost a smaller version of Venice, famous for it's glass. Lots of glass can be bought in Venice and Murano - most of it made in China.

Murano is alot like Venice, only smaller and a little less crowded.

We started by visiting the glass museum on the island. It was interesting to get an insight into the history of glass making here. We ventured through the rest of the island looking for a couple of stores we had been recommended, and trying to avoid all the stores selling rubbish.

This display was in the glass museum. Apparently these sorts of 'gardens' were once very popular.

Some of the stores allowed you to see glass being blown. Want a glass penguin, for some reason? You've come to the right place.

Some of the stores we visited had some nice things but hefty prices - up to around 30,000€. The shop assistants encouraged us to touch and pick up the pieces. Not at these prices, thankyou!

We caught a vaporetto again, out to more distant island of Burano. Burano is famous for its lace, although very little is made here anymore. Disappointingly, we weren't the only people to think of coming out to this little town - the place was packed with tourists. Strangely, though, no-one was in the lace museum, execpt for three old ladies still stiching lace the old-fashioned way. The museum was in the old lace school (apparently quite famous in itself) and had some amazing pieces.

Burano is bright and colourful. It's poor campanile, like many around here, has an unfortunate lean.

Houses in Burano are smaller than in Venice, but packed closer together. There are no courtyards, either, which is why everyone hangs their clothes out in the street.

We had a simple pizza lunch, but got more than we bargained for (we're sure European serving sizes are larger). We decided to walk it off by crossing the bridge to the nearby island of Mazzorbo.

Mazzorbo is nothing at like Venice. There's only a couple of shops, a few houses, and lots of open space. It was a refreshing change! I don't think we bumped into another group of tourists while we were wandering.

A green pathway on Mazzorbo.

Back in Venice, we wandered past the Arsenale, the historic sight where the great ships of the Venetian Republic were built. It's still in use by the military, so you can't see that much inside.

David in front of the entrance to the Arsenale.

On the way back to our hotel we stopped into a tiny little electrical store where we saw a chandelier flower for sale in the window. The flower looked exactly like the candelier flowers we had seen in the historic palaces we had visited. We thought this small, inexpensive glass flower is a better souvenir and reminder of Venice than anything we had seen on Murano.

That evening we were still too full for dinner, so went out for Ice Cream on the Zattere. Our guidebook recommended three gelaterie (ice cream shops) while we were in Venice: Paolin, Il Doge and Nico. Over the last few days we had tried all three. Our verdict? Definately try the 'Crema del Doge' at Il Doge in Campo Santa Margherita.

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