Venice - Murano and Burano

Our appartment definately was a lucky strike! It was situated in S.Croce, comfortably away from the masses of people in San Marco, and we lived the easy life of the few Venetians who still can afford to live in Venice. Population is dropping constantly, most locals live e.g. in Mestre and commute into the city every day to work here.

The very best thing about our wonderfully quiet appartment was the little balcony where we enjoyed a lovely view over the rooftops of the city, and where we had breakfast each morning before diving into the huzzle and buzzle just a few steps away. I am convinced you cannot stay anywhere better in Venice, even the famous hotels with their balconies onto the Canale Grande are right in the middle of the - let´s say it frankly - usually very loud Italian life. The vaporetto stop was like two minutes away, and it took us just a short while to ride to San Marco.

One day was reserved for "the islands". Since it was extremely tricky to figure out the vaporetto schedule (and even to FIND the proper line taking you to the islands) we only managed to go to Murano and Burano on this one day. We were so absolutely done in the evening when we hoped to catch a boat to Torcello the captain obviously had decided that he did not want to go there, so all we heard was "oggi non Torcello", so we decided what the heck, called it a day and went back to San Marco.

Murano actually was a bit of a disappointment. It is mostly about shops selling glass, and the glassware you find in the windows are not even pieces of art but made for mass tourism and rather trashy. No doubt you can find masterpieces inside the factories in case you want to order something really special for your villa, but strolling around Murano was not the big thing. I had been here years ago on the Saturday of the Carnevale and remembered a quiet, picturesque island (of course, everyone was in San Marco to party and the shops were closed) and I had been afraid that Murano might be completely different with the shops open. But Hasi really had wanted to go there, so we did. We did not like it, so we decamped very soon  - only to find ourselves in the confusion of the local vaporetto system again. Since we were not able to find the proper direct line to Burano we went back to San Marco and took a boat from there.

As you can see, Burano is a totally different ride. Whilst Murano is just a few minutes from Venice it takes you almost 45 minutes to get out to Burano. But it was so worth it! Burano is absolutely lovely...

 

It is famous for its colorful houses and for its lace and embroidery. And even though you find many shops there the atmosphere is peaceful and easy-going. We instantly fell in love with the place.

Leaving was hard, but we had planned to round the day off with Torcello - where we did not make it, due to the unsolved vaporetto secret.

So back home in S. Croce we dragged ourselves to our favorite pizzeria "Rosa" - one of the places where the locals go, and where you can sit and watch life passing by for hours....

Oh happy day...