Forgot to publish a post about the side-trip we took in Venice, out to the islands of Murano and Burano. If you’ve been to Venice before, you’ll know that Murano is the glass-blowing centre, and Burano is the headquarters of the lace-makers.
Murano was nice enough, but nothing to really write home about. The glass-blowing demonstration was impressive, but was carried out by sweaty men in greasy singlets and shorts, who didn't want to put their cigarettes out for long enough to make a colourful vase. Needless to say, I didn’t purchase anything at the demonstration workshop.
But then there was Burano. When AB and I went to Venice earlier this year, we boarded a water taxi bound for Burano, and couldn’t find it. I had originally thought that this was attributable to the bad fog on the day. Perhaps the captain of our boat simply couldn’t find the island. But based on my journey out there the other day, I’ve revised this initial assessment. As much as it pains me to admit this, I actually think that Batreg and I simply caught the wrong boat. On the trip we took the other day, I was doubly careful to check and re-check the boat timelines, and we ended up catching the boat from Venice to Lido (the beach resort area). We bummed around in Lido for an hour or so, then boarded a connecting boat out to Burano for the afternoon.
The island of Burano is gorgeous. It is a lot like Alsace in NE France, in the sense of being wall-to-wall with colourful houses (like a box of Smarties). It turns out that fishermen in the village of Burano painted their houses such colours so that when they were out fishing, they could see their houses on the shore. Nice, eh?
Burano is a great one-day getaway and is well worth the effort to get out there. Even stopping for a gelato in Lido is a good way to break up the journey. Burano is quite a Venetian treasure - if you can find it.
1 comment:
Bugger it! No wonder eveyone else got off at Lido!
Post a Comment