The Spritz Club’s latest outing was an especially exciting one. We took a whole day to go to Venice and explore some of its islands. Fun times were had by all!
“Mainland” Venice
Yeah, I know, Venice itself is an island. But it’s surprisingly easy to forget about the dozens of islands that surround it, and as we learned, it would take a LONG time to explore them all.
We got our €10 return train tickets to Venice and arrived there at about 10 o’clock. Just outside the train station you’ll find booths where you can buy vaporetto (water bus) tickets. For €18 you can get a 12-hour pass to use on, as far as I know, all of Venice’s vaporetti. We bought our tickets and a €3 map of Venice with the water bus routes before we realized it was a ripoff. Posted right next to the booth was the EXACT map we had just paid for, but way bigger. If we had seen it first, we could have saved the money and just taken a picture of the map.
Even with the map, the routes were hard to figure out. Finally we found a vaporetto route that would take us to the island of Murano, our first destination. If you’re in line for a water bus, stand your ground! Before we knew it an entire school group from France had cut us and about 20 people ahead of us. Not only did they cut the line, but when a vaporetto arrived, they had too many people to fit on the already-crowded boat, and no one was able to get on. Because of this, it took us almost an hour to finally set foot on the island.
TIP: Make sure you validate your ticket every time you get on a boat! Last summer they instituted the validation system and you can be fined if you’re caught on a boat without a validated ticket. There are little validator stands by the stops and there’s no way to know your ticket has been validated except that the machine will beep at you.
Murano
As you probably know, Murano is known for its glass. You can’t take twenty steps in Venice without bumping into a glass shop. We got off at the Murano Colonna stop, which isn’t the main stop and we were kind of unsure about where to go. We wandered up the walkway along the water and followed signs to the glass studios. We must have found four or five just in the first fifteen minutes! These galleries are full of glass, from cheap earrings very very expensive pieces made by the master glassblowers of the island. We’re talking €15000 chandeliers, people. And almost every gallery you find will have “no photos” posted on every wall. But if you’re like me and you have a very quiet shutter on your camera, you just might be able to sneak a few. 😉
We found one glass studio where the glassblowers were giving a demonstration, but they charged €3/person just to watch! These people make money from their glass. Why should we have to pay to watch someone make money? That’s just nonsense. As you can guess, we didn’t get to see anyone actually blowing glass. It’s very possible that other glass studios in the less-touristy part of Murano might have open demonstrations, but we didn’t find any.
Murano island is divided by canals, just like the rest of Venice, and it’s MUCH bigger than I imagined. We spent quite a while exploring and still only covered the bottom-most section. We were a little surprised because once we ventured inland, away from the glass shops along the water, all the buildings became residential. It’s an island focused on its industry, and the houses reflected it. No frills – very plain and just there to get the job done.
We followed signs to centro (town center) and finally made it back down to the southern area of the island, which was much more touristy and pretty and Venice-like. The glass shops in this area every five steps, and were a lot of fun for window shopping. We found a restaurant with a price-fix lunch and promptly stuffed our faces. Uva and I were brave and tried the seafood lasagna (it was delicious!), while Ananas ordered the eel. She concluded that it’s just not the same without Japanese eel sauce.
We continued south to the Murano Faro boat stop, which is much more in the center of town and probably the best one to use if you’re going to visit. Unlike the “mainland” stops that we saw, this one had a lovely digital sign displaying the next boats and when they were coming. Why don’t all stops have them?! Because it’s Italy, that’s why. The sign made it very easy to catch the next boat to Burano.
Burano
Don’t be fooled by the tourist map, like we were. Burano is MUCH farther away than Murano! On the map it looks like it’ll probably the same length ride, but the map isn’t even close to being to scale. We estimated that the ride from Murano to Burano ended up being about half an hour. (And if you’re thinking, “Hey, that tower looks crooked,” you’re not crazy. It’s very crooked.)
Murano is known all over for it’s glass, but what about Burano? I had never even heard of the tiny island, but Burano has it’s own point of pride – lace! You’ll see little shops all over selling merletti in all sorts of fascinating designs. We went into one shop where a little old lady was working away at her trade, needle and thread in hand. I’ve always wondered how lace could made by hand and it was really interesting to watch her work. She must do a good job, because there were pictures of her with Elton John on the wall. (Um, what?)
We asked another lady in the shop if all the lace on the island was made by hand, or if they used machines too. She told us that they do use machines, and showed us two lace figures of gondoliers to compare. The machine-made one was beautiful, but very precise. The handmade one had more unique detail and was less precise. As she told us, the machine produces lace that is “too perfect.” It’s the same as the difference between a cubic zirconia and a diamond. And the price difference is similar too – machine lace is considerably cheaper than handmade. The tablecloth-sized piece behind Mela took five years (correct me if I’m wrong, Mela) and had a price tag of a whopping €5000.
Aside from its lace, Burano is also very proud of its color! Nearly every building has been painted a bright color (think Cinque Terre bright). I think “enchanting” is a good description. Ananas was telling us that if you want to paint your Burano house, you have to apply and get the color approved first! The best thing about the island might have been just walking through the tiny streets and taking in the sights. Here’s a little of what Burano has to offer….
Other Islands
Cimitero / Isola San Michele
Between “mainland” Venice and Murano is a tiny, square island that was simply called Cimitero (cemetary) on our map. Google calls it Isola San Michele. Either way, it seems to be a island that is used as a graveyard. We wanted to stop and check it out, but it’s a good thing we didn’t because we wouldn’t have had nearly enough time.
Another island we were interested in is Torcello, very close to Burano. We got to see it from the boat stop and it looked mostly like a nature reserve. There were very few buildings, but plenty of trees and bushes and grass. We were guessing it might be like an island park, and would probably be a great place for a picnic.
Mazzorbo
Mazzorbo is another small island that is actually connected to Burano by a tiny bridge. I’m not sure how much there is to see there, but it looked pretty from the boat and you could explore it easily from Burano if you have time.
And those are just the northern islands we happened to spot from our commutes to Murano and Burano. There are a whole bunch more to the east and south of Venice!
TIP: Just seeing Murano and Burano took us alllllll dayyyyy. We left Vicenza at 9am and returned at 8pm. It’s true that most of our time was spent on transportation, but unfortunately that can’t be avoided so make sure to plan adequate time!
Happy Travels!
❤ Maracuja
God Save the Spritz 