Murano and Burano

NINA Since I've been to Venice a few times, I wanted to do something that I had not done before. Everyone says Murano is a rip off but that's probably if you paid a tour company to take you there. We took the vaporetto, the local bus system, and hopped the islands in the Veneto Lagoon. Murano is the most visited one, mainly because of the popularity of Murano glass. As soon as we got off the boat on the island, we went straight to a glass blowing demonstration at one of the factories. Here's a taste of it...

After walking around the sleepy island for a bit, we bumped into a fantastic art show called Glasstress, in which artists, architects, and designers express their ideas in glass. Not the typical "Murano glass" that you would see in the tourist shops in Venice. The show was a great intro. to the Biennale, which we were planning to visit the following day. Here are some of the cool things we saw at Glasstress:

 

 

Plus a interesting installation ...

 read more on the chickens here...That was pretty much it for Murano.


Our next stop was Burano, one of the islands further away from Venice. It took a while to get there but it was fun to see all the other islands on our way there, and that the vaporetto truly was the way that Venetians get around. While Murano is known for the glass industry, Burano was known for its lace industry, which has all but died except for a few families that still produce on the island. Not sure what else is going on here except that it is very pretty, especially houses on the tourist path.

 


It was a special treat to head back to Venice during sunset...

 

And also have a decent pizza meal and paying a visit to Mr. Giant Crab...a good day!