Island Hopping and a Grand Canal Cruise

Today we went to Murano the island that is known for its glass making. There were glass shops everywhere and glass workers as well. We wandered the streets among the other people who were exploring. Steve was patient and I looked in and out of shops with some exquisite glass pieces.

Then it was on the ferry again to Burano which is known for its lace making. Burano is known for its wonderful coloured houses and so we wandered alongside canals and over bridges admiring the brightness of colour and walking past peoples homes and with their doors open you could see behind the curtain at the door way was the dining room. The shops had all kinds of lace, antique and modern as well as a lot of Murano glass. I saw one woman making lace and apparently seven women work on a piece of lace for a month. Each woman specializes and has one area with one technique to work on.

It was quite interesting seeing the mud flats in the lagoon, a reminder of what Venice is built on... and yes, the church tower is on a lean.

We went back to Venice and then got the ferry around the Grand Canal. It stopped along the way to let people on and off but was a good way to see some spectacular buildings from the water at minimal cost because our day ticket covered all these excursions. We did not go on a gondola ride along the little canals. We didn't feel it was a good use of 80 Euro.