part 9
Venice, Italy
Murano and Burano, Islands of Glass and Lace
Well, we finally reached our last port; the port of Venice. Beautiful Serinissima.
I have been to Venice a few times during different seasons and I must say that Venice in the Summer is my LEAST favorite time to visit. In the summer, Venice is a swarming mass of humanity that takes away just about all of the charm and beauty that I know can be found in Venice.
Venice in April is cold and blustery, sparkling and crisp and Venice in the fall is golden and magical. Either of those seasons have an amazing experience to offer. NOT summer. Sorry!
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I’ll get to the really amazing things about Venice.
When our ship docked, we had one extra night on board and a full day of tours on offer. Thinking strategically and knowing that we had booked two additional days in Venice at a hotel after the cruise, we decided to opt for the water taxi tour to Murano and Burano the small islands with big reputations in the lagoon of Venice.
The water taxi ride through the lagoon to the islands was a breezy boat ride with the wind blowing the summer humid air off us and occasionally sprinkling light spray in our faces and the smell of the fresh sea invigorated our noses. Murano is where they make the famous Venetian hand blown glass, and Burano is the home of Venetian lace, both can be really expensive, but the lure of the beautiful designs whether in glass or thread is a siren call to most of us. Our first stop was to be the Marco Polo Glass Factory on Murano.
And yes, we had to follow the tourist path and watch a glass blowing demonstration! The hot orange furnaces blasted out heat even over to where we were standing at the end of the room. It was actually pretty interesting as the “master” twirled and blew and twirled and blew as a graceful form grew at the end of his long pipe. Afterword we spent some time in the factory shop looking at museum quality glass design. We had promised ourselves a set of Venetian wine glasses so we sprang for what are the most beautiful traditional (as in twisted stems with gold flecks in the glass) wine glasses in Venice. Do I sound biased? They are spectacular! Just a note here, not everyone has had the great experience we did in ordering our glasses, so check out the tripadviser reviews online before deciding where to buy your Venetian glass! There is a lot of fraud in the Venetian glass industry so do your due dilligence and beware!
After the glass blowing demo we rejoined our water taxi for the ride to Burano, the home of fine needle made lace. No lace for me. Not my thing, but I could certainly appreciate the delicate designs on the crisp creamy linen. Even Leonardo da Vinci admired this fine lace and bought cloth for main altar of the Cathedral of Milan from the lace makers when he visited in 1481. Bright colorful shops and cafes lined the large square which was dominated at one end by the 16th century cathedral of San Martino with its awkwardly leaning campanili. Of course, to satisfy my obsession with cathedral art, I had to duck away from our friends to take a peek inside the dark cool interior.
This was our last night on board the ship, so we all gathered on a room balcony for drinks, cigars (the guys only) and reminiscing about our wonderful cruise. As the sun sank into the sea and the temperature dropped, we cuddled up in deck blankets and toasted a grand journey that was not quite over yet because we had two more days in Venice, our hotel a Doge’s Palazzo. But that is for the next tale!
I have been to Venice a few times during different seasons and I must say that Venice in the Summer is my LEAST favorite time to visit. In the summer, Venice is a swarming mass of humanity that takes away just about all of the charm and beauty that I know can be found in Venice.
Venice in April is cold and blustery, sparkling and crisp and Venice in the fall is golden and magical. Either of those seasons have an amazing experience to offer. NOT summer. Sorry!
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I’ll get to the really amazing things about Venice.
When our ship docked, we had one extra night on board and a full day of tours on offer. Thinking strategically and knowing that we had booked two additional days in Venice at a hotel after the cruise, we decided to opt for the water taxi tour to Murano and Burano the small islands with big reputations in the lagoon of Venice.
The water taxi ride through the lagoon to the islands was a breezy boat ride with the wind blowing the summer humid air off us and occasionally sprinkling light spray in our faces and the smell of the fresh sea invigorated our noses. Murano is where they make the famous Venetian hand blown glass, and Burano is the home of Venetian lace, both can be really expensive, but the lure of the beautiful designs whether in glass or thread is a siren call to most of us. Our first stop was to be the Marco Polo Glass Factory on Murano.
And yes, we had to follow the tourist path and watch a glass blowing demonstration! The hot orange furnaces blasted out heat even over to where we were standing at the end of the room. It was actually pretty interesting as the “master” twirled and blew and twirled and blew as a graceful form grew at the end of his long pipe. Afterword we spent some time in the factory shop looking at museum quality glass design. We had promised ourselves a set of Venetian wine glasses so we sprang for what are the most beautiful traditional (as in twisted stems with gold flecks in the glass) wine glasses in Venice. Do I sound biased? They are spectacular! Just a note here, not everyone has had the great experience we did in ordering our glasses, so check out the tripadviser reviews online before deciding where to buy your Venetian glass! There is a lot of fraud in the Venetian glass industry so do your due dilligence and beware!
After the glass blowing demo we rejoined our water taxi for the ride to Burano, the home of fine needle made lace. No lace for me. Not my thing, but I could certainly appreciate the delicate designs on the crisp creamy linen. Even Leonardo da Vinci admired this fine lace and bought cloth for main altar of the Cathedral of Milan from the lace makers when he visited in 1481. Bright colorful shops and cafes lined the large square which was dominated at one end by the 16th century cathedral of San Martino with its awkwardly leaning campanili. Of course, to satisfy my obsession with cathedral art, I had to duck away from our friends to take a peek inside the dark cool interior.
This was our last night on board the ship, so we all gathered on a room balcony for drinks, cigars (the guys only) and reminiscing about our wonderful cruise. As the sun sank into the sea and the temperature dropped, we cuddled up in deck blankets and toasted a grand journey that was not quite over yet because we had two more days in Venice, our hotel a Doge’s Palazzo. But that is for the next tale!