Word of the post is vaporetti, meaning water taxi; as in “The
vaporetti was cool for the first 20 minutes but that last 20 it was just cold.”
Off the City of Venice there are several small islands. My
friends Eileen, Kimberly and I traveled to two of them. The island of Murano is
only about 1.5 Km away from Venice, while Burano is about 7 km. We took the
train from Sacile to Venice. Before we started the journey to Murano we paused
for Spritzers, which is a mid afternoon drink made of bitters, white wine, club
soda, lemon and oranges-many people like them, I’m not a fan. Once we were
fortified with Italian wine, we took a vaporetti to Murano.
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| Eileen enjoying a spritzer |
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| Our view from the cafe and the vaporetti dock |
I went on this trip mostly because I wanted something to do
and also, because Kimberly was interested in buying Burano lace. It turns out
that Murano is something to see and not just a bunch of overpriced glass.
Vendors cover the city with not really shops, but instead galleries of their
work. Murano glass making goes at least as far back as the 9th
century when glassmakers were sent to Murano from Venice as a way to protect
their craft from the destructive Venetian Republic.
People I met in Aviano have a bowl or vase from Murano and
that’s really all I associated it with. The Murano have items that vary from
wine stoppers to intricate mirrors. In
the town squares there are giant sculptures that are large, detailed works of
art. Mosaics decorate the outside of many of these shops so you feel like you
are visiting museums rather than proprietorships. While you may have no intention
of buying glass at that particular juncture, you are kept quite busy marveling
at how somebody was able to make tiny glass grapes that are carefully adhered
to a ginormous chandelier. So, I found that whether you are looking to buy a
fancy bowl or just appreciate fine craftsmanship, Murano is a cool place to go.
The very colorful Burano is about 30 minutes on the
vaporetti from Murano. The island’s homes stand out because each house sports a
different vivid hue. I read that the houses were painted so vividly because the
fishermen wanted to be able to recognize their homes from sea. Venetian lace
was said to have started there after a seaman gave his lady seaweed as a token,
she then wanted it replicated in threads. I was very excited to see Burano and
its beautiful handcrafted lace. Various books warn against stuff manufactured
in Japan, but I couldn’t tell what was what and so I bought some things from a
cute Italian couple. I am forever thankful that I know numbers in Italian
because that was all I needed in my attempts at bartering down the prices.
It turns out that it can take about an hour to an hour and a
half by train to get to Venice, 10 minutes to take a vaporetti to get to Murano
and another 30 to get Burano. Travel is exponentially longer when one is not
driving, but it also a lot more noteworthy. Next time we will start out in the
early morning because we left plenty of shops uncovered. At any event, I
considered this a scouting mission and intend to do some serious damage once we
have our house in order.
-Also noteworthy, I just realized that I wrote bowel instead
of bowl throughout this, I am very pleased I caught that. And fixed.
I am so happy that you are having so much fun and going on so many cool adventures! I am also jealous and am living vicariously through you at the moment so you better be living it up for me! Love and miss you dearly!
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