Glass, Lace & Gondola

After a very slow start to our adventure of a lifetime, our first full day was amazing. A quick stop at our local café for Americanos and croissant and then to the newsagents to buy transit passes. We were able to get a 48 hour pass, which was perfect. The sweet lady at the newsagent didn’t speak any English, but she was quite determined to make sure we knew where we were going and took the right bus. Transit was actually so easy, is good, since it’s been almost 30 years since I’ve used transit. There was a bus stop around the corner from our hotel, and all the places we needed to go, took the good old #5 bus. Airport to hotel - #5, hotel to island tour meeting place -#5, hotel to train station - #5. In addition to the buses, we also had to take water buses to get to the touristy part of Venice. They have floating bus shelters and everything!

Our timing was perfect. We found the meeting place for our island tour with plenty of time to explore the street markets and have a cappuccino. Our tour guide, Alexandria, was delightful and our group of 20 or so boarded the good ship “Droopy”! It was a gorgeous day to be on the water, which was good. It was a fair jaunt to the Island of Murano. 

Murano is the home of Venetian glass blowers. Over the centuries the secrets of the masters were so closely guarded that if he left the Island to practice elsewhere, he was branded a Traitor! After a glass blowing and glass sculpting demonstration, we were free to explore the gallery, the shop and the Island.

Back on “Droopy” to the Island of Burano, famous for it’s lace. Alexandria told us the legend of the brightly painted houses. When it was a fishing village, the fishermen would spend their profits in the tavern upon their return from sea. Having imbibed too much, they wouldn’t be able to tell one house from another and end up in the wrong bed. The wives were not impressed by this, and painted their homes different bright colours. After that, their wayward husbands had no excuse for going to the wrong door!

The dock area at Burano is very small, so there isn’t enough room for every boat to pull in. We pulled up beside another boat and “walked the plank” across three other boats to get to shore! Burano is the most charming little island, with quirky houses and a leaning tower. It has a delightful market street and we saw a lace making demonstration from a tiny, little old lady who was a fourth generation lace maker. I could have stayed for days. A picnic lunch of crab and fried potato slices In paper cones, and back on “Droopy”!

Back on the main Island of Venice, we refreshed ourselves with gelato (coffee flavoured this time!). Next step, the all important gondola ride. There’s no way we going to visit Venice without exploring the canals on a gondola! It was every bit as delightful as I had envisioned! Words cannot describe the joy and contentment of floating along the canal, under countless bridges, surrounded by centuries old architecture. Our gondolier pointed out an old prison and Marco Polo’s home, which is now a theatre.

We hadn’t had a proper, sit-down meal since we left Alberta, so we wandered the streets until we found an appealing Trattoria. We started with a mixed bruschetta, one was tomato like we expect, the other was some sort of fish. Our waiter didn’t speak any English, so we couldn’t make too may enquires about details. I had seafood risotto for our main course, Janice had truffle gnocci and I finally got a glass of wine! A cappuccino and tiramisu was the perfect finish!

It was such an amazing day, it couldn’t have been any more perfect. Now, as I write this, we are on a train, going through Florence and Rome on our way to Naples for leg 2 of our Epic Adventure!