May is one of the best months to visit the few islands. Just before it gets too hot and sticky and humid. All 3 islands are really just a boat ride away from the mainland. And it takes less than half an hour to reach Murano by boat. Not to mention, that the mainland is a place you can not miss at all and like majority of visitors to the islands, you would have come to visit the mainland initially.
We started our morning by having breakfast and later on lunch as well in Venice, in a lovely restaurant
Ristorante Da Alvise, located on the Fondamena Nuove and facing the Northern lagoon. We were not sure about it at first, as the place was almost empty. But by the time we got our first meal coming it was almost full with both locals and the tourists...And when you read further, you will understand that we not only don't regret eating there, but will definitely come back to the same restaurant when we come here again.
They are serving both traditional Venetian seafood and a variety of freshly prepared pizzas.
The black squid spaghetti dish is something I definitely recommend you not to miss! You have to try it if you eat fish, or even if you don't :)
And I absolutely have to mention the view from the restaurant's terrace:
We did also share the homemade dessert made by Mamma Erika - soft, juicy and airy Tiramisu which melted in the mouth as soon as you put it onto your tongue.
Refueled and satisfied, we continued with the goal of our day - island hopping. Bought a day pass for 20 Euro per person for the water bus, entries to local attractions and sightseeings, including also the airport bus transfer if you need it. You can come on and get off the water boat as much as you like within the next 24 hours.
Sneak peak into the bus driver's or vaporetti cabin, with a boat's wheel and the "bus driver".
Passing Murano on the way to the further island...
And after about 40 minutes later arriving to Burano, the most picturesque and photogenic island I have seen so far.
See for yourself.
Each house is coloured in the most bright shade of red, blue, yellow or pink you can imagine. And yet it doesn't hurt the eyes, but indeed, makes you very happy.
You can spend an entire day on this island alone, and even though its quite small, we didn't get bored. We met many artists sat leisurely around for the whole day and make the magic happen on their canvases and Moleskine notebooks.
The atmosphere is very relaxing and locals are quite friendly.
Look at those houses below, can you believe they even exist? Two stories are attributed to how the city obtained its name. One is that it was initially founded by the Buriana family, and another is that the first settlers of Burano came from the small island of Buranello, about few kilometres away to the south.
Everyone wants to capture as many colourful snaps of those houses as possible and for some houses you can see a small queue :)
My new friend, coming to say "Hi!". See, I told you, locals are rather friendly.
Locals used to make a very amazing lace here, all by hand. Nowadays they still make it, but not in the same quantity anymore and most of the lace sold there now was done by using the automated techniques and not purely by hands as it was many many years ago.
On the way back to Venice, we stopped by for a quick visit to Murano - the island of handmade glass and the most amazing glass sculptures. Most of the visitors stop here to acquire the rarest handmade glass item for their house, sometimes for a special gift to someone's house or a super special wedding gift, as items here go up to £12K and sometimes higher. As well as you can get the handmade glass for your living room for just £20 or £60. We were not planning on making any purchase, but still wanted to check and see what is available and how the glass is blown.
Locals here are also rather friendly and...more fluffy...
Would you like some of those grapes, they look yummy...
The butterflies look almost real:
In 1291, all the glassmakers
in Venice were forced to move to Murano due to the risk of fires. And for us today it is an amazing lesson to see how from something not so good initially, can come out something amazing and wonderful and famous around the globe.
Have you been to those islands? Let me know if you got any of those skillfully made glass figurines.
No comments