On Day 2, decided to explore the islands near Venice. Got up leisurely and had a wonderful breakfast in Hotel Bologna. Their breakfast buffet was quite impressive: Fruits, breads, Croissants, toasts, lot of pastries, juices, coffee, hot chocolate, eggs, meats, cheese. Stuffed ourselves and left for Venice S.M station. From there took the vaporetti to Murano, the island famous for its glasswares. It is about 30 minutes in the vaporetti from Venice. On Mondays most of their factories are closed. But we did see some glass making in one of the small shops. It was amazing to see how they manipulate a glass rod with the blow torch into a beautiful apple.
Beautiful glass art in Murano
Strolled around the island for an hour getting in and out of all the glass shops. The glasswares were so beautiful and expensive. Got some glass candies (That is all we could afford!) for myself and some murano glass ear rings for sisters in law. Went inside a small mall and had lunch. I had some sandwich and husband some pasta. It was ok. Then had gelato in a small shop. Awesome gelatos, Pista and tuttifruiti. The pista was natural with no essence.. Yummy!!
Left Murano around noon for Burano, the lace island. Burano was more impressive and colorful than Murano. We saw so many lace shops. The dresses in lace were so beautiful. I almost bought a blouse until i saw the price tag (250 Euro). We were so thrilled with the colorful houses that we clicked so many snaps. Here is a sample.
Cute Houses in Burano
After soaking in the beauty of Burano, got back to the Venice S.M station in the vaporetti. Tried to give our 3 day vaporetti pass to someone for free since it was valid for another 4-5 hours. After many reluctant people, a couple finally said took it and were so surprised that it was free. Then got back to the hotel in Venice Mestre. Freshened up, emailed and left for Florence in EuroStar train. Spent the 2 and half hours in reading books and playing cards.
Watch out for the Florence, Pisa and Rome travelogue.
