Outlying Islands of Venice

I took the vaporetto towards the direction of Piazza Roma with the intention of getting off and grabbing some lunch before heading to Murano.  Well, I somehow missed my stop and so I decided to stay on the vaporetto until we reached Piazza Roma.  Thankfully, I saw a sign that said there was a vaporetto bound for Murano from Piazza Roma as well, so I just decided to head there first before having lunch.  The ride took about 40 minutes and when I arrived at Murano, my first impression was that it was a very cute, chic island with very few people. 

I started walking around and found a great little place to sit down at and had a very late (it was already past 3 o’clock at this point), but satisfying lunch of fish lasagna and calamari.

My table was right next to one of the canals, and during my meal, I got to witness one of the emergency vehicles at work. 

After lunch, I made my way to the Glass Museum where I thought I would be able to see the workshop where some glassblowing would take place.  No such luck, as the admission only got me into the museum where all sorts of glass objects were on display.

On the way back to the pier, Murano presented some very pleasant scenery.

I then took a 5:00pm vaporetto to Burano, but I had read online that if you get off the boat at Morazzo, it’s a nice little walk towards Burano, so I proceeded with this plan.  In reality, it was a nice, calm 10-15 minute walk, but there really wasn’t too much to see.  In fact, I think I saw about 5 people the entire time I was at Morazzo. 

I had been most looking forward to seeing Burano as I feel that the different coloured houses are such a cute custom they have there.  I heard that if you wanted to paint your house, you actually had to have it approved before you could do it as they have rules about the how many houses could be of certain colours.  I also never saw two side by side houses with the same colour.

After an hour on Burano, I was contemplating whether or not to head to Torcello as well.  In the end, I stuck to my original plan and headed back to Venice.  I took a 6:00pm vaporetto and would arrive back into Venice around 6:45pm.  I hadn’t really explored the streets of Venice at all with the exception of being at St. Mark’s Square in the morning, so I wanted to make sure I had time to do that.  I had previously read that one of the best things to do in Venice is just to get lost within its many intricate paths, alleys and canals.  I can definitely understand the charm of that experience.  I’m really glad I decided to return before the sunset to explore this side of Venice.

 

I took the vaporetto one last time back to Piazza Roma and hopped on a bus back to Mestre.  By 8:30pm I was sitting at Columbus Pizza and enjoying my last meal in Italy.  The pasta was delicious, but the service was so slow.  I was happy to be leaving behind this “slow” culture that is so revered in Italy.