Today we visited Burano, commonly referred to as the island of lace.  It’s about a 50 minute boat trip from Venice.  It was a beautiful, sunny day so it was enjoyable to ride and see the many, many islands.  I have no idea how many islands there are “around” Venice, but during this boat ride we saw dozens.  Most of the islands had buildings on them..old buildings that were in some state of ruin. It amazes me that all those years ago, there was enough manpower to make the bricks, build the pilings, carve the stone, mix the mortar and do all the other things necessary to produce these buildings.

This is Burano from our boat.  You might notice the crooked church steeple.  I understand it stands at the same angle as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  As the boat gets closer, you can begin to see the colorful houses.  The story is that each house was painted a different, bright color, so that when the fishermen came home late at night they would be sure to get into the right bed.

Burano is small, charming and quaint.  There aren’t the tourist crowds there that you might see in some parts of Venice.  It’s laid back.  They do have lots of lace for sale there, but much of it is from China.  I found a couple of non-lace items to bring home.  But for me, the pull of Burano are the bright buildings.  I found myself smiling as we walked down the streets.

We ended our day for a last visit to Murano.  I know I haven’t really talked about Murano much, but it is probably my favorite place to go.  I think once I get home, I’ll have to take pictures of all the things I’m taking back with me…then, you’ll hear about Murano.

Tomorrow, our first job is to get to the grocery store.  I’m hoping to take pictures because it is interesting and quite unlike the stores we have in the U.S.