Venice Islands and...

Spent a day travelling on vaporettos on a 24hr pass. This meant criss-crossing the lagoon to catch a few of the islands- Murano, Burano and the Cemetry island, as well as Guidecca and San Giorgio on the following morning. We love our boats. The lagoon is quite atmospheric and swings in moods from cold misty grey to sparkling blue. There is a lot of trade happening so that apart from public transport much of the everyday business is conducted by water . All sorts of tradesmen, deliveries of produce, fishermen, car ferries, ocean liners, garbage collection, even the odd gondolier  ply the waterways.

We ventured to the popular Murano - home of glass but fortunately stopped at the cemetery first and enjoyed a peaceful wander around huge grounds with well-maintained grounds and regularly visited plots. They are running out of places so many plots have grown vertically and Venetians only get a 10 year lease on plots nowadays before being relocated.

Murano is for glass lovers - a few spectacular public space sculptures and numerous display rooms as well as tacky souvenir stands. There are also furnaces and factories to behold but we were keen to get away from the crowds and head to Burano, island of multicoloured houses and at least 10-20 less tourists than Murano.






















Luckily it was much more picturesque and seemed peaceful despite the number of people. We hopped off one stop before the main town and enjoyed a lovely tree-lined walk through a less-visited island Mazzorbo. It was a short deviation but made the entrance to Burano much more pleasant. Burano is too pretty. Every householder has decided on a colour and made themselves stand out- either tastefully or disgracefully. The canals and courtyards blend with cats and boats to create an intriguing township. Of course the tourists do the walk and take the pictures, eat the gelato, drink the hot chocolate and check out the intricate lace corsets and dresses. But... it still rates as a delightful place to visit.

San Giorgio has a bell tower that provides impressive views of the lagoon and especially across to San Marco and the Grand Canal. The view to the other side is also very nice with a monastery competing with marinas, swimming pools and hotels and flat blue waters.

Peggy Guggenheim's Museum has many works of modern art most produced by Peggy's lovers over a period of years. She lived in this contemporary ground floor home right on the Grand Canal. This statue on the front terrace  produced the most smirks and giggles from visitors and seemed to be the most photographed.

Anika has enjoyed tracking down the cats of Venice and nearby islands using her special cat charms. Some  cats have been responsive and others very aloof or wary of foreigners. Anika is planning her own report soon.

These are the masks that Jood wanted to buy and should have bought the first time she saw them. She hesitated. Of course the shop was shut when we returned the following day. These masks were actually hand-made using textiles and stitching.   They were exceptional and uniquely we didn't see these anywhere else. What a pity the designer was on the phone having an argument when we first visited - she may have made a sale.
Jood especially liked the fox.