Italy & Greece Tour Part VI: Venice Area Continued
My Journey
4/1/2023 Burano
We took the water taxi over to Burano. It was about a 40 minute long ride. Burano is called the island of lace and is known for lace work as well as its colorful buildings. We were also looking for a place to get some seafood.
Burano
Souaci Gesú by Buranese artist Remigio Barbera
Like Murano and Venice, there are networks of canals running through the community. The town feels more like a small town than the other two locations and has a more quaint appearance.
Besides enjoying the scenery, we were able to slow down for once that day and kind of relax into just exploring.
Everyone seems to have the same idea.
And of course, we did do some window shopping looking at all the textiles and even buying some soaps. We ended up having some more sweets to make up for our inability to find a restaurant that fit our needs.
There were quite a few lampworkers and glass shops here, too. Far less of them here, had that gift shop feel. We even got to watch one glass worker do their thing.
As the day got late, it came time to start heading back to the water bus. There was quite a line of people also trying to return to Venice and Murano but we were able to take the second bus.
Church of Saint Martin Bishop
Venice
Back in Venice, we faced a few problems. Among them, was finding an available bathroom as all of the public ones were closed. So, we bought some coffee to gain access to a restroom. The other issue was that we were hungry and tired. Not only were many of us tired from all of the walking, but a week of Italian pollen was taking its toll on us. We wanted to go back for a seafood cone but it was on the other side of the Rialto Bridge and that was a ways away. We found another vender called “Fried Land.” That’s what we had. It was not as good and a little strange as they fried the shrimp with shells on. With food and restrooms taken care of, we worked our way through the growing party atmosphere to find a gondolier.
We did finally find one close to St. Mark’s and took our late night gondola ride, which was one of Dez’s must-dos for Venice. It was a very enjoyable and quiet ride.
The family on our gondola ride.
Then, we were headed to the water bus to ride to Plaza Roma. On the way, we just took in the beauty of Venice at night.
On the way, we stopped to buy the growing family’s newest future member a gift from a machine embroidery shop. The woman masterfully employed the kid’s name, River, in just seconds. Oh, yeah. Soon, Dez and I will be Uncle and Aunt to his brother’s kid. We finally made it to the water bus where the station was empty but filled up fast behind us. The first bus was full and while we waited, some of those late comers to the line got rude and pushy. We all got on the second bus.
Now, back at Plaza Roma, once off the water bus we made our way to the bus terminal to go back to the hotel. The problem was we needed bus 80 and we could not find anywhere clearly marked as where bus 80 picked up from. The bus was scheduled to arrive in minutes. Dez asked the ticket office and they both gave conflicting information and were rude to him. We finally located the bus. I got on followed by Dez and his family. They were stopped at the door and told their passes were no good. Note, it had not been 24 hours yet and it was still the same calendar day so the passes we paid for should have been good. Dez argued his way onto the bus and then we started the long ride to the Hotel Poppi. I had a hard time finding the stop request button and had to enlist the help of the non-English speaking people across the isle from me. We were able to get the bus to stop. The nearest stop to the hotel was on a busy country road one whole field away. They walked in the road and I thought it would be safe to walk in the field and nearly busted my face both crossing the ditch to the field and crossing the ditch back to the road. Anyway, we finally made it back to the hotel in one piece.
Hotel Poppi
Tips and Lessons Learned:
Get a clear idea of where the bus picks up from if you can.
Be aware that fried shrimp with shells on is a thing.
Public bathrooms close at 5:00.
Food recommendations from Stanley Tucci and Phil are reliably good.
4/24/2022 Back Home
I ordered some tools from Hot Glass Color as a souvenir from my trip to Murano. Three of the tools were made by Carlo Dona and two of them bare his mark. Hot Glass Color is Carlo Donas US distributer. I also ordered my first wooden block, this one is made by Laviathan Glass works.
