Murano and Burano

The end of our vacation touring Italy was near, Julie and I were slated to return to Germany on a late night flight out of Venice's Treviso airport.  The activity for our final day was planned, we would take a boat from Villa Laguna to the New Murano Gallery.  After dropping our luggage off at the front desk, we disembarked from the dock around 10:00.  The private taxi was pleasant - the four of us and another gentleman enjoyed a sun-soaked ride to the island of Murano.

Heating glass to be more malleable

Making a vase

Hot glass even as it cools

The small island in the Venetian lagoon is renowned for their production of hand-blown glass.  We scheduled a tour of the New Murano Gallery to the witness the craftsmanship in action.  We arrived to the New Murano Gallery around 10:30 and were introduced to our personal guide for the day, Silvio - ironically, the only other passenger on our boat.  He started with a brief introduction about the facility and history of Venetian glass.

Making a horse

Final product

Our hotel offered us free passage to the gallery and the return fare would be "free" if we made a purchase from the showroom.  Numerous hotels in Venice have the same offer and according to Trip Advisor, the audacious grounds of the return "fare" are nearly as polarizing as reviews of Petite Venice in Colmar.  The "free" trip to Murano is very forthright - if someone doesn't want to make a purchase, visit a museum - or take the water taxi.

Really liked this, but it cost nearly  €5000

Chandelier outside showroom

The tour of the New Murano Gallery is very brief - well, I wouldn't define it as a tour - rather, a ten minute demonstration followed with a visit through the showroom.  The glass blowing display featured a lone gentleman who repeatedly made a glass horse and a small vase.  A perfunctory challenge for him - completing the vase within minutes while the horse completed a wonderfully entertaining dog and pony show.

Island of Burano

A most enjoyable visit

Colorful island

The visit in the gallery quickly changes from glass-blowing entertainment to used-car dealership sales pitches.  However, we knew this was going to happen ahead of time.  Silvio was nice enough to allow us to take a picture while in the gallery - which are not permitted when visiting (except during the demonstration).  Suffice it to say, there was a very small percentage of products we could purchase without having to incur a payment plan.  The pieces range from beautiful to bizarre - and of course, garish.  For example, one room had a large vibrantly colored glass horse decorated with gold accents - the art wasn't as intriguing as the price, €425,000 - for a green horse.  We would have loved to purchase one of the many chandeliers on display, but we don't need one (would be nice for all the dinner soirees we don't have) and there is no justification for spending thousands of Euro on something we won't use.  We ended up buying a small glass horse, similar to the one made during the demonstration - a fitting souvenir for our visit.

Alley

Alley towards the main canal

Our favorite canal

We had a "free" ride back to Villa Laguna, however, that was not our intended destination - we wanted to make our way to another island in the Venetian lagoon, Burano.  Instead, the boat took us to the water taxi dock where we could take a more direct route to our next stop.

No traffic on today's commute

Area where we had lunch

Another alley

The picturesque island of Burano is famous for lace, colorful homes, and small canals - a Piccolo Venezia so to speak.  We ate lunch at Ai Cesendeli shortly after our arrival, each of us ordered an incredible pizza - better than any of our previous continental comfort food.  After replenishing our adenosine triphosphae, we used the rest of the afternoon to walk around the whole island.  There aren't a plethora of attractions on the small isle, therefore; my summary is short, but the experience was great.  We returned to our hotel for our last authentic Italian dinner while the sun set across the sky.  The perfect end to a delightful vacation - a week full of travel, sightseeing, excessive walking, moderate drinking, and street-rat peddlers.

laundry day

more laundry