100th post! Woot!
From San Marco's Square, we headed out for the outer islands (Murano, Burano, and Torcello.) We got a great overall view of Venice as the water bus traveled north along the eastern coast of the island.
San Michele - Where the Venetians go to rest... for the rest of eternity... dum dum DUM
Yep, it's an island cemetery. The water bus station is even called "Cimitero."
Surprisingly, a few tourists did get off/on at this stop. Admittedly, the island looks appealing from the exterior, particularly the surrounding wall and the church, but cemeteries are just not my thing.
Murano & the Murano Glass Museum
There are 3-4 water bus stops at Murano; we got off at "Museo" to visit the Glass Museum.
The Glass Museum was a bust. Next visit, I'm heading over to the privately-owned Barvovier & Toso Glass Museum or one of the glass factories that have free demonstrations.
Anyways, my group went on a small shopping binge for the next two hours. Here are some photos I took while waiting. (Sidebar: one of the houses had an amazing succulent collection with varieties that I had never seen before.)
We came across a couple of jaw-dropping glass art installations.
Burano & the Burano Lace Museum
The houses on Burano look like something from a child's toy village. You can't quite believe your eyes when you see them for the first time. All brightly painted with various hues, the original intent was that should anything happen to their fishing boat, which were painted the same colour as the house that it belongs to, the family could be easily identified.
Aside from being a fishing village, Burano is known for their lace. Unfortunately, the Lace Museum was closed that day. :( :( :(
They must have just updated the schedule since the last I checked, it was supposed to be open Mon-Sat.
Nevertheless, I saw some amazing lacework in the nearby shops. Since even a simple piece of lace is all hand-made and requires considerable time and effort, they are quite expensive. Oh well.
Taking a much needed break, I managed to fill my water bottle from this fountain in the town square while my group was otherwise preoccupied (at this point, one member was nowhere to be found while the other two were happily shopping at a souvenir kiosk.)
Isn't the gargoyle head on the fountain just fascinating to look at?
Coming across this fruit stand was a great way to cap our tour of Burano.
According to TripAdvisor, you have to ask the vendor for the fruit/produce, and you must never ever touch/feel/squeeze the fruit/produce, as evident by the "No Self-Service" sign seen in this photo.
We ended up buying some plums or "susine." They were really good - sweet and tart - and quite reasonably priced (as we would find out later on.)
Torcello
We then made our way to Torcello, which is a 20 minute water bus ride away from Burano. It is where the earliest Venetians settled and the "birthplace" of the Venetian Republic. It is what Venice looked like in the early days of settlement and houses one of the oldest church and bell tower in the Venetian area.
The island is pretty much abandoned and it wasn't hard to see why. The canal water was stagnant and did not smell very nice as we got further and further inland. But we pressed on.
It's not everyday that you see a pomegranate tree.
Ponte del Diavolo ("The Devil's Bridge")
Oooh spooky! According to Wikipedia, there are dozens of these bridges scattered thoughout Europe. They are all arch bridges. The bridge's ability to seemingly defy gravity must have had some people pretty spooked back in the days, hence the name.
Cathedral of Santa Maria Dell'Assunta
Unfortunately, it was near closing time so I didn't go in. The bell tower was under renovation (you can see it just poking out from behind the church) so that too was a no-go. Nevertheless, the island itself was still worth a visit.
From San Marco's Square, we headed out for the outer islands (Murano, Burano, and Torcello.) We got a great overall view of Venice as the water bus traveled north along the eastern coast of the island.
Finally, a sign that people still live in Venice.
Look at that. A statue of two men in a boat in the middle of the sea. Interesting.
Of course I had to find out more about the statue. Turns out I was not the only one, Googling "men, boat, statue, and Venice" churned out a similar question which had already been answered. The answer was that the statue depicts Marco Polo showing the way to China.
Ehh... not to be picky but that answer seemed all kind of wrong to me. For one thing, the statue looks like it's pointing north.
Anyways, after more detective work (Thanks Google Map and Mr. Dancos who captions his photos!), the statue is that of Dante and Virgil from The Divine Comedy. You can read about the statue here. The statue is set to float and sink with the tides. Very very cool. Google it for a close-up. The statue looks fantastic up close.
San Michele - Where the Venetians go to rest... for the rest of eternity... dum dum DUM
Yep, it's an island cemetery. The water bus station is even called "Cimitero."
Surprisingly, a few tourists did get off/on at this stop. Admittedly, the island looks appealing from the exterior, particularly the surrounding wall and the church, but cemeteries are just not my thing.
Murano & the Murano Glass Museum
There are 3-4 water bus stops at Murano; we got off at "Museo" to visit the Glass Museum.
The Glass Museum was a bust. Next visit, I'm heading over to the privately-owned Barvovier & Toso Glass Museum or one of the glass factories that have free demonstrations.
Anyways, my group went on a small shopping binge for the next two hours. Here are some photos I took while waiting. (Sidebar: one of the houses had an amazing succulent collection with varieties that I had never seen before.)
We came across a couple of jaw-dropping glass art installations.
Burano & the Burano Lace Museum
The houses on Burano look like something from a child's toy village. You can't quite believe your eyes when you see them for the first time. All brightly painted with various hues, the original intent was that should anything happen to their fishing boat, which were painted the same colour as the house that it belongs to, the family could be easily identified.
They must have just updated the schedule since the last I checked, it was supposed to be open Mon-Sat.
Nevertheless, I saw some amazing lacework in the nearby shops. Since even a simple piece of lace is all hand-made and requires considerable time and effort, they are quite expensive. Oh well.
Taking a much needed break, I managed to fill my water bottle from this fountain in the town square while my group was otherwise preoccupied (at this point, one member was nowhere to be found while the other two were happily shopping at a souvenir kiosk.)Isn't the gargoyle head on the fountain just fascinating to look at?
Coming across this fruit stand was a great way to cap our tour of Burano. According to TripAdvisor, you have to ask the vendor for the fruit/produce, and you must never ever touch/feel/squeeze the fruit/produce, as evident by the "No Self-Service" sign seen in this photo.
We ended up buying some plums or "susine." They were really good - sweet and tart - and quite reasonably priced (as we would find out later on.)
Torcello
We then made our way to Torcello, which is a 20 minute water bus ride away from Burano. It is where the earliest Venetians settled and the "birthplace" of the Venetian Republic. It is what Venice looked like in the early days of settlement and houses one of the oldest church and bell tower in the Venetian area.
The island is pretty much abandoned and it wasn't hard to see why. The canal water was stagnant and did not smell very nice as we got further and further inland. But we pressed on.
Ponte del Diavolo ("The Devil's Bridge")
Oooh spooky! According to Wikipedia, there are dozens of these bridges scattered thoughout Europe. They are all arch bridges. The bridge's ability to seemingly defy gravity must have had some people pretty spooked back in the days, hence the name.
What Venice probably looked like in the very very early years.
Cathedral of Santa Maria Dell'Assunta
Unfortunately, it was near closing time so I didn't go in. The bell tower was under renovation (you can see it just poking out from behind the church) so that too was a no-go. Nevertheless, the island itself was still worth a visit.
Torcello->Burano takes about about 30 minutes, Burano->Murano takes another 30 minutes, then it's about a 30-40 minute ride to the Train Station where our hotel was located. By the time we got back to our hotel, it was about 8 pm. Had a quick pizza dinner and a short stroll later, it was time for bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment