Visiting the Island of Burano
After a fascinating time in Murano checking out its glass shops and museum, Stuart and I took vaporetto #12 again and continued on to Isola di Burano. For what glass is to Murano, is lace to Burano. While we appreciate the intricacy and craftsmanship of lacemaking using needles, we weren't interested in acquiring a piece to take back home with us. We felt it just wasn't suited to our taste/style.
The real reason why we wanted to visit this little island of approximately 3,000 is for their famed colorful houses. There is actually a specific set of rules that residents must follow when it comes to painting their houses. When a resident wants to paint their abode, they make an official request with the local government, which in return, will tell the resident the choices of acceptable colors for their particular house lot. What do you all think about these rules?
Burano houses reflecting their colorful personalities on the water. It's a photographer's playground.
Most people visiting the island will end up on the main drag where the restaurants and lace shops are situated. Stuart and I intentionally followed the small alleys in between residences instead of following the crowd. And here are some of the visual treats we came across.
Some houses away from the center tend to have more privacy.
We even found one house that was a match to Stuart's shirt!
Saw this older lady ambling down this peaceful alley.
We also found our way to the other side of island where a nice green space was located, where we hung out briefly to just take it all in. I took the opportunity to take off my shoes and just feel the grass, which was a treat after a walking on mostly cobbled streets for days.
Wide open spaces, especially ones with a good amount of grass that isn't someone's private garden, is a novel thing in Venice.
After we had a quick rest, we continued on our wandering ways to admire the rainbow row of houses. At this point we realized we were getting parched and needed some snack, so we made our way back to the town center. We ended up at a small bacarro, where we sat outside and shared a sandwich con salami e funghi (salami & mushrooms). While Stuart ordered a Coke, I decided that this was the place where I would experience my very first spritz aperol. You see this a lot on the drink menus all over Venice (and Italy, for that matter).
Stuart sneakily took a picture of me while I was catching up on my journal and nursing my drink.
After we settled up our bill and the sun was making its way down, we decide that it was time for us to wrap up our visit and head back to Venice. This time, we walked along the main street back to the vaporetto stop, which was noticeably less busy than when we first arrived. Stuart and I agreed that visiting the islands was a nice break from the bustle of Venice, and we learned more about Venice as a whole by visiting the surrounding smaller islands.
Here a few more photos of vibrant Burano. Ciao! Until the next entry. <3
Pisa isn't the only one with a leaning tower. Burano also has the the leaning campanile of the Church of San Martino.
Someone's laundry is somebody else's ... ?
The relatively busy main street
Burano is techinically an archipelago made up of four islands connected by bridges like that one I am standing on in this photo.