After breakfast (continental with no hot options – not that either of us would have had cooked), we ambled to the meeting point (KFC near the railway station) for our tour of Murano and Burano.

As we’d deliberately left early we explored more of Venice en-route and as we caught a glimpse of interesting-looking spires or the top of the market stalls which required further investigation we deviated from our path. Liz was particularly keen to explore the fish market in detail and pointed out the wide selection of fish and shellfish including swordfish steaks, tuna, octopus, squid, cuttlefish and a whole swordfish head.

As an aside in case you weren’t aware, there are no cars, or trucks/vans  in Venice (apart from on the largest island Lido which is 12km long and hosts the Venice Film festival. I guess you can’t have A-list celebs rocking up to a film premiere on foot!)

At the mouth of the Grand Canal (the widest canal in the group of islands which make up central Venice), the San Marco Bay connects mainland Italy, Venice airport, the outlying islands and Venice together. A number of deep channels have been dredged through the bay at 70m deep to allow large ships such as the car ferry, cruise ships and ocean-going yachts to access the bay.

Docking outside one of the 50 Murano glassworks we were granted 40 minutes on shore. A demo was underway as we entered the factory showroom and with only minimal effort the glass smith blew/created a glass jug complete with a handle and then crafted a horse standing on its back legs. The exit via the showroom was packed with glass objects of every size including large chandeliers which would have been well suited to a grand hall or large reception room in a stately home. 

All too quickly we were ushered back onto the boat and were heading for Burano, which was 15 minutes further away. We were glad of the two small windows at the front of the boat as our craft quickly turned into a giant sweat-box in the noon sunshine due to the enclosed seating area. 

While heading for Burano our guide explained that some of the 122 islands have been left as nature reserves, while over many years one of the larger islands has become the ‘garden of Venice’’, producing the majority of its fruit and vegetables (other than those which are imported from elsewhere).

The buildings on Burano are distinctive due to their brightly coloured walls which have featured in many jigsaw puzzles, calendars and postcards of the Venice area. Not to mention numerous TV programs which  portray/feature Venice. The canals in Burano are much narrower and are spanned by wooden bridges as opposed to the brick bridges which dominate the rest of Venice.
Fun fact – the bell tower in Burano leans significantly due to the wooden pins that support the foundations having shifted slightly causing it to subside. We also noted the decorative arches towards the top had been looped in a metal band which we suspect is to try and reinforce the structure and prevent the upper section from collapsing due to the increasing downforce as the angle the tower leans increases over time. 

Aside from the coloured buildings, Burano is also well known for its lace production, which has been kept alive as the skills are passed through the generations from mother to daughter.

Returning to St Mark’s Square, we disembarked and resumed exploring the rest of Venice, discovering the opera house and eventually crossing the other two bridges which span The Grand Canal (there are only three), which we hadn’t already crossed today. Retracing our steps back to one of the aforementioned bridges we returned to St Mark’s Square and our hotel for a sit-down. Fun fact, there are no benches in Venice! (And if you perch outside a shop front, you’re quickly moved on like an errant child.) 

We dined on pasta bands with chunks of mozzarella and a tomato sauce (Liz) and a spinach and ricotta tortellini with a bolognese sauce (me) both of which were delicious. As it is our final evening in Venice we walked off our meal by popping back to the train station to enquire about our train times to Verona for tomorrow morning and also to discover what time the public water taxi departed (think London underground for canals – but obviously not underground!). As the sun set and the lights came on, our walk also gave us the opportunity to see Venice by night which was quite atmospheric. 

Overall another great day, despite the 29500 steps we travelled around Venice. Before you think that’d be simple due to Venice being flat, you’d be wrong. We must have used around 2500 steps of the above total climbing and descending the numerous bridges which span the canals.