Full day of island hopping

Today we knew it was going to be another busy day with lots of tourists in Venice so we decided to visit some surrounding islands. Our boat passes that we bought are good for taking us to these outer Islands so we are off.

We started out catching the 8:15 boat to Burano Island. There are 10 of us on the ferry, we would see later in the day how thankful we are that we are early risers and take no time to get ready and go. One of the passengers that sat at the back outside with us was a young man from Alaska. He is visiting around Europe for 3 weeks, this is the only place he is staying in a hostel, the rest is all with friends in different countries. I asked him if he knew all these friends from University, no he is a couch surfing host from Anchorage. First time I have met one of these, I have heard of them, but never met one! He is off to Prague next, then Manchester England then back to Anchorage. What a nice young man, we ran into him many times over the morning, remember when you get out there early there are very few tourists around.

Burano is a fantastic Island. It is about a 45 minute boat ride from our apartment. It is known for its colourful painted houses. Really pretty little canals and lots of colors. I'm sure Andre took hundreds of pictures here alone today.

Small canal near our place

walking from our apartment to catch the Vaporeto to go to other Islands 

The cemetery is on an island by itself.  Not enough time to stop.

Pictures on Burano Island

Even the laundry is colourful

Only the 2 of us around

Lots of boats here

Tourism and fishing, that's it

Love the barber shop pole

Leaning tower of Burano

The front of this house was fully covered

Do it yourself wedding pictures

Wendy's favorite

Many places had these at the front door

Jacinthe, I think you need to train Missy better

Smallest dog yard I have ever seen

Love the reflection in this one



Very quite now but I suspect many tourist later

A few locals milling around

Even the restaurants are colourful

Next off we took the 5 minute boat ride to Torcello. This area was settled before what we now know Venice as, but the area was pretty much wiped out by Malaria. The church is from the 1100's. There is a pretty walk here from the docking point to the church. I found the WC, 1.50 to use it, I'll pass on that and find somewhere else. We did try to find a nice spot to take pictures looking back to Burano, but were infested by mosquitos on the path we were on. A quick turn around, this is the only bugs we have seen so far this trip.

We decided a gelato was in order, since it was 2.50 a gelato, and they had a bathroom our reasoning was it was only 1.50 a gelato, a great deal!

Torcello population 20 or 50?

One of the first churches in Venice

White pigeon?

Antique gondola from the 60's parked on the side of the canal

We just had to since the toilet use was free with food purchase

Practicing.

Burano

Near the boat terminal

Torcello churches & bell tower

Back to the ferry terminal again and we are off to Murano. This island is known for it's glass blowing. They moved this industry off of what we know as Venice to this Island as they were afraid of fires. We paid 2,00 Euro for demonstration that was actually really good. There were only 10 of us that went to our demo, and 4 different languages. There was only 1 master glass blower, and he showed us 2 techniques, and a guide that spoke to us in the 4 different languages. Of course after the demo you are let out to their shop. They had some really nice things, I'm glad I only have 1 niece, her birthday is looked after for this year, they had some amazing glass jewellery.

Very hot

About 5-10 minutes to make a vase

About the same here to make a horse

Time to return back to the apartment.  The ferries to the Islands are jam packed with tourists now, it is crazy.  Big long lines to go back to Venice from Murano.  So funny that we run into the young man from Alaska in the lineup here again.  He has had a good day as well, and we all talk about how happy we were that we got up early to beat the crowds.

Next back to Venice, we stopped at the Coop to pick up some things for lunch and for breakfast tomorrow. Back to the apartment, a quick 30 minutes break and we are back out again. We caught the Vaporetto the right way back to St. Mark Square. A really pretty ride when you are going the right way. We want to do this again tomorrow with our guide book so we know a little more about the palaces we are passing.

We did a quick tour of the Basilica as it was closing in 30 minutes to tours, and I had read on Sunday that the mosaics were lit all day on Sunday. Wow, so impressive. No pictures allowed, (Andre insert your  pictures here, if he blessed himself with holy water when he entered the church he gets a pass right?) We were too late to do any of the museums, and the light was wrong for pictures Andre said to go up on the balcony with the horses overlooking the square, so we'll save that for tomorrow.

Rialto Bridge

Views from the boat

Doge Palace

Mosaics outside of the church

Incredible ones inside

The whole church ceiling is covered in mosaics.

We then walk to Rialto bridge to see if any of the shops are open, last night they were all closed. We then see there are people on top of a building near the bridge, so figure our way to where this building is. Turns out it is a very expensive shopping centre that you can get free tickets to their terrace. They were all out of tickets until later tonight and since we had plans for later snagged some tickets for 7PM.

Off we go back to the basilica again. For lent on Sundays the organist is playing music from the1500's to 1900's. I thought this was a real treat. It is a 30 minute concert, that you get to sit and admire the amazing mosaics all lit up and hear this fantastic organ being played. We heard 7 pieces, I had never heard any of them before, from 1490 – 1612 was the years we covered. Adrian Willaert, Annibale Padovano, Giovanni Gabreili were the composers, guess I'll have to do a little google research when I get home to learn more.

Very busy near the Rialto Bridge

Top of the church.

After the concert we just wandered a bit until our 7PM reservation at the lookout by Rialto bridge. One of the most fun things in Venice is just wandering. A map is good, but the signs for the major bridges and vaporettos are well marked and it is just fun to walk the little canals and explore and get kind of lost.

Inside the upscale shopping plaza which used to be the Post Office Building

Lots of restaurants offering fresh seafood

Rialto Bridge at night

We get back to the high end shopping, I admire the coach purses again from the escalator, use the free clean bathroom on the top floor, then off we go to the lookout. It is a really misty night, so kind of cool looking out over the water and Rialto bridge. We have about 15 minutes up here then we are shooed off so the next group can come out.

We decide it would be good to do this again in the day, so we find the concierge and book a time for tomorrow at 1PM.

Too much mist in the air for nice picture

We decide to head back towards home now, and try to find somewhere to eat. There is everything from extremely high end, to picking up a piece of pizza available. We found a place that was 2 courses at a decent price so decide on that. It was OK, but we won't be back.

Back at the apartment now, getting plans finalized for tomorrow. Step count today over 30,000 and we spent lots of time on boats, can't imagine what it will be tomorrow!

Andre goes out near our apartment to take a couple of picture since it is misty.

On our street

Canal in front of our apartment