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Burano, Italy

While we were waiting for a water bus at Murano we debated whether to skip Burano and head to the Jewish quarter on the mainland for lunch and exploration. We wondered if it might be a bit of “not much to see” and “not worth it” to view some lace in an over priced touristed place. Mainly because we had a day ticket and Vernon loves any opportunity to spread his webbed feet on a boat we kept it in the itinerary, and very glad we did.

Burano quickly bumped its way onto our ‘most memorable and favourites’ list from the moment we disembarked on this green fringed, laid back, intense colour clashed lagoon village.

The lagoon that surrounds Venice and the other islands is a kind of greeny-gray with fronds of seaweed in the tidal waters. There are sprinklings of little islands sometimes no more than spikey foliage peaking out of the water depending on the tides. The people must have chosen bigger islands as a base for the villages and cities they built out of piles which is very fascinating especially when you see the size of Venice in particular.

Burano has more greenery than the others and some small fruit tree plantations although it is still very small with around 2000 inhabitants and XX square kilometer. There are a few solid streets in the town section but mainly those charming canals where daily life continues. It is known for its lace makers, and lots of items are for sale along with Venetian masks – some locally decorated and Murano glass from next door.

The price of items is a lot cheaper than Venice or Murano – and seriously you could get glass for about 1/3 less for the same item in Murano! We had a great time (yes Vernon too he assures me) in one shop with such lovely helpful staff without any of the grab the tourist dollar frenzy. Things were still competitive and some shops more pushy there, but we clearly were lucky to find a good one.

The charming sales lady there even got Vernon to try on a scarf and then it was “oh Bella” and getting two others from the shop to admire him and have him lift his tinted glasses to see the full effect of his lovely blue eyes with the scarf. Lots more “ohhs and ahhs and Bella’s and how smart he looked” and now he sports a scarf with true European style! It was so funny to have him fussed over by these women who were genuinely impressed by his patience in my shopping (offering him a seat three times) and his general demeanour. They said he looked like a dignified politician (with the Italian ones I am not sure if that is a compliment LOL) but I think they meant upper class dapper dresser.

Other than a fun little shop and warm chat with the ladies we strolled and enjoyed the atmosphere. It is so amazingly pretty with bright and pastel coloured houses, boats and flowers at every turn. They have a rule about houses next to each other having to be a different colour and its so wonderfully intoxicating to see, you can’t help but feel happy. They either match flower boxes to house detail or clash the box, the flower and the house cleverly. Attention to detail is at macro level whether is be a vase, ornament or paint wash. It is very clean (no immigrant hawkers) and maintains a community integrity like Vernazza and the Cinque Terra.

Another sight there is a church with its own leaning tower which we didn’t have time to go into – coffee and toilet break called (assisted by a nice gateau slice to share). In Italy and Venice if we are out and about we always combine the two – I think I did mention its nearly $3NZ to take a pee – so you do the math on that , takes the higher price of coffee down a bit anyway.

We were sad to leave and would have liked to linger longer, but more exploring called us so we took the crammed water bus back to the mainland, a trip of about 40 minutes. As it was a bit late, instead of walking back across to the Jewish quarter for dinner – not far from our hotel, we took a connection which we thought would be quicker going around the side of Venice and up the canal.

Oops wrong on that one, it did take us around Venice, over to another little island, around the other side and back to base about an hour later. No worries at least we got our monies worth out of the day ticket and saw lots of different buildings, museums and churches from the boat. We also saw some obscene (because they weren’t ours) luxury launches docked probably ranging from a couple of million to around 40 million each! OMG major drool.

We went to the Jewish Quarter to eat on recommendation from our concierge. On route there were so many of those hawkers that it was annoying and we had to do the bulldozer until we got off the beaten track and into the darker part of town. It was really cool walking around this less populated area. The buildings are shabbier, less ornate, and old looking almost like out of Oliver Twist. The night was cool too so it all added to the atmosphere. We did not have a specific restaurant to eat in and the few we found were quite expensive or not enough non seafood choice for Vernon so in desperation as it was after 9pm we went to one in a square closer to the action.

Dinner was ok, I had a seafood soup and Vern had Ravioli with cream and ham sauce and we shared a dessert which was meant to be tiramisu but ended up tiramisu ice-cream desert instead. Ah well you cant get it right all of the time. On the menu matter, in all of Italy (and Spain and Croatia) the menu is pretty much all the same and quite simple. I think if we were here much longer it would become a bit boring, not to mention that we are missing veges again!

Summarising Burano – well worth the visit if you are going to Venice. Great shopping, great atmosphere, postcard perfect pretty, and great get away from the hustle and bustle.

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