We set our early to avoid the worst of the crowds we were sure would be flocking to San Marco to take the boat to Murano. Lindy had the bright idea of photographing each intersection we came to so that we would find our way back to our hotel more easily.
We found another bar for our breakfast and enjoyed juice, coffee and a croissant for €5. Fortified we set off for the Piazza, aiming to be on a boat by 10 a.m. Ha! Everyone else had the same idea it seemed, but eventually, we were at the correct wharf. I purchased our tickets, using my Italian and for the first time, to my surprise, I was answered in Italian, not English.
We saw a boat pulled into our wharf and hurried down the gangplank, joining the group of people lined up there. There were actually two gangplanks, and another that was closed. A man was sitting inside smoking a cigarette. Probably the driver I said. we went up one gangplank and joined some people inside. There was a division down the middle - those using the gangplank we'd used on our side and people on the other side. We couldn't understand why. This is different to the boat I remember taking when I was last here, I said to Lindy. That boat was much bigger, and it had seats in rows. This one had just some wooden benches around the side.
Puzzled, knowing we still had time according to the time posted at the entry, we got off and looked up on the side of the boat. One side said 14, the other 7. Our boat was number 14. How would this work we wondered? As we stood there, trying to figure it out, a stream of people began to come through the gangplank that was closed to us. This is like one of those 'see how many people we can fit into a phone box' things, Lindy said. It was then that we saw that, unbeknownst to us, a boat had come in and tied up outside our 'boat'. That's when the penny dropped. Our 'boat' was not a boat at all; it was a floating pontoon, a waiting area. Feeling mortified, and hoping that no-one nearby heard us debating, we passed through the correct gate onto the pontoon and from there onto the boat.
It was a long trip to Murano. We called at every stop around the canal. Impossible to take any photos - the windows were very streaky, and water occasionally splashed through. The boat was packed, but we managed to find a seat after people got off at the first stop.
Arrived in Murano at around 11 a.m., and joined thousands of people already there.
We strolled along, enjoying the sights, the water, the bridges and the flowers until we came to a furno. We stopped off there to see some glass being blown. We had to wait for one show to be over, then paid €5 to sit and watch an amazing demonstration. The artist blew a two-handled vase and then a horse. Lindy looked through the shop for something to buy but couldn't see anything she liked.
We continued on our way, looking at shops and crossing bridges, working our way to the other side of the island to catch the boat for Burano. That boat was even more crowded than the other and we had to stand, clutching whatever we could to keep our balance. By this time I was feeling a bit queasy (I had the movement of boats) so tried to stay near the fresh air.
Burano is a picture, all the houses painted different colours.
A lot of the lace we saw was machine made but lovely all the same as it's made on the island. Lindy did see a couple of pieces she liked but when we asked the price, way out of our price range. €100 each! The lady explained that she had made them herself, by hand, and it took many hours. Regretfully, Lindy said no and we moved on.
We found a nice little patisserie and bought some chicken and chips and sat on a bench outside, alongside the canal, to eat. Then we continued our way across the island back to the boat for Murano. While waiting for the boat, we had a gelato. Again, the boat was crowded but the trip to Murano was short. Another walk across Murano to our boat for San Marco. That boat ride was much shorter than the one over because it cut straight across the canal, missing all the stops we'd made on the way over.
The Piazza was packed, wall to wall people, and it took time and great effort to wade our way through to the street we needed to walk back to our hotel. We were quite worn out by the time we got back, and rested on our beds for awhile before going back out to eat. We weren't hungry so went back to the same patisserie we'd been to the previous night and had a coffee and a sweet treat. We also bought a meringue each to take back to our room, where we packed up ready for an early start on the morrow.
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