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28th June 2000 Venice: Murano and Burano
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Wednesday 28th June 2000
Not a good day. The weather was pretty ordinary; grey and a little windy, and I became the same way as the day wore on. Still with a sore throat, angry about Jacopo and the apartment, and the day just didn't pan out as I had planned. This was to be a short visit to Murano to buy some glass, then on to Burano for a seafood lunch and Torcello for the oldest building in the lagoon; the Duomo.
We bought a 24 hour ticket for the vaporeto, at L18,000. This allows travel everywhere and anywhere for 24 hours from the exact time of purchase. As we walked past the Doges Palace on our way to the vaporeto pontoon for Murano, we were hijacked by a guy who led us to a water taxi, which took us directly to the front door of their glass factory on Murano. Not a bad trip actually, and when we wouldn't know one piece of Venitian glass from another, it might as well be here as anywhere else. Supersalesman met us at the boat and lead us into the workshop for a touristico demonstration of glass blowing. Fine. Then up into the artworks showroom. Room after room of glass statuettes; any one of which would have exceeded our entire baggage allowance and cost as much as a weeks holiday. Only one object was a standout. A fish in clear glass, squashed vertically, and with a rainbow of colour striped through the centre. Now for the pitch-"buy it in Australia for several thousand, but for you, here and now, only $A600.00. These guys know the exchange rate for most currencies, and have made the calculaton into your own currency before you have even given serious thought about a purchase. This presented me with a problem later, in that when he quoted the original lire price, and then a second figure, I assumed he was talking a special discounted price. Not so, it was the $A price, so I ended up in no position to negotiate a better final price at the cash register. Many hours later, we emerged with some jewelry and plates. If you don't know anything about Venertian glass, I figure the best approach seems to be simply to look at the items that realy do appeal, consider the price, and buy if that is what you are prepared to pay. Ches bought a stunning necklace for herself, which could have been made for her. Just perfect. Also a set for Flo, which is equally right for her. We moved on into the tourist showroom, where we bought some plates, and then on leaving proceeded to get lost in the back lanes of Murano. Another couple of tourists were lost as well, and a passing "master" glassblower who was passing, took us in tow and lead us to the main canal. We followed the Walking Tour guidebook along the canal, particularly enjoying three loggia style buildings. These were designed so that the top floor sat above the street, running along the edge of the canal, with its windows able to be opened to unload and load the boats in the canal. The most exciting building however, has to be the colonaded exterior of the apse of the Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato. I don't know of any other church, anywhere, with such an unusual and pretty exterior. It is semi-circular facing the canal, and has two levels of marble arches and columns, and has very fine decorations and carvings.
My mood wasn't improving as we located the dock for the ferry on to Burano. It was going to be quite late by the time we would arrive in Burano, and Ches had never realy shared my eighteen month passion to have a seafood meal on Burano. My appetite was dying. Pleasant trip on to Burano, and interesting to note that there are the odd small island with abandoned buildings, and in other spots, evidence that they are creating new islands by pumping the soil out of the lagoon onto vast areas surrounded by retaining walls. At Burano, we hopped off the ferry, only to discover it was only the first stop at the island, near an isolated restaurant. We ignored it, and walked further along the canal, around the headland, and in to Burano, where we found the ferry at the jetty. We walked to the piazza, where we sat and took in the atmosphere of the castle and the leaning campanele. Ches then had a sandwich and window shopped the lace shops, while I toured the back streets and canals, and photographed and filmed the brightly painted houses.
Back on the ferry, we made the final leg to Torcello. It is described as being older and at one time larger than Venice with 20,000 people. There are only a few canals left, no signs of any major town in the past, and in the middle of the overgrown countryside is the Duomo of Santa Maria dell'Assunta. It is the oldest building in the lagoon, dating from 639, and is a wonderful byzantine church. The mosaics are sensational. The most amazing thing is that despite its age, everything is in such good condition. The mosaics are undamaged and complete-gleaming. The marble rood screens are finely decorated with peacocks, lions and flowers. The capitals on the nave columns (11th century) still in excellent condition considering that they are so finely carved. I thought that this was the most beautiful church/cathedral that we had so far seen in Italy. Just wonderful.
Outside, Ches took my photograph sitting in the stone Attilas' Throne. I had to wait some time for many genuine Huns and children of Huns to vacate it before I could get a seat. I look benign; smiling even!
On the return journey we struck up a conversation with two girls: an American and Canadian. The American is at Oxford and the Canadian at a school in Germany-the equivalent of a Gap. Both were haveing a hectic week or so trying to see everything in Italy. They took our video and interviewed us, which was a novelty. Back in Venice, we caught the Vaporeto back to St Marks. It runs along around both sides of the Arsenale, which unfortunately, was as close as we were to get to it. This vast ship building yard churned out and maintained the Venetian Republics fleet. Two guidebooks are in conflict. One says that they employed production line techniques that in times of crisis could produce a ship in one day. The other says, a ship a month, although I suspect, given the size of the yard, they probably meant they could build thirty ships simultaneously within a month. (averaging one a day). Whatever, it was so substantial it was used till WW2 as a naval dockyard. There were some small ships and boats in the inner harbour as we past, but unfortunately the vaporeto service that used to pass through it, is no longer scheduled.
We returned home for Dinner, and then walked to the Zaterre vaporetto stop at around sunset (9.30 pm). We planned on taking the vaporetto around Venice, up to the Railway Station, and then another vaporeto down the Grand Canal. Best laid plans. We caught the wrong one, my mistake, and ended up doing the run along Guidecca and then across to St Marks. O.K. So we caught the No1 vaporetto up the canal, out on the back deck, with a band of Spanish speekers, who decided to sing every Spanish pop song they could remember. Not quite the backing soundtrack for my filming of the fine buildings lit up along the Grand Canal. Changed boats at the terminus, and made the return journey. We weren't home till around mid-night, but decided that with our 24 hour ticket, we should rise early and do it all again in daylight, before 9.30 am, when it would expire.
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| 63. | 28th June 2000 Venice: Murano and Burano - Venice, Italy Jun 26, 2003 |
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