Away From The Maddening Crowd: The Venetian Islands of Burano and Murano

View of Fondamenta Pontinello from Love Viewing Bridge in Burano

There’s a lot more to Venice than St. Mark’s and the Rialto; a short boat ride from central Venice are some beautiful islands. We did a day trip to Burano on the advice of photographer Marco Secchi.  We saw a fair bit of Murano from the water on the way back to Venice. The best and most economical way to visit the outer Venetian islands is via the city’s Vaporetto (waterbus) service. Vaporetto tickets cost 15.00 Euro return.  It takes about 45 minutes to reach Burano so factor at least 1.5 hours travelling time from departure stop.  Burano is located in the Northern Venetian Lagoon, approximately 11 Km (~7 miles)  northeast of Venice.

Fondamenta San Mauro, Burano 

Burano is a fishing island that has hundreds of colourful houses earning it the title of one of the most colourful towns in the world. The coloured houses are said to have been painted in bright hues to help fishermen navigate the lagoon on foggy days. Burano is also well-known for its lacemaking traditions, which originated in the 1500s. Our day on Burano was spent casually exploring just about every nock and cranny, as well as a leisurely lunch.  We did not find it difficult to spend approximately 5 hours on the island.

Known as the glass island, Murano is internationally renowned for glassmaking dating back to 1291.  Glass production was relocated to Murano from Venice as the glasswork studios were a fire hazard to the city, which was heavily built with wood. During the Middle Ages, Murano was the main producer of glass in Europe, a tradition that continues today. We did not visit Murano but saw lots of interesting sites from a Vaporetto as it made its way around Murano's Vaporetto stops.

So yes definitely get away from the maddening crowds of Piazza San Marco and Central Venice.  Day tripping to one of the several outer Islands is a day or two well spent. I think we got lucky as there were hardly any tourists when we visited Burano, the same did not seem to be true for Murano. 

Laundry Day in Burano

Definitely Laundry Day

Burano Lace

Everything was Colourful in Burano

Will Power Prevailed! 
(Lace top that called come buy me all through lunch)

A Strange Sight in Venice

Colour Everywhere

Beautiful Masks.  
A lot more beautiful than most I saw in tourist areas of Venice

One More for Good Luck

Fishing Village

Tools of the Trade

Somebody's Watching Me!

Il Campanile Storto - Burano's Leaning Bell Tower from Piazza Baldassarre Galluppi
(I managed to found the perfect location that did not show the extent of lean in the tower 😂)

Right Place, Right Time

Murano Photo's

Faro di Murano (Murano Lighthouse Located in the South East Part of The Island) 

Murano Clock Tower in Campo Santo Stefano, Murano

Bell Tower of Chiesa di San Pietro Martire and Torre dell'Orologio, Murano

Other Blogs in my Venice Series

https://sandrawhiteway.blogspot.com/2022/05/venices-reference-points-churches-and.html

https://sandrawhiteway.blogspot.com/2022/05/boats-of-venice.html

https://sandrawhiteway.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-lions-of-venice.html

https://sandrawhiteway.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-floating-city-city-of-canals-or.html