Our cruise ship is docked at an island in the northern end of the lagoon called Burano, it looks quite interesting and we can’t wait to explore it.
But first we’re taking a small boat over to another island call Torcello. This island was the first one inhabited by Veneti people almost 2,000 years ago, fleeing barbarians as the Roman Empire was collapsing. We learned that it was once well populated and a busy trading area but that a malaria wiped out most the population and business moved to the main Venezia island. It seems like a peaceful place and we were told not many people live there anymore.
We went into the Church of Santa Maria Assunta to have a look at the structure, paintings and mosaic floors inside (we couldn’t take pictures in there though). We heard this church has some of the oldest Byzantine mosaic paintings known to still exist. They’re being carefully restored and we thought they were telling a really complex story (but couldn’t quite figure it all out).
When we got back to Burano we decided to walk around a bit before going back for lunch. It’s a very colourful town, with brightly painted houses and shops. We saw lots of artisan shops in the small streets. Lace making is famous in Burano and we watched one lady making some lace cloth by hand. It’s like she created a lace design out of air, but stitching to a cloth or pattern. We heard there aren’t many who can do this anymore.
After lunch we rode on another small boa5 and went back to Murano. We got to see a different glass making demonstration, some men were making a plate by pouring red hot liquid glass and another made a vase by rolling a ball of glass and using special tools to stretch and shape it into a vase shape. Afterwards it has to go to a cooling oven for a day before it’s ready.
Well Behaved Kids Travel 