Venetian Islands

Murano is a Venetian island known for its glass blowing. It originally consisted of artist kicked out of Venice for fear of fires from the glass blowing; they were removed to this island and couldn’t leave without punishment. Eventually they branched out and their art and techniques expanded to other locations. It is a much smaller island that had many shops and museums.  It was nice to off the main island for a while and away from the craziness, while this was defiantly a tourist spot it was a lot calmer. The glass art was amazing from figures, to bowls, to lamps to jewelry. All items unique and much of it made right there on the Island. Sadly they don't allow pictures to be taken in the shops so the pictures are just of us and our lunch and the streets!

Burano is where Italian lace began. Another smaller island filled with brightly colored houses. This was my favorite part of the island. It’s rumored that the locals painted their houses bright so that when fishermen were coming home they could easily spot home.  There were many shops selling lace in every form you could think of. They even had old ladies in the shops working on lace. How much of it is currently handmade I am not sure. Of course they claim it all is but reading about the island it seems that that may not be the case but I choose to be a romantic and go with what they tell me!

Lido is apparently known for its beaches which is funny to me as Florida has a Venice beach and a Lido beach on the golf coast. This was our last island spot. We got off the water taxi and rented bikes. We explored the island; saw the beach grabbed a quick pizza before returning the bikes. We then walked a bit in search of an ancient Jewish Cemetery. We caught some amazing sights along the way but unfortunately the cemetery had closed the hour before we arrived . . . just another reason I HAVE to go back!

I completely and utterly fell in love with Venice.  I cannot begin to explain how much this trip ment to us. In our lives we have so many dreams and we have been so blessed to see so many of them come true!