Yesterday we had the opportunity to go out of the city and do some exploring. Everyone who we spoke to about our trip, said you must go to Murano, the small island off Venice.
Back in Australia, I have seen lots of Nissan Murano’s and didn’t know that Nissan had named their model after this island, however, when I found out about the Island of Murano, I had that ah ha moment; that was very creative of the Japanese to name their car model after an Italian Island!
So what’s at Murano? It’s well know for its craftsmanship in Glass blowing. After a little research we figured that would be a good thing to see.
Murano as an island has several ferry stops, we thought, lets get off at the first stop as it seems like the logical thing to do. It was the right thing to do as there was a man ushering us to a demonstration of glass blowing, starting in a few minutes.
After following the route along the pathway, we arrived at the glass blowing factory. The factory is set up so people can view the demonstration in safety.
For the next 20 minutes we were treated to the craftsman developing lampshades with coloured patterns.
The craftsman used a long metal tube with the glass compound on the end, heat it in the furnace till bright orange/red, withdraw the tube, blow into the tube with a small puff of air to grow the glass, shape the glass with tools while rotating the tube, cool it with a little water, then reinsert the glass into the furnace for further heating, repeating the whole process to produce the final product.
It was truly amazing to watch and if you ever have the opportunity to go to Venice, make sure you visit the glass blowing demonstration at Murano. Understand that at the end you will have the opportunity to go through their show room to buy some products. They can be anything from lampshades to Jewellery.
After buying some gifts, we walked through some of the island where the residents lived. It was different to Venice, more modern and organised.
We finally made our way to the town which is built on a more open canal system than Venice. Lots of shops and interesting things to see.
There was an old church which was interesting. You could see by looking at the wall different things that had been built over time into the church, for example, ramparts in the wall indicated that at one stage it could have been a small bastion or something of the like.
For lunch we found another restaurant with pizza, really nice.
After lunch and some more shopping, then back to Venice. Keith and I went to St Marks square to watch the departure of the Celebrity Silhouette. After few shots of life around the square watching the Gondolas and people in general, the ship came around the point. Wow it’s big! It dwarfed the city and the surrounds as it motored through.
Chris and Annette
