The purpose of the boat tour was to spend a few hours visiting some of the other islands in the lagoon – Murano, Burano and Torcello. Our tour guide was a blond, multilingual young woman who talked almost continuously, repeating her many descriptions in three or four different languages. Our first stop was the island of Murano, world famous for its glassware.


We didn't see a great deal of this island, being marched directly into a glass factory from the boat and, later, directly back to the boat from the glass factory. In between there was a demonstration by an Italian glassblower who created a vase and a glass horse and banged loudly on a tray for tips after he was finished.





Then we were routed into a store attached to the factory which sold beautiful and pricey handmade glassware. Photography in the store was forbidden for some reason, but I didn't notice this until one of the salespeople called it to my attention. We didn't buy any of the glassware, as it was too expensive.

Our next destination was the island of Burano, which is distinctive in appearance for a couple of reasons. First, many of the buildings are painted in bold primary colors, adding an element of cheerfulness to our visit despite the suddenly cloudy weather. And second, even from a great distance one could see that the old bell tower of the main church (the Church of San Martino) was noticeably crooked.



Burano is famous for its hand-made lace, and we were herded toward a lace store called Merletti "dalla Olga" (Laces by Olga). We were given a brief description of how the laces are produced (a painstaking process involving multiple women) and invited to have a look around the store. The laces were amazing and expensive (they didn't seem to care about photography at this store), and again we didn't buy anything.



After the lace shop, we were given some time to explore the island a little. Philip had skipped the lace shop completely and was nowhere to be seen. The rest of us explored the area of the square (Piazza Baldassarre Galuppi) on which the lace shop was located. Also located on this square was the Church of San Martino, which we found to have a lovely interior.


Opposite the church was a street (Via Baldassarre Galuppi) lined with many shops catering to tourists. We only had time to look at a couple of them before it was time to return to the boat. We still hadn't seen Philip, and were hoping he had the sense to return to the boat before its departure, and when we got back to the boat, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that he did.


Torcello, the last island we visited, is actually very close to Burano and in the 10th Century was the site of the most populous settlement in the lagoon. As the lagoon around Torcello became more swampy and malarial, the citizenry gradually departed for the other islands. The structures which housed the population were also scavenged for materials to use on the other islands, until very little remained in terms of people or buildings. The current population is about 20 people, and of the few remaining buildings, two co-located churches are the main points of interest. One of the churches, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, was originally built in 639 AD, but renovations in the 9th and 11th Centuries largely replaced the original structure. The Cathedral houses the remains of St. Heliodorus, the patron saint of the island. The other church, the Church of Santa Fosca, was built in the 11th and 12th Centuries.

We were dropped off at the Torcello boat landing and told to return within an hour. The landing was about one-third of a mile from the churches. Normally not a problem, except by this time the clouds that had moved in were looking unmistakably threatening. And the lack of habitation meant there was essentially no shelter between the landing and the churches. We followed a canal for most of the distance and arrived at the churches just as the downpour commenced.



Philip and Nella contented themselves with watching the rain from a sheltered walkway, but Connie and I paid the entry fee and entered the Cathedral. The Cathedral was found to be mostly devoid of tourists and was sparsely decorated as cathedrals go. But there was an impressive mosaic of The Last Judgment, as well as a sign forbidding photography. We obeyed the sign, which may have been a factor in the rain stopping just in time for us to get back by the deadline. Or maybe not. Regardless, we were grateful to get back to the boat in a relatively dry condition.

The boat returned us to the main island and dropped us off at the spot where the tour began. We returned to our hotel for a little rest and took a little time to check out the hotel's view of the Grand Canal (unfortunately not available from our room). We went back out into the city, and after a little bit of aimless wandering (a highly recommended activity), we eventually found ourselves across the Rialto Bridge again, eating dinner at the restaurant which had not yet been open on our first night in the city (this time we were late enough).


Dinner was delicious, and afterward we did a little window shopping. There were many displays of colorful glass, some from Murano and some from parts unknown.

Then we returned to our respective hotels to rest up for the next day. Our plan was to start by exploring the other side of the canal.