Our second full day in Venice was Wednesday, May 3rd, 2017, and we had a very slow start after our marathon tour the day before. We both felt like we saw every inch of Venice and wouldn’t mind traveling by water bus to the nearby islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello.

Mini-Venice

We took the 4.2 water bus from the Crea stop outside our house to the first stop at Murano. This island is known for their glass blowing. There were gift shops of glass artwork lining the main street from the train station. This island looked like a miniature Venice to me. Similar canals, bridges, no cars, cute houses on top of each other, but less people and a slower pace. We bypassed the glass blowing factories for some lunch at the Ristorante Hotel “Al Soffiador” and sat on the tree lined sidewalk/courtyard for grilled chicken and french fries for me and pizza for Aaron. I also tried the famous Spritz Aperol orange drink that everyone drinks here. I did not like it. It was way too sweet for me. It is made of white wine, Aperol and soda water. This restaurant just happened to be in the direction of the second water bus station called Murano Faro, which is where we needed to go to catch the 12 water bus to take us to Burano and Torcello.

Time Travel 

The 12 water bus took a while to cross Laguna Veneta and over to the little islands of Burano and Torcello. The bus bypassed Burano and stopped at Torcello first, which was a great departure from the concrete jungle. It felt like an old village or something you’d see on Game of Thrones. There is one small canal that runs through the main town and most of the island is all nature. We had gelato at a goat and sheep farm and relaxed on lawn chairs. There was a gorgeous bed and breakfast looking place, called Ristorante Villa ‘600. At the end of the walk way there is an old run down church and clock tower with a museum and archeological tour.

All The Colors

The last island of our hop was Burano. This island is so cheerful! Every house was painted in a different bright color from the next house. Laundry was hanging between houses on every street. I could have walked around for hours between each building just to see what the next street of colors looked like. 

Heading back to the “main island” of Venice, we discovered the cutest restaurant about 100 meters from our house called Al Parlamento. It was literally outside our door and right on the corner of our street and the canal. We hung out here for a couple hours enjoying appetizers of cured beef and parmigiana, bruschetta which was more like french bread pizza, fried meatballs, and our favorite, which was fried mozzarella rice balls and a bottle of red wine called Cecchetto. Even if this restaurant wasn’t right around the corner, I would have walked a great distance to relax here and people watch. It was the most modern place we had been to. We made friends with the waiter and watched as a dozen or so locals came in, stood by the high top bar, drank espresso or Spritz Aperol and took off. We were thoroughly entertained by two cute and playful Italian boys who were no more than 2-4 years old, and the dogs that came into the restaurant with their owners. It seems like only about 50% of the dogs are kept on leashes, but each one has a collar, name tag and an owner, so you knew they weren’t strays. It seems like everyone really loves dogs here, which I always love to see!

Our last day in Venice was Thursday, May 4th, 2017. We headed to Al Parlamento again for breakfast of croissants, muffins and hot chocolate. Wow – the hot chocolate was the richest drink I’ve ever had! Then we went to the train station and are now on our way to Florence, Italy.

Be you, Bravely.

Katrina Fox

The Foxy Kat (TFK)

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