Murona, Burono, & Venice

We met our driver outside of the ship and picked up our tour guide on the way to the water taxi.

These water taxis are traditionally designed wooden boats and are incredibly charming.

We were whisked away to the island of Murano. Murano is an island of glass production and glass fine art. In 1295 all glass furnaces were transferred from Venice to this island. This was to remove the threat of fire in the city and to sequester the art of glass making thereby controlling the secrets of Venetian glass blowing techniques.

We were guided through the elite glass blowing factory by an elderly Italian gentleman named Eugene. We watched the master glass blower create a striped plate while we sipped on a cappuccino.

The showroom was gigantic and we admired the many chandeliers, plates and other creations. We did not buy anything.

We caught another water taxi and proceeded to the island of Burano. This island is known for lace making and brightly colored houses.

We enjoyed walking around the quiet streets peeking into the shops. We saw a demonstration of the lace making. The pattern is printed on paper that is layered onto fabric. The stitches are minuscule. The result is amazing.

We took another water taxi to downtown Venice. We had lunch near the Rialto bridge.

Since we knew tomorrow 's schedule was going to be challenging due to the Venice marathon, we walked to Fundementa Nuevo which is the location where Viking's water shuttles were to depart tomorrow.

On our return walk St Mark’s square, we stumbled upon an amazing church. We find that some of the most interesting time is when we are just wandering through city streets.

We met our water shuttle for the return ride to the Viking Jupiter.

We are definitely getting our steps in each day.Read more