Murano Burano

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We had no trouble finding a place to eat in the Lido this morning. I tracked down the tiny cups of Swiss muesli by the coffee in the cross-section between starboard and port serving sides. I took three and poured them into a single bowl, berries and all. Sharon just got potatoes and toast because the French toast wasn’t cooked the last time she had tried them.



Moving through the arrivals terminal we saw the luggage of many of our fellow travelers neatly arranged in color coded groups, ready for collection by departing passengers to clear customs and passport controls. Some of the people leaving the ship here in Venice and who had flights later in the day were joining us on our tour to Murano and Burano. We walked to the floating docking pier for smaller vessels, and soon we were given permission to board. The name of our vessel gave me pause… The “Andrea Doria”. As my memory serves me there was another by that name whose last voyage didn’t end all that well. It was about a 45 minute ride to Murano for our first stop. The weather was overcast and threatening rain. We arrived at our first stop to see an example of glass blowing and manufacturing at one of the official Murano Glassmakers. We walked into a large brick building fashioned in the old Roman style using archways to support the superstructure. This building had once been a church for many hundreds of years; and, then it was a convent for nearly two hundred years and Napoleon conquered Venice, nearly destroying the building. Since that time in the late eighteenth century, this building was converted to a glass manufacturer. About that time Venice has enacted laws preventing glass blowing furnaces from being used in Venice due to the fear of fires. Already half a dozen small furnaces could be seen with their fiery orange and yellow glowing heat blazing out the front of each furnace. There were a few workman about who occasionally would withdraw a rod with molten glass at the end. He fashioned a vase in front of us, blowing into the end of the long tube which he manipulated expertly, reshaping the glass with a large forceps, flaring the lip and then displaying his work to those seated about watching the demonstration. Next, he made a horse rearing back on its hind legs (balanced by the tip of its tail). We didn’t see how he changed the tail to a jet black, or brought vivid color to the body, because it happened right before our eyes in about two minutes. The face was perfectly formed with inquisitive ears and a flowing mane. Works such as these require 24 hours to cool in the cooling chamber. The colors in the glass come from the various minerals and elements that are added to the heated glass. Copper makes the glass green. Cobalt makes the glass blue. Amethyst is used to create purple and lilac colors. Silver makes the color an amber or light yellow hue. The bright red glass is made using gold, and commands a 20% premium over glass in other colors. When the manufacturing demonstration was completed, we went into the store where many items were for sale, including lamps and chandeliers that were overhead and illuminated. The owner gave a great presentation of the quality of the Murano glass, emphasizing that each piece was handmade. He arranged six apparently identical all brilliant ruby red tumblers on the table. They looked identical. But as he struck each rim with a spoon we heard distinct tones that seemed to be from low to high in an octave. So indeed, they were not identically the same! Whatever your wallet size might be, there was something here if you needed to buy some Murona glass. We both liked some of the colorfully diverse patterned plates that we saw, that included all of the colors in an intricate almost woven concentric design pushing outward to a clear glass rim. But the price was upwards of 1,000 Euros. Mirrors were offered from 10,000 to 40,000 Euros! The owner cautioned about buying fake “Made in China” Murano glass, and noted that every authentic piece of glass will have a tamper proof sticker attached to it. The sticker features an intricate design using gold leaf and cannot be removed from an item without breaking the seal (although it can be removed from an item without leaving a trace, it just cannot be reattached to something else).



We had about a fifteen minute boat ride to an outer island to visit Burano. Burono is famous for the brightly colored buildings that make up this residential community. Each family house has its own vibrant color, and must remain as such. It virtually requires an act of God to change this color (which I guess means that they have a very pro-active architectural committee in the local homeowner’s association). Sharon learned from her “Upcoming Ports” lecture that this used to be a fishermen’s village. There used to be a problem with the fishermen staying out late in the local pubs and would sometimes be so drunk they’d wind up going home to the wrong house, which I guess could be a big problem if they got into the wrong bed. And so, the solution was to paint the houses bright colors so the fishermen could better find their way home to the right house and avoid any other possible confusions. Here we visited a lace making shop, where piles of dainty lace works were available for sale, from opera fans, to Christmas Tree ornaments, to fancy bedspreads and pillow cases. If the house we are building was already done and we had a better sense of sizes and what we need where, I think we might have been coming home with carpets from Istanbul, lights from Murano and perhaps a bedspread from Burano.



I thought that I might be able to try some local pizza at a Pizza-Grille-Trattoria that had some likely pizza options on their menu for 7,50 (Margherita) to 12,50 Euros (Prosciutto and Funghi). There was outside seating; but, I went in to see if they were open. The guy behind the bar asked “Drink?” When I asked “Pizza?” He replied “No time.” Which I think meant the oven wasn’t hot enough yet and they weren’t open for anything but drinks right now. We went to the Gelateria just a few doors down. The people we’d eaten dinner with the night before had come here and told us about the great place they’d eaten ice cream by the giant pink ice cream cone. This must be the place. Sharon had a double cup of chocolate and caramel. I had a triple cone of dark chocolate, pistachio, and mint-chocolate. The ice cream was very soft and Sharon had trouble with it dripping all over her hand before we could find a place to sit. We finally did sit in front of the trattoria. I wound up ordering a Coca-Cola to stay there, which cost 4,50 Euro, a bit pricy for a one-third liter can. At least the soda was made with sugar!



We got back to the ship after noon and were lucky to have our InTransit passes which moved us to the front of the line ahead of those just starting their cruise. One couple didn’t seem to like that as they spent many minutes getting their “Carryon” stuff unloaded onto the security belt and yelled at one of the men in our tour group that he was not to go ahead of them. Luckily there was another machine to the left so we went there. The poor guy that got yelled at was still waiting, We dropped our things off in the cabin and went up to the Lido. Sharon had some beef that looked appetizing. I ordered another thin-crust pizza (with mushrooms, tomatoes, basil, white sauce and arugula) and this one was the best I’ve had so far. I don’t think it was due to the red-pepper flakes that I added to it; but, I may have found my new favorite pizza.



Sharon went to a talk on upcoming ports while I went back to the cabin to catch up on the blog. I was still typing when Sharon went to mass to meet the new priest and more importantly, to meet Ruth.



We went to dinner and saw many new faces. I had the seared scallops, a salad with blue-cheese and bacon, and followed that with seared haddock. The scallops were a bit chewy, and I’m not so sure they wouldn’t be better if thoroughly cooked. The haddock on the other hand was great (I’m not really sure you could call it seared). It was served with a mango salsa that was very tasty, and I wouldn’t have minded if they had smothered the fish with it rather than parceling out the tiny dollop that they did. Sharon got the rack of two pork chops (but had to invoke that “Special Meals” card of hers to get it with a baked potato). Unlike the jumbo undercooked monster that she’d once been served on the previous leg of our Voyager’s Cruise, this was one petite baked potato! But Sharon ate it all! As I surmised before seeing the menu, one of my favorites (the Banana Crisp) was offered, and I had mine ala mode! Sharon ordered the crème Brule again.





As dinner neared its conclusion, the announcement came for the mandatory onboard safety drill. We made our way to the station on the starboard side that we are assigned to use. Our Assembly Communicator said over her loudspeaker that she would call each room number and that we should respond with how many. The officer reading from his list corrected her in a whisper, saying “Cabin number, not room number.” And she smiled, whatever. The drill finished without incident; unless, you count the couple that was in the middle of our assembly and was trying to shout “Here!” when he heard his cabin called at the adjacent station. They were supposed to be at boat 13 and were holding up that roll call since they were in the wrong place. I went back to the cabin and Sharon went to check out the presentation on the cruise and then go to the piano bar. She soon joined me in the cabin and said it was positively dead up there. The doors weren’t even open to the showroom. I guess some people may be recovering from jetlag. It’s too bad to be sneaking out of Venice in the dead of night when you can’t see anything, and there is no commentary by the Destination Specialist. Venice is really quite interesting to learn about.

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