Day 4

Wednesday, February 8th, 2017

It is our last full day in Venice and we wanted to visit an area we have not yet visited, to see as much of the city as we can in the short period of time we are here. We had read there were free shuttles to (but not from!) Murano to visit the glass factories there so when we learned the hotel had a water taxi that every Wednesday at 10 am would take us from the hotel directly to Murano we decided to take them up on it.

Today's breakfast was a bit of a busier affair as we were later than we have been on other days. We were put into a side room we had not even noticed to help ourselves to the buffet.

We waited in the front lobby for a few minutes before we were told the water taxi was ready out front, a few minutes before 10. Another older couple joined us in the water taxi moored just outside the hotel. It was only the four of us on this trip.

The taxi ride was a lot of fun. The seating area of taxis here in a seating cabin at the back of the boat with three low bench-style seats, one at the back and two others, one on either side facing in. The low-ceiling cabin was very cosy but clean and quite nice looking - Carpet, a glass roof, polished wood walls and comfortable seats. After being on the vaporetti all the time I was surprised at the different view of the city this gave us being so low in the water and being able to see quite clearly in all directions, including up.

The narrow boat slowly made it's way a short distance along the grand canal outside of the hotel before turning left into a side canal leading out of the city to the north. Leaving this canal we were in open water and the water taxi opened up with the bow popping out of the water and the engine getting far noisier! The distance was probably only a mile or so across the water as we passed by an island surrounded by walls which we later learned was “Cimitero di San Michele” (Saint Michele's Cemetery) before we arrived at Murano then a short time later pulled up at mooring outside a white and blue building housing a glass factory which was, evidently, our destination.

Murano is a small island to the north of the city of Venice that was once home to a large number of factories but this has been in decline for a number of years so now has only a couple of smaller, more artisan, factories but also a large number of glass shops. A sleepy island it is a welcome respite from the city.

Obviously these “free” trips to Murano have a hook, namely, that they want you to visit their factory and, potentially, part with some of your cash. The water taxi trip is not cheap so they are keen for you to have a look around and buy something. The other couple we had travelled with were more interested in simply escaping to the rest of the island so headed off in what turned out to be the wrong direction. The factory is on a corner of the island with gates around it. We were not all that bothered so allowed ourselves to be escorted inside where we were first taken to see how the glass is made.

Though the factory was only purchased in 1986, the founder of B.F Signoretti goes back many generations tracing their lineage back to when they first came to Venice in 1447 from Bergamo (as an interesting aside, reading up on the factory now after having visited I have learned that the owner of the factory contributed to the 1997 rebuilding of La Fenice which, of course we visited yesterday). The skill of the craftsmen working here is very much in evidence honed with the experience of many lifetimes. We were taken into the furnace room where two gentleman were working on a piece for a chandelier, several examples of which were hanging above our heads. They moved quickly yet accurately and seemingly without effort - A well choreographed display of artistry using only basic instruments to ensure the size and shape were correct as they wound the curve of the piece around a simple metal pattern on a table. A short time later later they put on a demonstration for us where in only a few minutes a raw piece of molten glass was turned into a delicate sculpture of a horse. The deftness of the touch coming from experience was very much in evidence as they quickly manipulated the rapidly cooling glass into the desired shape and all the while we were given running commentary by the glass factory representative who had met us at the boat.

After the factory we were, of course, taken into the show room then through a set of closed doors into the much more expensive and exclusive area where there were numerous chandeliers and pieces of art on display. Shown up a set of stairs the walls I noticed were covered with pictures from the history of the factory including where famous people visited (including the Pope), articles in local newspapers and various warrants. The pieces were generally way too over the top for us and we are not all that keen on having more “dust catchers” in our house so while we politely had a look we were not really interested in any larger items.

Eventually our guide left us alone in the front section of the show room where there were smaller, less expensive pieces. We had a look around for a while and eventually settled on a beautifully blown Christmas tree bobble and a pair of black glass earrings made from scrap for Mel. A small amount of haggling meant we got them down from €95 to €75 which, of course, we knew was not the cheapest but the whole experience was worth something to us and it has to be said the quality was much better than we have been seeing in the rest of Venice in the standard tourist shops.

We left the factory and walked around the side of the building along an actual road (it seems there may be at least a few cars here) through the main gates of the factory then back to the path beside the water at the south edge of the island with San Michele visible a short distance across the water. We passed by several small factories and popped into a shop here and there though I noticed that none of the other factories seemed to offer the free tour we had been given and none of them seemed to be, from what we saw and experienced, as nice - We were pretty much given the cold shoulder and largely ignored even when obviously showing an interest in something on display. Perhaps this was because we were only looking at the lower priced items or perhaps they have other visitors that look like better potential customers? There were obvious popular pieces that we saw in pretty much every shop: Glass shapes with “fish” floating inside, earrings, animal and insect shapes, Christmas bobbles, etc. so we ended up seeing what the prices were so we knew what was a good price when we saw it. Walking past the “Murano Collona” vaporetti stop (yes, the vaporetti have routes around here as well) we walked along a small canal into the heart of the island passing by a number of small shops and restaurants on the side of the narrow path. These fairly plane buildings are obviously old factories and warehouses that have been repurposed with some very attractive classical architectural features.

Here and there were public modern looking pieces of glass art including a large colourful glass abacus in a small alley on our left then a massive glass snowflake just on the other side of the canal on our right.

We stopped into a few more shops before the canal joined a larger canal revealing the northern half of the island. Crossing over the “Ponte Longo” we walked along the northern side of this canal with, surprise, surprise, more glass shops though these seemed more exclusive. We had a look in a “Coop” (grocery) store out of the way down a side alley. I am always interested to see what is available locally and this small, busy, shop I found quite interesting including an assortment of great looking lettuces, dried fish (cod), and cheeses (yes, even in a chain grocery store).

I bought some Parmesan cheese (cheaper than back home) and some drinks though it is not really all that warm it is, for a change, slightly sunny today. Really quite a nice day to be walking around.

The shops and restaurants gave way to a much more residential area as we once again found us walking along a small side canal. Far fewer people walking on the streets and not quite as perfect as the rest of the island but still many old buildings. An open square with the ruins of a building, now a park, was beside the “Chiesa dei Santi Maria e Donato” that we decided to visit.

This is another church that did not charge us entry and allowed us to take photos. The small building had a simple ceiling and walls but amazing mosaics on the floor showing various real and fantastic creatures as well as simple abstracts in marble. This local church seemed very well used though what took us a bit by surprise were the bodies of several religious figures in glass coffins - one behind the altar and two off to the side. I still find it odd to see bodies on display but obviously we are just visitors here.

Back again outside it was already after noon so we ducked into a small local bar, a “bacari” which was crammed with people not only drinking but snacking on hot sandwiches. The place was probably only 3 meters across and 4 meters deep but there still managed to be about 20 people in here. Mel grabbed two of the three bar stools at the front window looking onto the canal while I saw what was on offer, settling on a toasted cheese sandwich and a Coke with a coffee for her despite slight confusion when ordering (no English here). It was a tight fit as we enjoyed our small, and rather inexpensive (for Venice), snack.

Leaving the crowded bacari we headed to the right back down to the busy main canal here where we waited to catch a vaporetti back to Venice. It was only a 10 minute wait before the boat arrived which was a slightly different configuration than we are used to with an interior seating area both at the front and back with visibility inside confined to peering through smaller windows, obviously a boat for locals not tourists wanting to take photographs.

The water bus had a good distance to travel first stopping at the impressive looking walled cemetary island of San Michele to the south of Murano, before crossing another stretch of water to stop on the north side of Venice.

We continued along the northern edge of Venice around to the “Costello” area on the far eastern edge which is mainly military and off-limits to tourists with a few fleeting glimpses of war ships in dry dock for repairs. Here again there were large fortifications all along the water as we rounded the eastern corner of the island to continue along the south side towards St Mark's to the west. We passed by the large green spaces of “Parco delle Rimembranze” (Memorial Park) before the park area of “La Biennale di Venezia” (the “Venice Biennale”) named after the bi-annual art exhibitions held here but is used all year around as a site for festivals and art shows alike. It is a large area and before coming to Venice I had been trying to figure out exactly what it was as it seemed to feature prominently on maps but was slightly disappointed to find it is basically just a conference centre and exhibition hall. It is nice to see a bit of greenery after the generally solid built up area of the city which seems to have very few trees of flowers between the buildings. The entire area on the east side of Venice appears to hold not a lot of attractions for tourists so is quite a lot quieter and commercial in nature. I can tell that Mel was thrilled to be seeing parts of the city we have not seen before as she leaned back, dozing lightly waking only when I pointed out something of interest on the shore.

It was a long ride to Piazza San Marco where we disembarked for our final visit of this trip to the square. We returned along the back alleys to where we had dinner last night to get some pictures in the light before making our way back to the hotel, deciding to walk again to take in the city one last time.

At Rialto Mel picked up an ice cream cone (that I think we significantly overpaid for but can't be entirely sure) then we had a sit beside the bridge to take in the view of the Grand Canal. The afternoon has been quite pleasant with only a few wisps of clouds in the sky so it is a great time to be out walking. We did not follow the same route as we had on our first day so enjoyed seeing different areas this time, stopping to take pictures of more masks, old buildings, churches, shops, canals and boats.

At one point we were beckoned into a shop selling some rather expensive food items where samples of truffle oils and biscuits were offered. Taking our fill I did also purchase a three-bottle sampler of their oils (€39, but very nice…!). I later managed to claw back some of the monetary losses on the oils by picking up a €3 calzone for dinner from a small bakery close to the hotel. By the time we arrived at the hotel it was getting dark so after dumping our bags in the room and eating the calzone (very tasty and quite large considering) we sat for a few minutes on chairs outside the hotel beside the canal before going for a short walk through a park before it closed just to the west of the hotel that joins up to the bus station where we first arrived (Piazzale Roma). I was intrigued to see hard alcohol (not just beer) on offer at some of the food kiosks around the square, it is different in Europe.

Passing over the newer bridge near the bus station we continued over to have a look in the train station opposite the hotel which is much bigger than we thought though quite disappointing with shops we can visit anywhere in the world, so, nothing special (Muji, Nike, Mango, etc). It was only the “snack” shop/restaurant inside that was of interest, more like a small grocery store but with a lot of hot food counters and a large seating area upstairs for customers - Quite fresh and tasty looking all of it.

Back at the hotel we noticed the elevator (lift) had the fourth floor no longer blocked (there had been a paper sign over the floor number saying it was not open) so we visited the “Terrace” but, sadly, it was closed so we could not have a look at the views of the Grand Canal and city it would likely offer. A brief return to the room and a lacklustre interest in what was on television we once again returned to the seats outside of the hotel beside the canal this time ordering some hot chocolate to attempt to keep warm in the cool evening air. It was nice just watching the boats go by and just soak up the atmosphere.

Eventually we were too cold so headed inside to the bar area where we lounged beside the window Mel with wine and me with lemon Schweppes. It is sad to be leaving but we enjoyed just sitting and relaxing for a few minutes.

The staff were more than happy to leave us alone as they concentrated on a few of their evening diners in the restaurant area. We never did try this restaurant, it seemed to be quite overpriced, even for Venice but, obviously, it is convenient and simple for those staying in the hotel.

Tomorrow is an early start for the trip to the airport. This time we are determined to leave Venice the more interesting way - by boat instead of by bus. Buses we can catch any time back home, boats, not so much.

⇒ Day 5