Murano, San Marco Square, Venice

Murano Glass Factory was just a short 15 minute boat ride to a nearby island in the harbor of the Grand Canal. There are several islands along the Grand Canal.

Burano is famous for its lace museum and shops along the main streets and also the far side of the island with its beautiful pastel houses and old ways.  

Torcello is known as the birthplace of Venice and is the least developed island and furthest away. But today our interest was in Murano and its famed glass factory.

The Vaporetto took us efficiently to the main dock with the glass factory just steps away. Along the docks and walkways were restaurants and hundreds of shops, as you might imagine. We were channeled by vendors into the factory first, and watched glass blowing and an artisan at work.

Afterwards, we walked carefully and briefly through the overpriced showrooms and high pressure salesmen to the shops beyond and a great lunch at a sidewalk cafe.

It was interesting to learn about the craftsmen who each have their own distinctive style and with a few souveniers headed back to Venice. It is beautiful art and we were impressed by its variety and intricacy.

The Basilica de San Marco (St. Marks) is in a grand piazza surrounded by official buildings, the church and campanile and definitely our next stop. The church has the largest display of restored mosaics in all of Italy and even from a distance you can see it majestically gleaming.  Venetian architecture is a unique combination of Gothic and Byzantine (ala Charlamagne) but at San Marco it is designed after basilicas in Constantinople and more classically Byzantine.

This church was built initially in 829 to house the remains of St. Mark. It currently stands from the 11th century reformation.

What a sensory experience to step inside with its golden mosaics on the walls and Gothic pillars, and stone and marble mosaics covering the floors. There are exquisite mosiacs the stories of Noah and the Ascension in the main church and more stories in adjacent rooms that display sculpture and paintings that celebrate a rich Catholic heritage.

Up top of the bell tower are magnificent views of all of Venice. We stepped out of the elevator just as the clock struck. It was awesome! Just below we could see the Clock Tower and two Moorish figures that have swung their clappers to chime on the hour and quarter hour since 1499. 360 degree views and from this vantage point Venice is beyond compare.

Afterwards, we spent an hour people watching at an outdoor cafe while listening to a classical quintet (two violinists, an accordianist, a bassist and a pianist). It was a beautiful way to spend the last afternoon. 

There were so many places we were unable to see except in a cursory way, the Doge's Palace and grounds, the Rialto Bridge with its fascinating shops, amazing world-famous mask shops and bookstores, the Bridge of Sighs and adjacent prison, and the eclectic Farmer's Market. 

We wanted to explore cubism in the Peggy Guggenheim, the Accademia, the Customs House with Atlas atop the dome, and the San Giorgio Maggiore church that sits majestically at the tip of the residential island of Giudecca.

It is hard city to capture and a hard city to forget. Venice is an intensely personal experience as you stand on the bridge and look at a world self-contained and eminently inhabitable. I connected to whatever is in the air and in the climate and on the faces of the people in this busy port at the edge of the world. Can we move here, please? 

We were reluctant to see the day end and that our time was up. We took one last leisurely Vaporetto ride to enjoy Venice by night and headed home to the Hotel Kette to pack.

Tomorrow begins early at 06:00 with a taxi ride that will link water to land to sky to take us to London, and that will be one of the highlights of the trip.

Arrividerci, Venezio! We will be back for a longer stay.