Well, we decided to stay in Murano, which is a very quiet place already, and for our first day
out we thought we'd check out this island called Torcello. Torcello's even quieter,
if you can imagine that. But it's Sunday, and it looks like everybody and their brother is
coming out to see it. I guess you get island fever if you live in Venice!
We just finished going in the church and in the museum. The church cost 5 euro to get into,
and the museum cost 3 Euro. The church was really unique. It had a geometric
tile floor that was beautiful and all made of stone, slate, and other mixed stone. The roof
was wooden. We were not able to take any pictures, we weren't able to take any videos,
and ice cream wasn't allowed either. They really singled out the ice cream! We went to
the museum afterwards. Would we recommend them? If you come all this way, why not go to both?
If you had to only choose one, I think that we would recommend the church over the museum.
Plus you're supporting the restoration of the church that is currently taking place.
So you know how back home at a strip mall, there's designated parking for restaurants
for carryout or if you're just popping in to grab something real quick - these
are designated parking spots for the restaurants that are next to it, except for a boat! So neat.
That's anticlimactic.
All right, what did you think of Tortello? Torcello was great. It had a lot more people
than we were expecting, and I kind of see why it should normally be quiet. There aren't really
any houses that we could see. There's really just a church, a museum, and a couple restaurants.
We are on the island of Burano - that's with a "B" not with an "M", which is where we're staying.
It's a short ferry ride from Torcello, where we were earlier today. We popped over here for lunch
and to check out its bright buildings, which it's known for - and also the lace production.
There is nothing like a Coke on a hot day. I don't know why; it's just delicious. It hits
the spot, so refreshing. Also, not supported by Coke. We aren't big enough to have any sponsors,
but maybe you could subscribe below so that way Coke could support us? You hear that, Coke?
This is the busiest bridge on the entire island.
{Music - words: up, up, up in a painted cup, i would pour my love from a cloud above.
So bright I can see the lights taking you up and above the blue sky. Tastes good to be drinking
all of the honey sweet, brew of ours. Up, up in a painted car right in the sky like a firefly...}
Purple's my favorite color!
At 5:30, this is all the day trippers from Venice trying to get back for dinner. This is going to
be a bit of a problem - but everybody is in line for the next ferry, and the ferry's not going to
fit all those people, and then the next ferry is not for another half hour...so looks like we're
on Burano for a lot longer than we expected to be! Oh well, it's a nice place to be!
It got kind of dark quickly last night, so we realized we never closed out the islands
that we visited yesterday: Torcello and Burano. Would we recommend them?
Torcello honestly didn't have a lot going on. Burano was everything it promised to be - all
of the houses were beautiful with bright colors. It was really busy, so we would recommend getting
there first thing in the morning or late at night. It is definitely worth a day trip from
Venice. We would probably combine it with what is our favorite island: Murano. We're gonna
hop on the bus - this is what passes for a bus in Venice! They're called -um, what are they called?
Vaporetti or vaporetto for a singular. Also in the background, that's
San Marco right about there. So you've heard of the islands of Burano, Murano, and Torcello. Today
we're going to not one, but two islands, that you probably have never heard of in association with
Venice. We're headed to San Servelo and Armenia. Yes, Armenia the island, not Armenia the country.
San Servelo actually began as a monastery, then turned into a hospital. It was used
during a bunch of wars and eventually, because of this remoteness probably,
it turned into an insane asylum. {and now there's a bunch of crazy kids here; it's a university!}
and men and women used to be housed here together, but they did separate. All the women
went to a different island which is now a hotel. Apparently it's pretty bougie and expensive!
This one remained dedicated to men and at first all of the men who were mad (the description at
the time) were housed here. Then they ended up separating them into three different categories.
If you were a bit rambunctious, you got sent somewhere else. If you were a quiet madman,
you got sent somewhere else. And if you were a poor madman, this is where you would come.
We caught a vaporetto from up here near San Marco's square and we took it to San Servolo,
and that's where we are now. Also, this is the island
that housed the women who were deemed mad at the time.
So, we didn't make it to both islands we only made it to the first one that we went to. It
turns out that the island, referred to by locals as Armenia, is only open if you arrange for a
tour reservation in advance. Not only that, but during Venice International Film Week,
which happens to be this week, it's totally closed visitors. Island number two is a scrap.