Venice Off the Beaten Path Tips by christine.j

When we went to Murano it was raining and storming very hard, so instead of walking around first, we went to Glass Museum directly. Not too many people were there, probably the bad weather had prevented many tourists from going to Murano that day.
The museum has lots of glass items on display, arranged according to the centuries in which they had been made. We saw beautiful things, including a huge centerpiece in the shape of a garden. Wonderful as it was to look at, I felt pity with the poor servants who had to clean it and set it up on the table.
Much detailed information was given on the process of glass making. This was very interesting, I had never known how many different kinds of glass there are.
Before we went out in the rain again, we had a coffee( from a machine !), which was better than many coffees in restaurants in Germany. And for just 50 cent it was really cheap.

The entrance fee to the museum was 2,50 Euro. It's worth going there even in sunshine.

Update:
Ingrid (VT member Trekki) told me, that the entrance fee is now 5,50. I don't know if we looked like senior citizens and got the reduced rate? Or we were thought to be the teachers of a school class who had been waiting before us?

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We went to Burano early in the morning, as we wanted to be there before the crowds. The weather was beautiful again, we were able to see the snow-covered mountains far away. In Burano the vendors were just putting up their stalls, it was a very quiet and peaceful atmosphere. We strolled through some streets in which we were the only people around.
Later that day, when we came back to have lunch (excellent!, see my restaurant tip), it was a lot livelier. There was a market going on and both locals and tourists were busy doing their shopping.
The most striking element in Burano is the colour of the houses, especially when you see them reflected in the water. Since the day before had been really wet, many umbrellas were hanging upside down from the windows, a very practical method of drying them.

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For such a small island this is a very large church, again holding many paintings , among them a painting showing a miracle which is supposed to have happened on Burano's shores.A marble coffin holding the remains of a martyr was floating in the water near Burano, but nobody, not even the strongest men, could pull it ashore. Finally some small children went into the water and brought it onto the island without any effort. This painting was done in 1690 by Antonio Zanchi. It shows this miracle in great detail.
The painting which impressed me most was completely different. It shows a saint and a young Jesus , both wearing very modern clothes. This was done in 1945. I tried to take a picture of it, but it turned out to be too dark.

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I had seen round plates with animal carvings in Venice on a church, but had no idea what they could stand for. In Burano I saw them again, this time on the facade of a normal house.
Each circle holds two animals, one on top of the other, either riding on it or eating it.
I still have no idea what they symbolize, if anyone can help me there, I'd really appreciate it.

Update from May 2007:
VT Member Trekki pointed me in the right direction, towards byzantine architectural ornaments. I checked in a lot of books and finally found a reference to these ornaments. It seems they were put up partly a simple ornaments and partly as "messages".
A book called "Physiologus" had attributed certain characteristics to certain animals, so putting up two good animals was seen as an extra protection of the inhabitants of the house. An ornament showing two evil animals was supposed to tell evil spirits to stay away from there, as their place was already taken.

Reading about this got me interested in this book, it seems this concept is still existing in our
imagination today. Think about Disney's "Lion King", in which the lion is seen as the king of the animal world and not, for example, the elefant or the giraffe. In the Physiologus the lion stood for kingdom.

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It was still early in the morning when we took the boat from Burano to Torcello. It's only a ride of about ten minutes and you can see the bell tower of Torcello coming closer.
This island is really small.In March 2007 construction work was going on and we couldn't go straight ahead to the village. We were being redirected on a path around, through gardens and very close to the water. It was very quiet and seemed ages away from San Marco's.

There is an old Romanesque church in Torcello, free of charge and interesting to see. In the front of it there are stones , showing coat-of -arms of (I think) families from Torcello. You can see the winged Venetian lion and a very pretty one with three dolphins.

Next to this church there is the Basilica di Santa Maria dell'Assunta. Here you have to pay an entrance fee, either for the basilica alone, or in combination with the bell tower or the museum. We chose the basilica and the bell tower and paid 5,50 Euro each, for each of us I mean, not for each of the buildings.

It's absolutely worth it! The basilica is beautiful inside, with one of the largest mosaics I have ever seen. Showing the last judgement, set against a golden background, it is simply overwhelming. I later learned that it is one the most beautiful Byzantine mosaics in Italy and I certainly believe that.

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When the bell tower was built, nobody thought of tourists going up there for fun. The staircase is quite narrow and when people are walking up and down at the same time, you may have some problems. Yet another reason to be there early, before the crowds.

I had a wonderful view from the tower. The lagoon was spread out all around, the snow-covered mountains could be seen on the horizon, the towers of Venice appeared, it was a spectacular view.

If the weather is nice, this is a "climb" which I would certainly recommend.

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From the bell tower we had seen a footpath, going along the water. Since we had enough time - it's great not being pressured for time when on vacation! - we decided to follow this path for a while. It was so narrow, that we had to walk behind each other. We passed some goats, enjoying their lunch, saw some butterflies, but no other people.
When we turned around, we had a great view of the bell tower and the two churches.

The footpath starts behind the bell tower, there is water right and left to it.It must be very muddy when it's raining.You can see the path on the second picture, in the lower right corner.

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