selenak

One thing I never had the time to do on previous trips to Venice was to explore the various islands in the bay, other than Murano where I went on my first trip with the parents as a child, ages ago, and not since. (I still have that glass cat with the red fish inside, though.) Consequently, being blessed with enough time, I did my houssitting duty of airing the building a bit yesterday morning and then went on to do some island hopping: Murano (again), Burano (a technicolor explosion), Torcello (only twelve people or so live there now, but it used to be important before malaria and other catastrophes struck, so there is a basilica with some gorgeous mosaics there, and a marble throne on which supposedly Attila the Hun sat when he passed through), Guidecca (boasts of a Sandman story set there) and San Giorgio Maggiore (best view over Venice ever from the Campanile). Yet to come, because only one boat a day goes there and I missed it yesterday: San Lazzaro degli Armenii.

Photography wise, Murano doesn't have much to offer: the attraction is all in the glass shops. Though one of the churches boasts of having some dragon's bones hung up behind the altar. (Speaking of dragons, there is a small church in Venice which has the most gorgeous cycle of paintings by Carppaccio on St. George which boasts of some of the best dragon depictions I've seen - including torn rotten human limbs and bones on the ground in the painting when George confronts the dragon, so this is the only George & dragon painting I've seen which actually sells you on a sense of danger - but alas one is forbidden to take pictures, and it is only a small church with a hawk-eyed attendant.) Torcello has the basilica and the mosaics, both of them are handsome enough, but pale because unfortnunately I only was in Ravenna last year, so the memories are still vivid. Also, I remember how fastly I maxed out my monthly bandwidth during said last trip to Italy, and so I have to make choices. Which means the photos you're about to get are mainly Burano, making every technicolor comic film look pale by comparison and the fantastic Venice skyline as seen from San Giorgio Maggiore. But believe me, the sight is amazing.

This is the island of Burano as seen from the island of Torcello, or rather, from the top of the Campanile next to the basilica. Why, of course I climbed upwards. It's in my genetic code: my father hasn't yet seen a tower he didn't want to climb. Alas the Campanile is currently being restored, which means there is scaffolding all around it, which made photography really difficult. Anyway:

Now from some impressions of Burano from the inside.

A word about the cat: something that struck me last year was that there were no cats in Venice. You encounter the occasional dog, but no cat. So I am glad to report that the islands, the cats are still around!

And if you thought that was colourful, wait till we get in the alleys:

A universal passion, and very photography friendly it is, too: hanging up your laundry.

Speaking of photography friendly national passions: this boy practicses football for me (or soccer, for you Americans):

And then there are flowers and laundry:

One last Burano impression:

You need about fifty minutes by boat from the Fondamente Nuove to Burano. Guidecca is much, much closer, only five minutes away, and so is San Giorgio Maggiore, so you'd think they'd be overcrowded, but actually, I didn't have to queue to get up to San Giorgio Maggiore to enjoy this spectacular beauty: