Lace and Glass

Our ship docked in Venice overnight but since we arrived at 3 pm we really didn’t get much time. We had been to Venice for several days a couple of years ago so we chose to do something different than go into Venice.  We took an excursion by boat to Murano and Burano Islands. We have wanted to visit Murano, the area of glasswork, but never got over there.  

The Venetian Lagoon actually includes nearly 40 islands, however many are not inhabiited or have been abandoned. There are varing depths of the lagoon and boats travel in dredged channels marked by wooden pilings. We were amazed to see mudflats that our guide described as "the bottom of the lagoon".

Burano Island, population 2,000, is known for the brightly painted fisherman houses, said to have been uniquely painted to help the wayward fisherman find his way home. It remains today to be a fishing village whose residents relay on the lagoon for substenance (squid, cuttlefish, shrimp) some keeping their closely guarded secrets for their fishing.

Burano is also known for their beautiful handmade lace. We visited Emilia Burano and watched an elderly women in her craft. It is a dying art and thus makes the true lace very, very expensive. Even a small handkerchief will cost 45 euros and up (about $50.00). I bought a little bookmark for 5 euros so I know it isn't handmade!

the pattern is sewn onto layers of paper then stitch sidewides not through the paper so it can be cut off from underneath

women attended Lace Schools and made world-famous lace

Centuries ago Venice decided to put any “dangerous” or “ unpleasant” businesses on the many smaller islands because they didn’t want them in Venice. Examples of industries located away from Venice included hospitals (fear of disease) and munition factories (fumes and explosions)

Since glass works involved furnaces and fire, they were moved out of Venice in the 1300s to Murano, actually archipelago of 5 smaller islands. Another reason for relocating glassmakers was to sequester their trade secrets from leaking to other parts of Europe. Even today most of the people on the island, population 7,000, work either in glass or the tourism business. We visited the Farro-Lazarrini factory and were given a demonstration of the glass blowing by a maestro.  He was incredibly fast and precise. More than 100 people worked there in the 1960s but now only about half.

The glass pieces including stemware, vases, artistic glass and chandeliers are gorgeous and very expensive ranging from several hundred into the thousands of euros-- just a bit above our price range. Fortunately living in an Airstream trailer prohibited us from buying a chandelier or sculpture.

this building was originally a monestary

the glass fish "float" in the blown glass 

Our cruise on the Crystal Serenity has ended. It was a very special experience, definatly more luxuary than other cruise lines we have traveled.

And our special thank you to SkyMed for providing the trip to us to celebrate their 30th Anniversary.

Now on to Slovenia.