Chris & Kelly's Travel Adventures

Today we did some island hopping to the nearby islands of Murano and Burano.

Every morning must start with a climb over the Rialto bridge and we have been blessed with wonderful weather.

First we visited the island of Murano and learned what it takes to be a master glass blower.  There is no school, the skills and techniques must be passed down from father to son and can take up to 15 years.  There are only 25 master glass blowers on the entire island within 10 families and the trade is strictly regulated by the government.

I know that many of you reading this have probably seen the process of blowing glass, but for those who have not (especially our grandgirls) I have included photo's of each step of a master glass blower creating a horse.

He rolls melted liquid glass on the end of a long metal pole and then rolls colored glass (green and silver) on it to make it stick.  Then he puts the end of the pole in the hot oven until it looks like an orange ball.  While he spins the pole he blows air through the other end to create a bubble.  The master then uses big tweezers to pull on the glass to pull out the head, front and back legs and then the tail.  As the glass starts to cool, the orange color becomes clear and you can see the colors of green and silver.

We boarded a boat and headed to the island of Burano.  Burano is known as the first settlement in the Venetian lagoon, home of hand-made lace and vibrantly colored homes.  

Burano lace is a centuries old craft from the women of the village. Each woman learns one type of stitch.  Most pieces of lace require 7 women to complete.  The most delicate is lace that has no linen structure and even the smallest pieces such as a hand fan can take the women up to 6 months to create.   Most pieces are a section of hand-made lace sewn into a linen fabric such as the one in the photo below.  

We had lunch in the village, along one of the canals.  We tried a specialty of the region, spaghetti with squid ink.  You can see that it is black and stains your tongue, lips and gums.  Grampy looks like he is ready for Halloween.  It tastes of brine (tastes better than it looks!)

Burano was originally a fishing village.  The homes were painted vibrant colors so that the husbands/sons could find their way home.  

Alanna we thought of you when we saw the pretty bright colors.  At one time you asked us to paint the farm pink :)

We had a wonderful meal for dinner.  I apologize to you all, because I forgot to take photo's.

Appetizer: 

Baby octupus, spicy tomato sauce on parsley polenta

Bruschetta w/spicy salami, burata cheese, and green olive

Bruschetta w/lardo

Green Olives

Primi-

Spaghetti w/lobster sauce, ginger and crispy bacon

Secondi-

Grilled duck w/blueberries, horseradish and a pomegranate red chicory salad

A little gelato to finish off the evening.  We have had a wonderful tour of Venice.