Wednesday--Our Last Full Day in Venice

After breakfast we headed to San Marco Square in order to go inside St. Mark’s Basilica. Being adamant Rick Steves’ fans, we used his trick to bypass the line. Inside, while busy, it did not seem crowded enough for pickpocketers—Rick Steves’ promised the Basilica to be the most dangerous place in town. From the basilica, we also went into the Treasury (entirely not worth the €3—next time I would try the Golden Alterpiece area for €2,50 instead) and the San Marco Museum. The museum houses the original horses, whose copies are mounted on the basilica. The horses alone are well worth the €4 admission fee.

After leaving the San Marco, we walked to the north shore of Venice, grabbing some sandwiches along the way. We decided to spend the afternoon touring Burano and Torcello. We took a vaporetto from Fondamenta Nuove to Murano. We did not really linger there other then walking over to a different vaporetto stop to go to Burano. Another quick switch there, and we were in Torcello. On this route, the longest trip was between Murano and Burano—about 30 minutes of a very pleasant boat ride.


Only about 20 people now live on the island of Torcello, even though one time before the 14th century that number reached 50,000. Two churches and a bell tower is all that remains from those glory days. We looked into the smaller of the churches, and walked around main church of Santa Maria Assunta, which had some amazing mosaics from around the 12th century. After about an hour on Torcello, we caught the 5 minute ride on the vaporetto back to Burano.

Burano’s amazingly colored little houses are cute as a button. I cannot imagine that the locals enjoy tourists taking photos of their front doors, but it is simply irresistible. Thankfully the locals must feel relatively safe, because in the heat of the afternoon they leave their front doors open, covering them with a heavy curtain to block the sun.



Since Burano is known for its handmade lace, I couldn’t resist looking around a few lace shops. Most sold very similar beautiful items, sometimes more of what I would consider embroidery rather then lace. One shop had a large display of antique lace—exquisite.

After returning to Venice, we headed to the south side of town for a light dinner. We grabbed some “cicetti” (tapas) and white wine for a light cheap dinner at Enoteca Gia Schiavi on the San Trovaso Canal near the Accademia bridge. The sun was setting, so we walked to the water by the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute and sat “on the pier” until it was almost dark watching the water change colors and the lights go on for the palazzos.