Our travels today took us to two islands Murano and Burano, which are well known for their artisans. Murano is well known for its glass making and Burano has been recognized as the European centre for lace making since the 16th century. We went by water-bus, first to Murano, where we watched a display at the glass factory. This, of course, was followed by a tour of their factory store. The range of products was amazing. Photos are not allowed since the designs are unique to each factory. As we walked around town we saw store after store of glass items. One of the sales reps tried to sell me an ornate chandeiier at 250K euros. I told him I’d buy it but it wouldn’t fit in my suitcase!

 

After lunch we moved on to Burano, which is the cutest little town. All of the buildings are painted in different colours making for a very engaging and inviting town. We visited the lace museum which tells the story behind lace making in Burano including a school that was there until the 1970s. The art is dying out but there were two women in the museum providing a display of how to tat. My guess is that with modern production methods the handmade lace is really just a tourist attraction now. I saw some table cloths in a store for 1,000 euros so I’m not sure how many they sell.

 

 

 

 

Needless to say, Georgie got to experience what it’s like to travel with a shopper. He spent lots of time waiting in the shade while I did my thing. At least the Christmas shopping is mostly done! He couldn’t figure out why there were so many stores selling the same things and suggested a blue jean outlet could make a killing.