Burano

I was contemplating skipping Burano after almost 5 hours on Murano but I am very glad that I didn't. As you arrive by boat you are bombarded with colour, each house is painted a different colour, very similar to Bo-Kaap, in fact the colours are similar too, none of this pastel stuff. Lime greens, burnt red, bright orange, luminous yellow, the range is endless. I couldn't stop wondering down side alleys into courtyards to get the full effect.



Burano itself is tiny, you can cross it in 10 mins (if you don't stop to shop) but it has amazing character, far more so than Murano. The main attraction in Burano is the lace-making (notice how I mentioned the buildings first). Here they produce the most intricately detailed lace table linen, bedding, clothing and these cute umbrellas (which I'm not sure what their use it, sun maybe?).







I ended up exploring a few stores while watching the lace-makers at work and I have decided I do not envy them in the slighest. The stitching is minute (you practically need a microscope to see what you are doing) and it is painstaking slow to produce. If I actually had a dining room table I would have bought a tablecloth, it would be a talking piece for years.