Murano and Venice:  Photos - Dyn-o-mite In The Dolomites 2022 - CycleBlaze

July 29, 2022

Murano and Venice:  Photos

Sue and I were up and out early this morning for our day excursion to the island of Murano, famous for it's glass making.   We're staying in the town of Tessara, about 2kms or so from the airport.  It's not a particularly attractive town.  It does have the basics, though;  a couple of restaurants, a few hotels, a pharmacy, and our favorite, a donar shop.  But, although there is not much going for Tessara, it is a convenient location for our departure tomorrow.

We decided that we would walk to the airport and take a vaporetto into Murano.  But, before that, we had to endure an unpleasant walk along the busy road with no sidewalk to get out of Tessara.   

Once at the station, we were soon on a boat and zipping our way out into the Venice lagoon highway.   I say highway because this is exactly what it was.  Imagine an two-laned ocean highway lined with poles that essentially created a lane where all of the boat traffic was required to travel.  It was astounding how much vaporetto and private boat traffic there was travelling in both directions.  The poles were even topped with lights to guide traffic at night.  Sorry, but I was absent minded, and did not get a picture.

On the vaporetto. Since our hotel was close to the airport, we walked to the large vaporetto station attached to it. So convenient if you are looking to hop off of the plane and head straight into Venice.
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If you want cliched photos of hanging laundry, then this is your place.
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Blue boat. Murano.
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Co-captain on the 'bow-wow'.
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Don't forget to duck, captain!
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Us. Murano.
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It is our habit to get up early, and we were lucky enough to get Murano all to ourselves for  a couple of hours before the masses of other tourist arrived.  The island was peaceful, quaint and quiet this morning and we spent our time wandering along it's main canal, and branching off to explore the small neighbourhoods that make up this island.   Murano definitely has a different feel than Venice.  It's a much smaller island and you get the sense that people actually live here.

As you may well know, Murano is famous for its glass making.  Most of the shops that lined the main canal were glass shops selling anything from drinking glasses, to figurines, to glass insects; you name it. Anything that you could make out of glass, you could probably find here.   We must admit, though, a lot of it was rather tacky.

Murano.
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Another perfectly distressed building with shuttered windows. We could have taken ten thousand of these types of photos. Europe is full of them.
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Murano. Venetian gothic style window.
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Main canal in Murano.
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Murano.
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Murano.
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Walking in the shade. Murano.
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Basilica of Saint Mary and Saint Donatus on the left. With the Campanile della basilica clock tower. Murano.
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Murano.
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Murano.
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Here comes the vaporetto.
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After we had our fill of Murano,  we might as well take the opportunity to go into Venice.  Although this was not part of our original plan, we thought that since we were here, we might as well.  Who knows when we'll be back this way again, right?  We successfully negotiated the confusing vaporetto schedule and, once again we were zipping our way across the Venice lagoon towards the infamous Grand Canal.  We knew that when we arrived we would be playing the avoid the crowds game again.

Venice.
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Venice.
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Venice.
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Venice.
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Venice.
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Man serenading Sue with accordian behind. Back off, pal, she's spoken for.
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St. Mark's square. We didn't spend too much time here. Just enough time to take this shot. We were surprised that there were not more people.
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This is our second time in Venice, and what surprised us again, was that if you get away from the busy areas around St. Mark's, you can really find incredible peace and tranquility.  We wandered down narrow canals and watched gondoliers effortlessly guide tourists through the maze of waterways.   There truly is no other place quite like Venice.   We had a lovely pasta lunch, and then it was time to leave, get back to the hotel and get those bikes into boxes.  Tomorrow was going to be a long travel day.

Takers on identifying this beauty?
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Scott AndersonZebra swallowtail, we called them in my West Virginia childhood.
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1 year ago
Bill Shaneyfelt"Scarce swallowtail." Not really scarce though

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarce_swallowtail
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1 year ago
Patrick O'HaraTo Bill ShaneyfeltMy research came up with Scarce Swallowtail too. Thank Bill.
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1 year ago
Bicycles are incredible compound machines, capable of propelling one along on amazing adventures.
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Back in boxes you go.
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The hotel kept our boxes while we were away. We used Google Translate to make this sign. I guess it got the message across.
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David MathersThanks for your journal. I have enjoyed following along and dreaming about future bike travels. Have a good trip home. It’s been pretty warm here too.
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1 year ago
Patrick O'HaraTo David MathersHi David. Thanks for following along Now that the adventure is over, I'm back to reading journals for inspiration. Where's next for you guys?
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1 year ago
David MathersTo Patrick O'HaraProbably Amalfi coast and Puglia, maybe Dolomites, possibly more Spain, haven’t been to France for awhile 🤔🤔
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1 year ago
Patrick O'HaraI see you've narrowed it down, then.😉
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1 year ago