All about the Details

Venice is a city where you can immerse your eyes with intricate details as well as beautiful vistas... I love having that second glance, being able to linger on the small things that someone has thought of with much care.

Murano and Burano

The islands of Murano and Burano, both within the Venetian lagoon, provide a lovely day trip from Venice itself.



Murano is famous for its glass-ware. It was beautifully quiet and almost tourist free when we visited - a lovely place to meander and discover hidden treasures.







Burano is famed more for its lace-making and brightly coloured housing. Allegedly to make them more visible to the fishing boats, apparently the colour of your house is quite strictly controlled by the local government! They did look beautiful in the winter sun - our only day without fog in Venice:





Some houses were even bright pink:



Lace-making using natural light:

Island Cemetery

In Venice, there is a boat design for just about every purpose. These 'hearse' boats are not an uncommon sight, heading out to the beautiful walled island cemetery of San Michele.




Like everything else in Venice, it is so different from a normal way of doing things, but is so simple and elegant.



The graves were beautifully tended. Very few old graves were present though, so we were unsure whether the ground is constantly recycled... Its a pretty small island given Venice's incredible length of history!

Venice of the Mists

Venice is a beautiful city, but there is something even more mysterious about it when shrouded in the mists and fog of the Adriatic. The canals lead off into the unknown, and gondolas creep about fading in and out of the haze silently.

Rialto Fish Market

Next to the fruit and veg market in Rialto is the fish market, housed in its own Venetian gothic building right on the Grand Canal.



Beautiful displays of sea food. Originally the Venetians lived almost exclusively on sea food, as there was no land to farm at all in the lagoon. No wonder they take such pride in it!









Here's Char pointing out the source of her meal the night before...



...the delicious, if slightly odd-looking, squid-ink pasta!

Benvenuti a Venezia

Welcome to Venice! We had a lovely short break away, and had a great time meandering the footways and canals of Venice with our cameras. Over the next few posts we hope to give a little taste of the Venetian life in Winter.



Gondoliers were bundled up against the cold





And St Mark's Square was thankfully quiet and almost peaceful...