We missed the breakfast provided by the hotel but were able to use their wi-fi to find out where we should go and we were able to switch rooms to the main hotel. We got ourselves some bread sticks and croutons at a bakery close by. They had cheese or tomato sauce on them, pretty yummy for a light snack.
We went to figure out the vaporettis (water buses) and ended up buying 36 hour passes for 21 Euros, just long enough for our time here. We caught the waterbus so that we could get to Murano, an island close by where they blow glass. It’s best to ask the ticket attendants the best way to get there.
Once we arrived, we kept our eye out for “fornaces” where you can watch the glass blowers in action. We saw a few vases and a glass cat sculpture being blown. Pretty cool. We went to this one store that had cool scenes of ocean life, like clown fish, anemone, and octopus. A bit on the pricey side though, around $5K so we just looked and said maybe one day…
Afterwards we went to lunch at one of the only restaurants on the island. We had a famous Venice dish of sardines and onions, Volope (seafood) pasta, and fried pesce (fish). To top it off we shared a 1/2 liter of white wine. Our lunch guest was a little birdie in the alley behind the restaurant. We were sitting at a back table and it was open to the outside so this little bird kept on pecking around looking for food so eventually we started sharing our bread basket with it.
We walked around a bit more to see the art on the island before heading back to San Marco to check out the waterways and shops. I had this huge strawberry (fragola) meringue which was super sweet but oh so delicious. It turned my mouth and teeth pink! In our guidebook they recommended this store on the Ponte di Rialto bridge that sells classic style leather bound journals. I got myself a nice red leather photo journal and a smaller one for regular notes. The journal maker and her daughter were really friendly and willing to accommodate.
We went back to the hotel to rest for a while before heading to dinner on the Canal Grande. We had bruschetta with cheeses & fruits, sea bass, gnocchi with aubergine, and chocolate cake with pear mousse vanilla creme.
If you can’t see the slideshow above, click HERE.