by Caroline Hendrie
Fascinated, I watched as a skilful glass blower fashioned a blob of molten glass into a vase. Next, with a few deft twists he created a leaping horse. Our visit to the foundry on the island of Murano came on the third day of our short break in Venice.
I have been lucky enough to visit Venice several times, but had never before crossed the lagoon to Murano where coloured glass has been produced for 600 years. Having no wish to buy fiddly little glass animals or an elaborate chandelier, I had always felt it would be a waste of valuable time on a brief stay in the city.
But here I was, on a really enjoyable half-day trip by private boat. After the glass demonstration I spent an engrossing hour in the newly revamped museum of glass in a historic bishop’s palace with exquisite pieces from the 15th to 21st century beautifully displayed. My partner and I found a lovely restaurant in a residential square for a light lunch of calamari and salad (surrounded by brawny foundry workers who had their own hearty menu), and planned the rest of our day.
Having come this far, we decided to explore a bit further and took a waterbus to Burano, famous for its hand-made lace, with another interesting small museum devoted to the craft, and packed with colourful houses.
I also fulfilled a wish to ride in a gondola, something I had never dared try on previous visits, far too expensive and we might be mown down by a waterbus in the Grand Canal, I thought. But we had a gentle half hour, gliding under the Bridge of Sighs and into tiny canals, past crumbling palazzos and old apartments with no sounds but water on the skilful gondolier’s oar, all for just 20 euros (about £15) per person.
These new experiences were all thanks to a well-organised escorted tour based for four nights in characterful four-star Hotel Principe, looking onto the Grand Canal and a few steps from a ‘Vaporetto’ waterbus stop and a pleasant stroll to cafes in quiet piazzas and a big choice of restaurants.
English tour leader Wendy, who has lived in Italy for 25 years, met our group of 50 at the airport. On the short coach transfer to the city she handed out maps, a sheet of useful notes and museum passes for our free afternoons, then checked us into the hotel. Every evening of our four-night trip she was in the lobby of the hotel for an hour, smiling and ready to answer questions and give advice, before we headed out wherever we felt like it for dinner. Every morning at 9am there she was again, to accompany us on our three excursions.
I was a bit daunted by the idea of a guided tour in a group of 50 through tourist-packed Venice, but thanks to receivers round our necks and ear pieces we could hear Piero’s, our local guide’s commentary perfectly, ambling along on his carefully chosen, less crowded route, taking in our surroundings.
On our first morning our focus was on classic Venice, lingering outside many interesting churches, past the Accademia, home to the largest collection of Venetian art in the world, to La Fenice opera house and through St Mark’s Square to the cathedral. Along the way he pointed out some of the lesser-known, easy to miss museums that we could pop back to visit later, using our passes which allowed any time entry to the Doge’s Palace and ten other museums, including the lace and glass ones out on the islands.
Shepherded by Wendy, with her car aerial with a red dahlia on top, held aloft so we didn’t lose her in the melee, we swept past the long queue into St Mark’s to see the gold mosaic ceilings and inlaid marble floors, and with perfect timing emerged into the huge square at two minutes to 11 to see the bronze figures on the top of the clock tower banging out the hour on its enormous bell.
There was time for a sit down and a cappuccino in one of the notoriously expensive cafes with views of the Doge’s Palace – half price with a voucher provided by Wendy – before our gondola ride, the only extra of the trip, which all of us, bar two, opted for.
We then all struck off on our own, some to visit the Doge’s Palace. I and my partner bought three-day vaporetto passes letting us hop on and off waterbuses as we pleased. Taking the number 1 that ziz-zags up and down the Grand Canal we alighted at Ca' Rezzonico for the Museum of the 18th Century, a Baroque palazzo where the romantic poet Robert Browning was living at the time of his death in 1889. Richly decorated with frescoed ceilings it has a great collection of scenes of daily Venetian life, by Pietro Longhi, dubbed the Italian Hogarth.
The next morning we met at nine again, this time for a walk off the beaten track in the district of Cannaregio, visiting the first ‘ghetto’, the Jewish quarter founded in the 16th century. Then to the canal-side house where Tintoretto grew up and the church of Madonna dell’Orto, containing many works by him and his grave. Our two-hour walk ended at the old fish market by the Rialto Bridge.
Standing at a bar, cappuccinos and triangular, thin white sandwiches with thick fillings, a Venetian speciality, made an inexpensive early lunch. In the afternoon we pottered around the shops and returned to the ghetto to do a tour of the Jewish Museum and the historic synagogues.
On our last day, boarding a boat conjured up by Wendy to pick us up at a private dock near our hotel to take us to Murano. As we chugged along the Giudecca Canal, with Wendy pointing out some of the landmarks, I heard one of our group say appreciatively, ‘This itinerary is perfect. Just the right amount of guiding and information, then the rest of the day to ourselves.’ I couldn’t have agreed more.
