As you probably know I am spending the week in Venice with the family on spring break. We are having an amazing time in this exciting ancient city. I have never been to Venice before, but looks like it had been a populat destination for many people at hive (no kidding!). I was checking Worldmappin, which is already heavily pinned in Europe, but man, Venice, has 209 pins. Even the island of Burano, the content of this post, has 28 pins! My point of stating all these, that it is unlikely for me to write anything unique about Venice. I was checking travel writer @gabrielatravels (she has 452 worldmappin posts by the way!); she alone has 10 posts on Venice, 2 on Murano, and 8 on Burano! By the way, Murano and Burano are two common day trips from Venice, and they are two islands in the Venetian Lagoon. Anyways, with all this stats the bar is set very high to write anything even remotely meaningful about Burano. That said, I will state my standard phrase again, I typically write for myself as this is my journal, so I am sure I am going to be doing a good job on that!

I loved taking this picture above. If you ever want to go at this exact spot, I will make it very easy for you. That link above that says Tre Ponti is a live google map link and will take you to the exact spot where I took the picture from. I was standing on that bridge facing south towards the lagoon. You can't get any more specific than that, eh?

The reason I wanted to be that specific, is because I think I want to replicate this picture over and over again, I hope! I hope to visit this beautiful island as many times as I can, perhaps in different seasons. It is easy to visit this island, and I will tell you exactly how (so that I can remember it myself exactly).

First of all, you do not need guided tours here. Lots of the US tourists falls for this, and I wouldn't call it a 'trap', because the guided tours are nice and informative and typically great for the first timers. People from US typically book them online through Viator or Getmyguide, etc. They are typically $50 - $60 per person for a 'small group' of 20 people and they cover two islands Murano + Burano in the same day in about 5 hours by private boat. Although these tours are typically good and informative, but they are over-priced and doesn't give you enough time in either of the islands. You feel rushed if you take a guided tour, and you don't need rush while on vacation!

A much better way to do it on your own. Get a Veporetto pass, which is basically water bus and you will need it at Venice. People typically buy a day pass for 25 euros or 72 hours pass for 45 euros. There are various other combinations, including museums, and other attractions offers, including airport transfers. You can choose whatever you find useful. The point is, this pass will also take you to Murano and Burano!

I like their inactive map for navigation. It tells you which boat to take where and has a time table attached. The most direct one is route 12 from Fondamente Nove stop, that is limited stop route and goes straight to Murano-Mazzorbo-Torcello-Burano!

There you have it. This takes about 40 min to Burano from Venice, and hands down the best way to vist not only this island, but many others. Also this is a must have if you want to get all over Venice efficiently. This is what the locals use. Yes, it can get crowded, but they are frequent enough that you can always take the next one.

Although many tour operator say, the main reason to visit Burano is to see the lace artisans, but it is not. Although it is true, but unless you are deeply interested in lace, the museum for lace is rather niche. To me, the main reason to visit this island is its colorful houses! They are spectacular to say the least.

Burano is a tiny island. You can walk every single street around the canals in a day. If you get tired of walking, there are numerous shops to get in and also numerous restaurants to stop and have a drink of wine and Cicchetti! Cicchetti are small, flavorful dishes, the Venetian equivalent of Spanish tapas, typically served in traditional bars called bacari, and enjoyed with wine or spritz. I will tell you more on Spritz on a proper venetian post later, but it is the most popular cocktail over there.

This is me having a salmon cicchetti with a glass of pinot grigio!

Ah! Bellisimo!

That is all that I can say!

Notice, the food is half eaten already! I am no food photographer, and I want to eat first and often forget to take picture! I hope you understand what I mean when you look at all the intagram photographers all over the place.

The interesting part that I can say about Burano is that people actually live there, and it is not just a crowded tourist trap. They go on walk the streets, knock on doors to visit friends. Life is simple and slow. Yes, there are some tourist, like me, and granted we are a bit of eyesoar, but there you have it. Hopefully we are contributing a bit to the economy!

I like this alley shot. There will be plenty in future Venice posts, but this one is bright and vibrant just like Burano.

As you can probably tell, we had a cloudy and rainy one, but that didn't hamper the spirit at all. When is rained we went inside the shops, and when it stopped we came out to enjoy the streets again!

Life can be simple, really!