Burano

Well I said this blog would be about COLOUR!! These amazing houses are part of the fishing island of Burano, just to the north of Venice and a half hour boat ride away across the lagoon. It was a misty sort of morning, quite atmospheric but we weren't prepared for the riot of colour that hit us. You'd come upon one house that was painted a strong purple and the next door one would be lime green or sugar pink. Street after street was like this, all very tidy with window boxes and shutters in contrasting colours. Many of the shops were catering for the tourists with the famous lace which traditionally the fishermen's wives worked on while their menfolk were away on their boats. The lace is still made locally, but there was also a lot of imported textiles ( from China) - only to be expected I suppose. I bought a tiny lace butterfly which was genuine as a keepsake for Mum.

Like Venice itself there are canals instead of roads, so no cars just a few bicycles and it was very peaceful and not nearly as crowded.