In the Lagoon

It's probably sacrilegious to say this, but after three days in the streets and canals of Venice we wanted a break, and so we got on a waterbus at Fondamenta Nuove to go have lunch on Torcello, the tiny island housing Locanda Cipriani, a 13th century church and 16 full-time residents.

Since there's no direct vaporetto to Torcello we went first to Burano, known for its lace and multi-colored houses.  This is not the better known Murano, with dozens of factories turning out tourist glass only 10 minutes from Venice itself.  Burano is a good 40 minutes from La Serenissima and unfortunately no longer turns out even tourist lace; nearly everything but the most expensive handmade stuff comes from Asia.

However the sun remains shining, and the tourist trade keeps the residents in their brightly painted houses, and all's right with the world.

Even here on Burano though, history more recent than the time of the Doges makes its mark.  This little piazzetta has been renamed in honor of the 9/11 victims.

Another boat takes us on to Torcello, where we find ourselves walking a paved path along the single canal, surrounded by fields, the occasional house, and a couple of cafés along the path.  This couldn't be farther from the bustle and buildings of Venice.

We have a very pleasant if overpriced lunch at Locanda Cipriani, disappointed that this late in the season they are no longer serving in the garden.  With only vaporetto every 40 minutes or so we decide that getting back for a rest is the better part of valor and so we decide to skip the church in favor of catching the next vaporetto back to Venice.

This fellow is patiently waiting for the boat as well.

And when it comes we retrace our route past several of the other islands, including the one that holds the cemetery, and return to the city, ready to deal with airport security and crowds on the way back home.