Venice: Torcello and Burano

Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Torcello

With the arrival of the weekend we thought that Venice would become more crowded and so today seemed the ideal moment for a foray to the islands of the lagoon. We took the vaporetto from Fondamanta Nuove (the broad path on the norther side of the city) to Burano and then a further vaporetto shuttle on to Torcello. Torcello is where Venice began, but was progressively abandoned after the 10th century when this part of the lagoon began to silt up. Now there is a small clutch of wonderful old buildings, four or five restaurants and a few houses and that is all.

You walk along a brick-paved fondamenta from the quay beside the Canale di Torcello, passing the Devil's Bridge, so named presumably because it has no sides - perfect for photographs - and soon reach the centre. You are first confronted by the arcaded porch of the beautiful little church of San Fosca which dates from around 1100.

Walking round the back you find a wonderful Romanesque apse with blind arches and delicate patterning.

Opposite there is a small museum and a shop (originally 14th century palazzos) and then, linked to the church by the arcade is a Cathedral, which if you did not know, is the last thing you would expect in a settlement this size. There has been a church here since 639; it was enlarged and altered in 824 and 1008. The interior decoration dates from the 11th to 13th centuries.

We wandered round the side of the cathedral and explored the seeming wasteland by a nearby canal. We soon spotted a number of small white butterflies. I don't think they were Small Whites, because they had no black spots on their wings. Then a couple of blue butterflies appeared. At this point I was forcefully reminded that we needed to catch the shuttle back to Burano, so further exploration did not take place.

Once in Burano, we followed a path which led to a junction of two canals. The distinctive, brightly painted houses of Burano were soon apparent. Allegedly, they were like this to make the buildings more visible to fisherman returning through the winter mists which affect the lagoon. There was also an immediate sense of space and air, which is something that you do not get in Venice.

We walked along a fondamenta and approached the centre of the island. We passed Piazza Galuppi with its lace museum on one side and the church of San Martino on the other, with yet another leaning campanile. Somewhere around here the immortal words "I thought there would be more lace shops" were heard, but once in the very centre there was almost nothing but lace shops, lace being what Burano is famous for.

Walking along via Baldessare Galuppi, with a nice view back towards the church ....

.... we found the splendid ristorante Da Romana where we had an excellent lunch.

A bit further on there was another quiet canal lined with colourful cottages.

And from here it was a short walk back to the vaporetto stop. When we got back to the Fondamenta Nuove, there was a fine clear view of San Michele, the cemetery island.

Conditions: sunny, hot.

Distance: about 3 miles, although from our hotel to Fondamenta Nuove and back was another 2.

Rating: four stars.