We ended our trip in the best of ways, with a fun final day messing around Murano and Venice with no solid plan. My only must see location was the Church of Santa Maria e San Donato. Because all three of us have already visited Venice and seen the major sites there, we headed over to Murano on a public water boat to see something new.

Our first stop was the Murano Glass Museum which walks you through the history of glass making. The displays cover over two thousand years of glass pieces. I learned a lot from the exhibits.

Some of what we learned at the Murano Glass Museum:

The art of Venetian glass was a result of very close ties with the Middle East, with Syria in particular, whose sophisticated and elegant glass work was renowned in the Middle Ages. It was not until the middle of the fourteenth century that Venice became the unrivaled leader in the art of glass. A decisive factor in this turning point was the invention of clear glass by Angelo Barovier (1405-1460) from Murano.

After learning more about glass making than we could ever soak up in one museum visit, we walked the short distance to the Basilica. The narrow streets along the canal were refreshingly devoid of people.

It was so amazing and beautiful it leaves you speechless, and all for 3.50 €!

It’s staggering how much symbolism there is depicted here, as well as all the paintings and texts we’ve seen and read, and we’ve just scratched the surface. It is another deep dive into a rabbit hole to try to understand the meanings behind it. I could have spent half the day in the Basilica, but we continued our exploration, passing many shop windows with every type of glass for sale.

My travel companion Augie had been given the name of a glass factory that came highly recommended. We knew nothing about it. We showed up and were given a tour of the facility, it’s glass ovens, showrooms, the entire operation.

After our Murano adventures we hopped on the No. 7 ferry and enjoyed a sunny open air boat ride to St. Mark’s Square.

We enjoyed just walking around with no real idea where we were going. We chose the lunch spot at random, and it turned out to be perfect. They served only traditional Venetian food. It was delicious.

We walked from St Mark’s Square to the Piazzale Roma, where we caught a bus to the airport, and walked to our hotel. Our step count today was 17,000 and we spent 28 € on public transportation between ferries and the bus.