Day 4

We were now vaporetto pros! We took one, now mercifully uncrowded because it was a Monday, to the Accademia, the premier gallery of pre 19^th century art in Venice.  The art is almost entirely that of Italian artists including the well known names of Titian, Tintoretto, Tiepolo, Bellini and Veronese among many others. It was a beautifully arranged museum that was very enjoyable and the art was magnificent! The morning was spent there before taking the vaporetto to the island of Burano.

Burano is by far the most picturesque of the islands with houses that are painted bright colors so that the fisherman of the past could easily identify their homes when they were coming in in foggy conditions. It results in a beautiful palette. Tempting to add lots and lots of pictures of those houses but I will exercise restraint.

Other than fishing, the island is known for its lace making.

All that art appreciation of the morning had made us hungry so we went in search of a restaurant that Rick Steves recommended. Found it! Closed! We asked a local to recommend an alternative and he sent us to Da Roma, a great pick! We had a really wonderful lunch in a picturesque restaurant with walls completely covered in local art.

Lunch began with some delicious mussels in a very light and flavorful tomato sauce which we shared. Then Annette and I shared a pasta with tiny, tiny sweet clams. Our main course was a huge veal chop for Anabel, a branzino for Annette and a mixed grill of grilled squid, monkfish and sardines for me.

Oops...ate everything before we thought of the photo

We had a delicious Veneto chardonnay to wash it down. Dessert was an absolutely amazing “meringue cake”, a lemon flavored cake topped with a ton of meringue. I was in heaven!

Doesn't that look incredible???

We spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering the island enjoying the picturesque views and doing some fairly serious shopping for some of us.

A vaporetto home and a quiet evening with a late, light home dinner.