Visual Guide to Murano Island, Italy

Ah Murano! I fell in love with this place.

Murano is only a 20 minutes boat trip away from Venice (you can get a one-day pass to commute between the islands), but it’s like two different worlds.

Barely any tourists, countless art and glass shops, little canals and friendly locals. So on our second day in Italy, we waved goodbye to the crowds in Venice and took the public transport to Murano.

Straight after arriving, we ventured towards some pretty painted houses to discover a glass workshop. Two Italian guys pulled us in to watch a master doing his magic.

People gathered on the stairs to watch a glass fish being made.

After the show was over, we ventured to the glass gallery to check some of the beautiful pieces made here. If you don’t know it already, Murano is famed for it’s glass art.

The gallery was filled with light, glass chandeliers, glass horses, bowls, and pretty much anything else you can think of made from glass. And also way out of your budget.

The Italian guy who pulled us in saw that I showed interest in some cheap souvenir horses, so being the good judge of a potentially wealthy customer, he took us upstairs to show us the more prized arts.

Shame we couldn’t take pictures, because a room like this you will only see in movies. We walked pretty close together to make sure we don’t knock any of the super expensive, highly breakable statues and vases.

Thirty minutes later, and the same guy is still trying to convince me to “invest” into a glass and gold horse worth 2.000 euros. Guess what I ended up with? Pack of 3 small souvenir horses for 15 euros.

I am actually still not sure why I bought them. The law in our house is never to buy anything that can collect dust on the shelves. That would be a week in prison for a souvenir offense.

After we walked out, I made myself a promise not to walk into any more glass shops, otherwise, I will end up with a whole ZOO made out of glass.

Murano is a stunning place for taking pictures. Every corner of the island looks postcard-perfect.

We didn’t have a map, so we took an adventure and wandering around and getting a little lost. After a short search for a restaurant, we settled for one that was right on the side of the canal.

As with all good things in Italy, it has to start with local wine. Preferably a lot of it.

While my sister was enjoying her first glass, I was already starting on my second and placing an order for food. You would have never guessed what it was. Mussels. Again. For the second time in two days.

While we we waited for the food, I was telling my sister how much I enjoy mussels and that I hope the portion is big enough.

Then a bucket load of mussels arrived in front of us. I didn’t actually know restaurants own bowls of this size. Sadly, my first thought was “that won’t be enough”.

Yes, please do judge me – I am greedy when it comes to food.

Being a tourist, and on a trip organized by a travel agency, we were on a schedule. We took another casual stroll around the canals and wished that we could spend all day here, just sitting, sipping wine and watching people and boats.

After a while we realized we will be late for our boat back to Venice. Running next to the canals, passing people and checking time constantly we arrived breathless at the dock.

The boat didn’t come for another 30 minutes and we started panicking that we will miss our connecting boat out of Venice to Puento Sabbione, where our bus and ticket back to Slovakia was waiting. We took a gamble and boarded another boat, with a slightly different root but same destination – Piazza de Saint Marco.

We made it on time and even saw a massive cruise ship passing by.

I can’t wait to go back to Murano and explore it properly. There are actually a few small hotels and villas you can rent and feel like a Venetian and local for a few days.