The Bus Tour

My advice is, don't take the water taxi and free VIP

tour into Murano.  Ask for the waterbus stop near the

hospital, which you can easily find and go to the waterbus

stop. The waterbus is essentially a public ferry for people,

but don't take it from Plaza St. Mark, unless you want to sit

on the boat for fifty minutes as it makes all the stops around

Venice before going to Murano. From the hospital it's a five-

minute ride on the waterbus. By going your own route into

Murano you will have the ease of walking the island at your

pace and leisure, getting a real feel for what's going on.

There are so many hot shops with display

galleries it's almost impossible to visit them all in one

day. Almost all the hot shops you will walk into are family

owned and operated. The techniques and family secrets are

passed down generation to generation. In the work area

you may find the master glass blower having his

grandnephew fetching tools, while his nephew uses the

blowtorch and his sons hold the glass steady in the glory

hole.

For centuries the government of Italy was afraid the

secret of glass blowing would get out to other countries.

Therefore, glass artists were not allowed to leave the island,

for a vacation. If you were a glass blower on Murano, you

would vacation on Murano.

Because of the many families of glass blowers

working, competing and stuck together on the same island

for generations, feuds like those of the Capulets and

Montagues are legendary. To this day some of these

feuds run so deep, if you're from Murano and do business

with one family, you're never doing business with the

families who oppose them.