This morning dawned with bright sun shining but the biting wind gave a certain edge to being a tourist today. I attempted to join another walking tour as recommended by last night’s guide but I must have been given wrong information as by 10:02am I was the only person waiting at the meeting point so I had a quick change of plans and decided to visit the outer lagoon islands instead.

This involved crossing half of Venice to the outer northern edge of the Canareggio district, following the waterbus signs to the vaporetto stop which is kinda like participating in a treasure hunt – there’s just enough to keep you from getting lost but not as many as to make it an easy passage. Many other tourists had the same idea so there was a bit of a scrum getting on board the boat but it was plenty big enough for all of us. I started by going out to Torcello, one of the further islands. It’s just a thin slip of land with very few residents, a couple of restaurants, and a spectacular church from the 9-11th century.

Hidden on the left is the Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta. 7th century remains exist but the church’s mosaics date from the 12th century.

Well, the church is actually rather austere but the Byzantine-Romanesque mosaics decorating both the east & west walls are phenomenal. No photography was allowed so here’s a picture lifted from the internet.

My ticket included a visit to the bell tower so I climbed up the rather easy sloped stairs to gather this shot of Torcello and the lagoon.

My waterbus stopped at Burano on the return so I did a quick reconnoiter to capture photos of the gaily painted houses (done so fishermen could spot their homes from sea and/or in dense fog). It used to be renowned for it’s lace-making but I’m afraid less and less people are interested in lace these days, more so in picture postcards and taking Instagram shots.

I returned back to Venice by 2pm. I strolled south across Canareggio again to the Grand Canal and the sunlight on the buildings was so lovely I decided to stick with my vaporetto-powered sightseeing and hopped on a waterbus heading back to the train station. I snagged a coveted seat at the front of the boat and so thoroughly enjoyed my impromptu tour of the elegant palazzos and hotels lining the canal I stayed on board for the full circle route: to the station, back down all the way to San Marco Square, then back to the train station, 75 mins later. The sun had long disappeared behind gathering clouds by the time I disembarked and my fingers were like ice cubes. A reminder it is November after all and time to head home to my soup & vino.