Burano, Italy.

Burano is a tiny island, about 45-ish minutes away by boat from the central part of Venice. Much faster if you have a speedboat filled with booze and bikini clad women like the ones we saw whizzing past us I’m sure, but alas we did not.

When we first heard about the surrounding islands, it seemed unlikely that we would make the effort to go. Far more interesting to stay on dry land and explore the tiny back streets, right? As it turned out, we did drag ourselves away from the wine bars and cichetti for a half day trip, and I’m really glad we decided to do so.

This is one of the first sights that greets you if you come off the boat and turn left, rather than going straight ahead with the throng of tourists.

I instantly cursed the fact I had 15 shots left of a black and white spool when we saw this street, and scrambled to use them up quickly, as I thought there would only be a few houses that looked this amazing. I needn’t have bothered though, as it just got better.

Uh, wow.

This place was amazing. It was tiny, and beautifully calm if you avoid the main main street where the crowds go. We didn’t realise there even was shops here until we stumbled upon them after wandering for a while.

If you were looking for some place to relax or retire, this place could definitely fit the bill. You could feel the pace of life slow down as soon as you landed on the shore. It’s the sort of island that I’d love to spend a few lazy months just enjoying, if only I had all the time in the world to do so.

Or maybe I just need to make the time.

Every street looked like it was out of a painting.

Every house had its own vibrant hue, and often even the clothes that were hanging up outside matched their colour scheme.

Such a beautiful approach to life.

I wonder if there’s some sort of rules about every building having to be a different colour to their neighbours, and how it works in a street where there are lots of small houses together. I’d be fascinated to know if there’s some sort of system in place, or even if there’s none at all.

I remember many years ago hearing about how the owner of a local sweetie shop in the tiny Scottish borders town of Wigton faced huge fines and prosecution for painting the outside of her building pink and purple, as it ‘doesn’t fit the character of the town’. What does it say about a people who embrace the joy of colour so readily, and about those who reject it? No wonder we’re such depressed and boring bastards. I wish more places were like this.

I would recommend anybody that is going to Venice for at least 2 days to take a half day to visit Burano. It turned out to be one of the highlights of our whole trip.

We did also go to Murano (the place where they make the glass), but unless you’re interested in glass, I wouldn’t bother. Pretty unremarkable. Head for the colours instead.

All pictures shot either on a Leica M6 with Jupiter 35mm f2.8 lens, or on a Yashica Mat 124G TLR.