On every second corner in Venice you will find either a mask shop or souvenier store displaying various glass vases, figurines and items of jewellery. We discovered that one of the islands close by Venice, Murano, is famous world-wide for its glass-works, and my cousin and I decided to take a day trip out of Venice to visit the birthplace of the exquisite glass art we'd seen and heard so much about.

We managed to get a tour to three Venetian islands for around 11euro per person and turned up at 10am the next day, already sweating in the scorching heat. The cool breeze that hit our faces as the tour boat picked up speed was welcome after having baked in the summer sun for several days in the city.

First stop was Murano. It was a lot less glamorous than I had imagined, but I followed our tour guide with eagerness to see what the simple buildings held within.

I asumed we were being led to a showroom, and on the way I peaked into a few doorways to find men at work on brightly-coloured vases, or rooms stocked to the celing with boxed overflowing with bubble wrap and glass oddities

We finally arrived like a flock of sheep into a sparse workshop with a huge furnace for heating the glass. We filed into some seats and watched as a man sat at the work table in front of us, taking up a large blow-pole and moulded a clear lump around the end. He put it into the furnace and retrieved it minutes later glowing red. He began to blow into the pole and the glowing lump at the end ballooned out. He expertly began to pinch and pull at the hot gooey balloon with some delicate tongs, blowing and shaping until, not long after, a rearing horse was presented to us, perfectly formed.

We were quite astounded as it took this man maybe 4 minutes to create the horse from a blob of goo! Phenomenal speed of skill - impressive... though I was slightly disappointed that we didn't get to see how them mix the colours into their designs. We saw sticks of colours lined up against the wall, tall tubes of colour that I assumed would be melted in with the transparent blobs.

After the speedy demo we were led into the glass works showroom. There was everything from tea sets, chandaliers, seats and bunches of flowers, to full busts made from glass. Some of the walls were also lined with mirrors so that the glass figurines seemed to be surrounding us from all sides, floating in the air like some kind of bizarre Dali painting!

Sadly I only managed to take one (bad) picture before being caught out and having to negotiate with a pissed off showroom owner to be able to keep wearing my camera...

We didn't get much time on Murano, but what I saw was enough to satisfy my curiosity about the many glass artifacts we'd seen. Previous to coming to Venice, I'd always wondered how glass ornaments were made so it was amazing to finally see glass workers in action!

Our next tour stop was Burano. It was immediately inviting - the houses are painted bright colours giving it a much happier appearance than Murano.

Burano is famous for its lace, and though we didn't get to see lace-making in action we browsed the many lace shops on the quaint high street. To be honest I dont think lace making would have the audience appeal that glass making does...

We spent some time browsing and pretending that I was a noble lady from some period drama with my dainty parasole and lace gloves, seducing a yummy Mr Darcy... I think the sun was getting to my head!
Eventually, tired of the fans, parasoles, scarves and table cloths - pretty though they were - we chose to get some jumbo tubs of ice cream and sit out on the dock to wait for the boat. The peace of the island after hectic Venice, drowned in tourists, was very welcome indeed and we savoured the sound of lapping water against the dock until we were finally ushered on board our boat.

It was early evening when we sailed towards the harbour in front of St Marco square. Rays of golden light reflected from the sea and sail boats flitted to-and-fro as the day lazily drew to a close. I had been thankful for escaping the crowds, despite being on an organised tour, and would definately recommend this trip to anyone who has half a day to spare in the city!