Burano: Alappuzha of Europe
My friend and I celebrated Christmas by touring northern Italy together. I loved the trip, and there is one specific place I grew particularly attached to. Exactly two years after my trip to Alappuzha (I have written about it here), I found it in an island in Italy: a little island “Burano” that is tucked away in a corner even as Venice tries to stay afloat on all its grandeur.
Burano is an island in the Venetian lagoon and is about a 45 minutes long boat ride from Venice. We travelled to Burano on a very dull, freezing day. The boat ride was extremely foggy and we thought this weather was our punishment for planning a trip to Italy in winter. As we reached Burano, the fog cleared up but the grey skies remained. The skies desperately needed some color to feel alive; and there it was: in the little lanes of Burano.
One colorful little house followed the other as they lined up by the most beautiful canals, canals which found a way to shine bright even on such a dull day. Narrow old bridges connected one side of the canal to the other and all houses seemed to have their own boat (just like in Alappuzha). To be honest, I needed a moment to gather my thoughts as I stared at Burano. I also managed to click some decent photos despite my frozen hands (no, I don’t exaggerate: FROZEN hands).
Whilst standing on the bridge admiring the colorful Burano, I turned to the other side and there it was: a leaning tower, in Burano1! For some this might be another reason to “fall” in love with this tiny place, but this was definitely not what we had expected. The first thing I did, of course, was tease my sister by sending her a photo of this tower (just one day after I had sent her a photo of the leaning tower of Pisa). Needless to say, she was NOT impressed (she loves symmetry). But this time I really had to agree with her. I mean, is nothing straight anymore?
As we walked to the town centre, we both noticed how Indian the town looked! Had someone surprised me with a trip to Burano (without disclosing the location, of course), I would have thought I am still in the country (probably in Alappuzha or Kumarakom). Firstly, some houses seemed to have ACs! Now this might sound bizarre but most European houses have neither ACs nor ceiling fans. Also, the houses reminded me of Puducherry and the decorated house doors looked extremely familiar! As we walked further, we noticed most people drying their clothes along their windows … umm need I say more?
Due to the C squared situation (Christmas + COVID), the town was very quiet and we could enjoy a cup of coffee in a little cafe. As I ranted on about how this lovely rainbowland charmed me, my friend said, “Oh you loved these canals? Wait till we visit Venice”. A few hours later, we were in Venice and it was beautiful. What charmed me the most about Burano though (apart from the color palette it displayed to us) was how real it looked. Every town you visit in Europe need not have royalty and grandeur oozing out of it, some are comfortable in their simplicity. Such towns attract me the most and are often the ones unexplored by the world.
After reading my blog posts, many of you might feel like I keep looking for home in all the places I visit, and I cannot comment on whether that is true. I know one thing though: this time it felt like home found me in another continent, catching me off guard! At the end of the tiring and freezing day, I was cold but Burano managed to warm my heart in ways I could have never imagined. It gave me exactly what I needed the most on a dull day: a little splash of color!