The island of Burano was a real discovery for us: small and void of crowds of tourists and a perfect base to visit the whole lagoon. We found the bars, restaurants and shops welcoming and personal. We were there in November, so it was probably not as busy as it is in the high season. I do have to say that the weather was beautiful - the skies were clear the whole time and the temperature balmy.

"La Casa Gialla" is a genuine traditional fisherman's home, just round the corner from the main square and easy to get to from where the vaporetto leaves you (everything on this island is within easy walking distance). The home is on three floors: the ground floor is where the kitchen and bathroom are (these are immaculate, modern and adequate to purpose); the middle floor is where the living room is (the sofas double up as two single beds) and the top floor is an attic conversion where the double bed is. We decided to sleep in the living room because we were worried about going down two floors of steep stairs at night, but this living area was a delight to use as our sleeping quarters for the following reasons:
- the walls are everywhere festooned with paintings, broken only by two large beautifully framed mirrors that open up the cozily enclosed space and amplifies the festival of colour and form;
- the living room, interesting furnished, is set apart from the stairwell by drapes hung on brass tubes;
- the ceiling opens over this living area to hold a wooden flat bottomed rowing boat suspended overhead and, closer to the wall, hangs yet another boat, this one smaller and more exquisitely crafted, which floats up higher up and more unobtrusively, almost lost in the shadows.

Basically, being in this home was definitely like moving into another world and another time. We loved it. The only problem we had was that we could not figure out how to get the WI-FI to work. However, we did not phone to ask (we simply used the free WIFI at the local cafe' round the corner) and were later told by the caretaker that there is a modem somewhere that sometimes gets switched off. So do ask to be shown where this is to avoid disappointment (I never asked and did not think to look for the modem).

Prior to our arrival the host gave us a lot of very useful information on how to reach the island etc. The vaporetti transport system is not that easy to use if you are new to the area, so we were very grateful for all the detailed and clear instructions we were given.

We really enjoyed our stay there (it was a breath of fresh air all round) and will be back one day!