Padua/Padova

9 May - Day 55

Today we are going to focus on Padova's sights. Padova is a small but key town in the Venetian Province. It is the railway hub connecting cities like Milan, Venice (just 25km away), Rome, Bologna etc. So you can get a direct train to any of these cities. It is also a university town. The Padua University is the second oldest in Italy established in 1222, Bologna being the oldest. Olden European universities location are usually in small towns. There is no campus, and they rely on residents to house the students and restaurants and cafes to feed the students. Galileo Galilei has a chair in this University.

The Eremitani Square houses several musuems including the Scrovegni Chapel, which has frescos drawn by Giotto in the 14th century depicting the entire sequence of the birth of Christ through to Judgement Day (not the Schwarzeneggar one). There is a crumbly Roman Arena (1AD) nearby. They have a mini stargate here but we could not get it to work. So we have to buy tram tickets at 1.2 euros a pop, where is Mc Gyver when you need him.

The churches here have huge domes and provides cool relief from the 29-37C temperatures we have been getting in Padova.

We next went to Palazzo della Ragione, a large exhibition hall surrounded by Piazzas delle Erbe, della Frutta, and dei Signori.

These are the 3 main piazzas in Padova, so it is the place to eat and people watch.

Inside Palazzo Della Ragione. Yes, those are horse dongles.

 

11 May - Day 57

We drove out of Padova to a couple of small towns in the Euganean Hills about 40km away.

These are very peaceful and quiet towns, with castles, nice gardens and surrounded by vineyards.

Monselice is built below Citadel Hill with a wall fortification around it.

The hillside medieval village of Arqua Petraca, has some very nice cafes and restaurants, is very pretty and well worth a drive there. The rail crossings will test your patience, as they let 3 or 4 trains through at a time, so you will be waiting 15 or so minutes.

With the banking crisis in Spain, I would like to remind everyone, I was the only one manning the Occupy Madrid post back in April.