Conversations with Myself

(Initially I thought of combining this post with Venice post but it turned out to be long. So I just split the posts.  Next post will be about Venice)

We arrived in our hotel on the 23rd December in the evening.  We booked a hotel in Mestre, it was our base for 5 days we spent in Venice.  Having driven 8hrs there was not much to do, we just checked in and went out for dinner.  On the 24th December we woke up bright and early.  The plan was to go to Venice but we woke up to a drizzling day.  Instead we headed to Padova.

This beautiful city is situated between Verona and Venice.  It took us 30min drive from our hotel to Padova.  It was an easy drive, though in the city centre the streets are narrow.  We did not drive long in the narrow streets when all of a sudden there was a huge open space in front of us.  We were at Piazza Patro della Valle square.  There was a plenty of space for packing.  A plus for touring Italy in low season.  The square is large.  It has small canals, little bridges, fountains and lots of statues. 

There were stalls and very few people were walking around.  Muli loved her carousel horse.  From the photo you can see the place was empty.  We let her take four extra laps.

To discover the city we used tram.  We bought our tram pass at Tabacchi opposite the square.  We rode a tram like the locals admiring the old historic buildings.  We jumped off at Via Elisa Benato which was the last stop. 

We walked around for few minutes and hopped on the tram again. We kept on hopping on and off every time we see an interesting place.  We hoped out at The Piazza Eremitani Garden, the garden was OK. 

Just next to the garden is Musei Civic Padova.  We went inside the museum to purchase tickets to The Scrovegni Chapel which gave us access to the museum.  The Chapell is small but from all the chapels I went to in Rome, this was the best because of the close up look at the pictures without being pushed by other tourists.  There is a 15 minutes wait in the chapel reception where we acclimatize and watched a film.  I did not watch a the film because Muli was  jumping around.  At some point she kept quiet and the ladies sitting behind us were chatting.  Without a warning she just turned and said ‘Hey, Shhh!’.  My goodness!  I got so embarrassed.  At least the ladies found humour in her behaviour ha!.  

We were allowed 30minutes in the Chapel, we were a group of 12 people.  Thanks again because of our visit in low season.  On the walls and ceilings of the Chapel, Giotto used his master skills of art to narrate the lives of Jesus and Marry.  Other paintings that we noted and spent some time analysing was the last judgement pictures.  The paintings are preserved very well.  I could not take pictures because no cameras were allowed in the chapel.

After The Chapel we went to the Museum – Musei Civic Padova.  I had a great relaxing art experience.  Cullo does not have patience to view paintings, he browsed quickly and went out to feed Muli.  I immersed myself in tons of paintings expressing  hope, joy, rejection, betrayal, suffering, horror, grief, loss, love, longing, compassion and all human emotions you can think of.  The museum is large with rooms and rooms full of paintings. Cullo did not rush me, I only stopped when my eyes had enough.

When I finished inside the museum I went outside to join Cullo and Muli.  We jumped on tram once again, on our way we saw busy street and jumped off.  We later found that we were in Corso Giussepe Garibaldi street in city centre.  People were doing shopping.  It felt good to be part of the crowds.

It was a day before Christmas.  And there we were spending our day in Padua.  Tourists easily miss this city preferring to spend time in Venice.  There is a lot to see in Padova.  It is one of the old and culturally rich city of Italy. We are glad our plans were disturbed by rain otherwise we could have not seen this amazing place.

Tips:

• If you have more days to spend in Venice, don’t spend all your days in the water.  Go further from the waters and discover places like Padova.
• I recommend visiting Italy in December. In low seasons there are less crowds.  Normally in Scrovegni Chapel you are allowed 15 minutes with a group of 25 people.  That day, there were only 12 tourists to tour the chapel and we got 30 minutes inside. 
• Don’t be scared to travel with your kids.  Muli was 32 months in December.  We planned our trip to accommodate her.
• When travelling with kids take as many snack as you can. A 10minutes wait in a restaurant is too much for a hungry child. 
• Pack your warmest jacket and your most comfortable shoes for touring Italy in December.

Hope you are inspired to plan your next trip.  Stay tuned for the next post – Venice.  Nothing will prepare you for the beauty of Venice.

Take care,
Nez