Padova: Secondo Giorno

After all the fun and companionship from the night before, I woke up well-rested and ready get in my daily walking. I said good-bye to Cesaria and headed straight for the bar/gelateria for my cappuccino.

Since it was Sunday, I had my own little “worship” service with Third Day pumping out of my ipod and some reflective prayer time while I enjoyed my foamy goodness. (Really, this is how I should start every day – it bodes quite well.)

Once I was good and ready, I pulled out my city map (in which I had already marked all the free places my shiny, new Padova card would get me into) and plotted out a course. The biggest obstacle for the day was going to be the Scrovegni Chapel. Like the Last Supper only a few people were allowed in at a time, for a limited time, and you were supposed to reserve ahead.

Of course, I had not reserved ahead. But this was a little less popular than the Last Supper and since it’s October, tourism is beginning to wane, so I thought I’d head there first see what I could get, and then work my day around any available time.

Luck was on my side again as the first time slot was only an hour and a half away. There is also an entire museum and multimedia room to learn about the Chapel on-site, so that was more then enough to help me kill the time. I happily paid the 1 EU booking fee and was on my way.

Like all of the really good sights in Italy, I was not allowed to take any pictures – but the frescos were absolutely beautiful and (so I learned) quite ahead of their time. They covered all four walls as well as the ceiling, and like the Sistine Chapel, it tells the life story of Jesus, culminating with the Last Judgment. However, the Scrovegni Chapel begins with the story with Joachim and Anne (Mary’s parents) as well as the life story of Mary. Definitely worth the one euro I paid.

From there I went to numerous other places including the Palazzo della Ragine (a HUGE hall with the biggest horse I’ve ever seen), Caffé Pedrocchi (a museum/patriotic café – kind of), and Padova’s Baptistry. I have no idea what a “baptistry” is by definition, but it was like one additional silo/dome that was technically connected to the Duomo, but you had to enter it separately.

Anyway, it was only one room with a small altar at the front and every wall and ceiling surface had been covered in a fresco – and they were beeeeaaautiful. It was actually quite like Scrovegni Chapel, only someone less famous had done these 70 years later. It too told the story of Jesus’ life as well as several bible stories and pictures of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - one in each corner. What was unique about the Baptistry though, was the ceiling: In the perfectly shaped dome was a painting of Jesus surrounded (in perfect proportion all the way around) by at least a hundred saints; row after row, spiraling in. It was crazy – all in detail and perfectly spaced. It was something. The whole thing was remarkable.

From there I tried to find one last sight, but discovered it was closed (or the next showing wasn’t for half hour…? I don’t really know – the sign was in Italian and I couldn’t translate), so I headed back to the hostel to collect my things and head for the train station.

I liked Padova: it was richer in art than I anticipated, I very much enjoyed the piazzas and local market, and I had fun with a new friend. Definitely gets my stamp of approval. Now I just have to make it to Venice and figure out the whole “boat system” thing. I’m a little intimidated, but like everything else on this trip, I’ll just take a deep breath and figure it out.

Padua - Primero giorno

After arriving in my new hostel accommodations and meeting my very cool new roomie from Mozambique (more on her later) I pretty much konked out for the night.

The next morning, my roomie and I were pretty much the last ones out of the hostel and I made my way toward the nearest piazza: Prato della Valle. This is where the tram had dropped me off the night before, so I figured, why not start with the one thing that was "familiar" to me?

This piazza was already unlike most others in that not only was it HUGE, but it had a fountain in the middle and a gi-normus ovular walking path. Additionally it touted two walking paths through the oval. For my math-friendly friends out there, imagine two radii: one spanning the shortest distance across the oval, the other the longest.

Only when I arrived, I was surprised to see the serene square transformed into a huge saturday market. And not just your average fruit and local goods market - oh no. This puppy was 85% clothes and shoes. Fruit, plants and housewares only made a minor appearance.

I decided to do one lap (for posterity's sake) and see what the market was all about. But before I finished my final lap - something caught my eye. As I've mentioned to some of you (and perhaps on the blog - I forget) very fine poncho-y, knit-like, wrap-y things are very in here and I saw one with my name on it. And shocker of all shockers - it was only 5 EU! Unheard of!!

It still took me at least 20 minutes of circling through the stand and eyeing all possible opportunities before I finally got the courage to ask the stand owner to pack it up for me. Bolstered by my success, I decided to make another lap - only this time I would actually be shopping.

After my second lap, I saw several possibilities. However, I wasn't ready to buy just yet. I was getting hungry and my feet were starting to ache, so I decided to rest for a few minutes and then take a lunch break. I grabbed a prosciutto and mozzarella toasted panini and wandered down to the next piazza.

There I found St. Anthony's Basillica, which was on my list of "must-sees" so I popped in. I toured the chapel, the museum and this little room of "relics" which included (brace yourselves) St. Anthony's tongue (no - I am not kidding). Turns out one of the reasons he was famous as a saint was for his Holy Spirit inspired sermons (he also performed miracles and became the patron saint of lost items, among others - but that's another story). Anyway, in 1981 they exhumed his body (not sure why...perhaps to move it??) and discovered that his tongue was still intact!! This was seen as remarkable in itself (and quite fitting as he was said to be speaking God's word....) so the church put his lower jaw, his tongue and his larynx on display.

I saw it. It was gross. (Sorry - again, no pics allowed.)

After that I went back to wandering my market. I just couldn't make up my mind, so I bought a local pear and rested under one of the trees in the center of the piazza. Eventually I hoisted myself up and made my final purchase decisions.

Soon after I headed back to my room and was pleased to find my new roomie was also there. She will be attending school in Padua and is looking for housing - the hostel is just temporary. She had some luck, but nothing for sure just yet. I was feeling brave, so I asked if she wanted to have dinner. Sure! She said - but after a nap. This is my kind of girl!!

We both rested a bit, then headed out in search of a ristorante. Neither of us has anything in mind, but were all about something cheap, so we just wandered. Eventually we decided to try Brek's - which kind of reminds me of Zoopa. You wander around the restaurant with a try in your hand and pick up what looks good. Then, based on what is on your tray, you pay that price. Pretty simple and a quick was to get food. We decided to get two things and share, as well as a half carafe of wine. Even though Portuguese is her native language, Cesaria speaks excellent English and we had quite a good dinner.

After that we stumbled upon a little bar and said I had to try Prosceco - her favorite wine from Italy. We clinked glasses and continued our great conversation. The bar tender (I don't think that's what they call them here, but oh well) gave us a refill for free, woo hoo!

With rosy cheeks (well, for me) and slightly tipsy we headed for Guro (??) supposedly the best gelato in town. I ordered the bacio (which means kiss) and told her my gelato story from Genoa (the dude who took my picture). I made her promise to tell me if I end up plastered on billboards everywhere in a gelato campaign.

From there we headed home, satiated and happy. Tomorrow I will really have to get after seeing the sights. I only knocked one off the list today, not very good progress. But it felt good to have a slow day - and I know my feet appreciated the rest!

After tomorrow - next stop Venice!!